Chapter 14 - VINCENT FINDS THE EMPTY CRADLE|
Vincent discovered the baby store receipt by accident.
He was searching Claire's old desk for a document his attorney had requested when he found a folded slip of paper beneath a stack of notebooks. The receipt was dated three weeks earlier and listed a small collection of items: a soft blanket, a wooden rattle, and a pair of white cotton socks.
He stared at it.
Claire had bought baby clothes.
The realization arrived with such force that he had to sit down.
He checked the date again. Three weeks before the gala. Three weeks before he left her bleeding in the rain.
He remembered her standing in the kitchen one evening, asking whether he had ever imagined what their child might look like. He had been distracted by a business call and told her they could discuss children when things were less complicated.
She had smiled and said, “Of course.”
He had not noticed the disappointment in her eyes.
Vincent called her.
The number went directly to voicemail.
He called again.
Nothing.
He then contacted Jonathan Reed, who refused to discuss Claire's medical information.
“Is she pregnant?” Vincent demanded.
“I cannot answer that.”
“I'm her husband.”
“You are her estranged husband, and you have no automatic entitlement to private medical information.”
Vincent's voice rose.
“I'm the father if she's pregnant!”
“Then you should understand why respecting her boundaries matters.”
The call ended.
Vincent sat motionless, looking at the receipt.
He could have been a father.
Perhaps he already was.
The thought filled him with a joy so sudden and a fear so profound that he could barely breathe. Then came the memory of the rain, Claire on the pavement, the blood running down her leg.
He had driven away.
If she was carrying his child, he had abandoned both of them without even looking back.
He stood abruptly and walked to the private gym, where he struck a punching bag until his knuckles split. He stopped only when Marco entered.
“You need to see this,” Marco said.
He placed a copy of the photograph of Sophia outside the clinic on the bench.
Vincent stared at it.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was in a file connected to Anthony.”
“Why didn't you show me before?”
“Because I needed to verify it.”
Vincent picked up the photograph.
On the back was the date of Isabella's supposed death and the sentence Claire had seen.
She never died there.
His chest tightened.
“Where is Claire?”
“I won't tell you.”
Vincent turned sharply.
“You think I'm going to hurt her?”
“No. I think you're going to arrive with your fear and your demands and expect her to make you feel better.”
Vincent looked away.
Marco continued.
“Sir, I believe Claire may be pregnant. I don't know for certain. But if she is, you need to decide whether you want to be a father or simply a man who claims the title.”
Vincent swallowed.
“I want to be there.”
“Then start by respecting her decision to leave.”
For once, Vincent had no argument.
That evening, he went to the nursery he and Claire had once discussed but never built. It was a spare room overlooking the garden, still filled with unused furniture. Claire had placed a small box of baby books on the windowsill months earlier.
He had never asked why.
Now he opened the box.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Maybe someday, when the world is quieter.
Vincent sat on the floor, surrounded by books he had never read and plans he had never made.
He wanted to call Claire and tell her he would change everything.
He wanted to promise that he would make their child safe, that he would introduce her as his wife, that no one would ever make her feel invisible again.
But he finally understood that promises were easy when the consequences belonged to someone else.
If Claire was pregnant, she did not need another promise.
May you like
She needed evidence that he could become a different man.
And he had no idea where to begin.
