My daughter… died.”
“We tested twice,” he said. “There’s no mistake.”
I left the office and sat in the hallway until the floor stopped spinning.
Lauren’s voice echoed in my mind like a memory that had never fully faded: “Even the baby didn’t want to stay around and live this life. It’s your fault, Ethan.”
But she had lived. And somehow…
she was Luna.
I barely slept that night. Instead, I searched. Lauren’s old number was disconnected, but her mother’s address hadn’t changed.
I got in the car before the sun rose and drove the three hours to a small town I hadn’t thought about in years.
When Lauren opened the door, she froze like she’d seen a ghost. Her hair was shorter, her face paler, but those eyes — I’d know them anywhere.
“Ethan,” she said softly.
“Why?” I asked. “Why would you tell me she died?
Why would you lie?!”
She didn’t answer right away. Her eyes filled with tears, and she leaned against the doorframe like her legs had gone weak.
“I panicked,” she said. “I didn’t know how to leave you.
After everything, after the pregnancy, I just… I broke. I couldn’t be a mother.
I couldn’t be your partner, Ethan. I felt trapped.”
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