Page 107 of Fault Lines
His face went colorless; lips pressed to a hard line.
“What?” I pressed. “You really thought I’d never find out? That I’d just wait at home while you waltzed in with your bundle of joy and I’d never question it? Keep me in the dark, right?”
He hesitated. “How did you know? Did she say something?”
“She didn’t have to,” I bit out. I clung to my anger, desperate for anything besides despair. “Rachel told me. She saw you in Las Vegas. Saw Lacey go up to your hotel room, saw her with you all weekend.”
Cam looked away, Adam’s apple bobbing. The silence stretched so long it started to ache.
“Why?” My voice was raw, my insides hollow. “After everything I did for you, everything I agreed to, you still betrayed me.”
“I made a mistake,” he said gently. “I never meant to break the rules. She… she was relentless. The first time, I was weak. And then once it was done, it got so much easier to do again. She came with me for business, that’s all, but then it turned into… more.”
I stared at the sink, knuckles white. “Do you love her?” The words wobbled as they left me.
He took my arms in his hands, voice low and urgent. “Never. I’ve never loved anyone but you. It was just sex, baby. She was there, and I was… stupid.” He swallowed hard. “But I don’t regret the child. Not ever.”
I stepped away, my heart splitting down the center. Of course he didn’t regret the child—that baby was everything Cam wanted. Still, the way he said it stung down to the bone.
I went to the closet and pulled out a suitcase, tossing it onto the bed. The zipper rattled as I yanked it open.
“What are you doing?” he asked, close behind me. His voice was tin-edged, desperate, but I didn’t care. I was too hurt to look back.
“What does it look like? I’m not sticking around while you play perfect family with the woman you cheated with.”
“I didn’t cheat, baby, it wasn’t like that.”
I spun on him, incredulous. “It wasn’t cheating?! We made rules: only Thursdays, and never Lacey! You broke it all.” My voice was rising, vibrating the air. “You just did whatever you wanted and didn’t care how it hurt me. And now she’s pregnant. With your baby.”
In my rage, I started grabbing clothes and stuffing them blindly into the suitcase. Cam snatched it away, dumped the armfuls out on the floor, and shoved the bag back into the closet.
I stood there, body rigid, waiting. Daring him to explain.
“You’re not throwing our marriage away over this, Livi. I screwed up, I know. I broke your trust and I regret it. But we can get through this. We can be parents, just like we always dreamed.”
“I’m not raising a baby that came from your betrayal. I can’t do that, Cam. And you shouldn’t ask me.”
“And you can’t ask me to pick between you and my child.”
I shook my head, the fight draining from my limbs.
“I’m not,” I said, voice tiny. “I would never do that.”
He wouldn’t let it go. “You can’t leave. I need you. Lacey was a mistake—a bad one, but something good came of it. An innocent baby. Don’t leave me because of this.”
“You’re right—the baby shouldn’t pay for your choices. But that child deserves two parents that love it completely. I’ll never get past looking at it and seeing you with her. I’d start to resent it, Cam. You know I would.”
I went back to the closet, grabbed the suitcase again, this time opening it on the floor.
He trailed after me, voice pleading. “Baby, please. We can work through this. She was nothing.”
I started hurling clothes into the case, barely even looking at what I grabbed.
“Nothing?” My laugh was sharp and ugly. “Every time you slept with her—or anyone else—you chipped away at me. A piece of my love died with every reminder.” I dragged a zip-up out of the drawer and flung it in. “But for you, it was just sex, right?”
He groaned in frustration. “We can get past this if you’ll just stop being so emotional.”
I whirled to face him, my own anger snapping its teeth. “Too emotional? You knew what I was when you asked for this. You knew how much I loved you, how much it would break me. But you still wanted it.” My breath hitched. “So I tried to be strong.Every Thursday, I swallowed it down. Until I couldn’t anymore. Until I started seeing someone else.”
