My Unborn Daughter Warned Me Not To Marry Him Chapter 06
Confession Under Threat
[Third-person POV: Josh]
They bring Sloane to his office.
She goes straight to her old playbook.
“Josh, baby, I only did it because I love you so much. If you don’t believe me, I’ll kill myself. Right now.”
She pulls a razor blade out of her purse. Holds it to her wrist.
That move used to snap him. He’d drop everything and hold her.
Now? He doesn’t even blink from behind his desk.
Sloane freezes.
“Go ahead. Can’t find the vein?”
Josh tips his chin at the bodyguard beside him.
“Help her out.”
The guy steps forward.
Sloane shrieks. Throws the blade across the room.
Josh closes his eyes. Long and tired.
“So you were faking. All of it.”
He knows now what a real breakdown looks like. He watched Autumn go through one.
She didn’t scream. Didn’t beg. She just curled up in a corner and stopped moving.
Wouldn’t eat. Wouldn’t drink. He had to force water down her throat.
And this woman? He fell for this clown show?
He tossed a stack of medical records at Sloane’s feet.
“You’ve been fine for over a year. You forged fake records to keep me hooked.”
“You played sick. You played suicidal. Every time I tried to pull back, you doubled down.”
Because Sloane said, I just wanna be near you, he gave her Autumn’s office.
Because Sloane cried, I feel worthless, he took Autumn’s painting off the lobby wall and hung Sloane’s up instead.
Because Sloane whispered, I’ll die without your love, he handed her the part of himself that belonged to Autumn.
And now, sitting here, he can’t even understand why he did any of it.
For a girl he’d known for two years, he burned down ten years with the love of his life.
And their baby.
“Sloane. Last chance. Tell me exactly what happened that day. Every word.”
Sloane’s eyes dart. Calculating.
Josh flicks a folder across the desk. Photos slide out.
“Your grandma back in Ohio doesn’t know you’re not really working, does she? She thinks you got a real job. Not that you’ve been faking illness to seduce your boss.”
Sloane goes white. Snatches the photo of her grandma. Grinds her teeth.
Then she cracks.
“Fine. I’m not lying. Autumn called me. She was the one who called.”
Sloane slides down onto the floor.
“She asked me if I wanted to be your real bride. Said she’d make a deal.”
Josh’s face is half in shadow. Unreadable.
Sloane swallows. Keeps going.
“I thought she’d lost it. So I decided to twist the knife. I told her everything.”
“When we started. Where we did it: the car, the office, y’all’s penthouse.”
“Told her you were obsessed with me. Told her you didn’t love her anymore.”
Josh’s voice comes out hoarse. “And?”
“She didn’t react. Not once. Not a tear. Not a word.”
“So I got tired. And she told me the deal. I get the wedding. In exchange, I help her disappear from Jersey City.”
Josh: “Where did you send her?”
Sloane shakes her head. “I don’t know. She just told me to keep you busy. She never said where she was going.”
His heart isn’t beating. Or maybe it’s beating too hard. He can’t tell.
Find her. Find her before it’s too late.
The adoption papers are still crushed in his fist. Feels like broken glass. Every nerve is bleeding.
Autumn’s gone. No trail. No trace.
Autumn left him.
Autumn signed their baby away to strangers he will never, ever find. Because that’s how much she needed to make sure he could never touch either of them again.
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