“What do I want? I’m just taking back what’s mine.”
I met Nolan’s stare without a trace of warmth.
The press had completely lost control.
Camera flashes went off so rapidly that the entire stage seemed to flicker.
“Mr. Whitaker, is it true that you misappropriated technology developed by your ex-wife?”
“Ms. Sutton, did you falsely claim research you never did and use it to promote this product?”
The questions came at them from every direction.
Nolan tried to shield Brielle and move toward the backstage area, but the reporters broke through the security line and surrounded them.
“Get out of the way! All of you!”
He shoved a microphone aside, only drawing more reporters toward him.
That was when he finally seemed to understand how bad this was.
Whitaker Group’s stock could crater when the market opened tomorrow.
He turned and stared at me through the crowd.
“Mara, do you really have to take this this far?”
Then his tone abruptly changed.
“You’re pregnant. You shouldn’t be getting this worked up. Come home with me.”
He was trying to use the baby to salvage what was left of his image, playing the part of the loving, forgiving husband.
The word pregnant only made the reporters more excited.
“Ms. Lennox, are you really pregnant?”
“Did Mr. Whitaker force you into a divorce while you were pregnant so he could marry Ms. Sutton?”
I looked at Nolan’s performance and felt sick all over again.
Elias stepped forward and held up an official medical report from the hospital for the press to see.
“Mr. Whitaker, I’m afraid there’s something you should know.”
His voice was cold and steady.
“Mara suffered a miscarriage during last night’s storm. She lost the baby.”
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
Nolan froze.
All the anger drained from his face, replaced by stunned disbelief.
“What did you say?”
He pushed through the reporters and stumbled toward me.
“Mara, he’s lying, right? Yesterday in the car, you told me…”
His voice began to shake.
For the first time, there was genuine panic in his eyes.
“Yesterday in the car, I told you I was pregnant.”
I spoke as calmly as though I were telling someone else’s story.
“You decided I was lying because I wanted to keep you from winning your game.”
“Last night, in the middle of that storm, you cut off my cards and threw me out of the house.”
“I was in so much pain I could barely walk, and I called you.”
I paused and watched him begin to unravel.
“You came.”
“And then Brielle called, so you left me bleeding in the mud and went to save her.”
I looked straight at him.
“Nolan, you killed your own baby.”
The words hit him like a physical blow.
His knees buckled, and he dropped to his knees in front of me.
“No… no, that’s impossible. Brielle said she was going to jump. I thought you were just throwing a tantrum…”
He stumbled over the words and reached for the hem of my dress.
I stepped back before he could touch me.
“Did she jump?”
I looked down at him.
“She was playing another one of her stupid dare games with you.”
“But I was actually bleeding.”
Brielle covered her mouth and backed away.
“Nolan, I didn’t know Mara was really pregnant. I was only joking…”
“Shut up!”
Nolan spun toward her and shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
It was the first time he’d ever turned that kind of anger on his childhood best friend.
Then he looked back at me.
Tears spilled down his face.
“Mara, I was wrong. I was so wrong.”
“Please forgive me. We can start over, can’t we?”