I Aborted Our Baby The Day He Celebrated His Mistress Birthday Chapter 09

I Aborted Our Baby The Day He Celebrated His Mistress Birthday Chapter 09

It was an ordinary morning. I was heading into the office when I saw him.

Julian was crouched under the sycamore by the curb. Black overcoat, wrinkled. Hair a mess. Stubble

darkening his jaw. His eyes were closed, the skin beneath them hollowed out by dark circles so deep they

looked painted on.

I walked past him. A dry leaf cracked under my shoe, and Julian jerked awake.

His eyes were still half–glazed when they found me. He tried to stand – stumbled, went down, caught himself

against the tree, and tried again. Bark and twigs had already scraped the front of his coat.

“Eleanor! Wait – please, just wait-”

He lurched after me, voice scraped down to nothing. I didn’t slow down.

His arms locked around me from behind before I could reach the door. That woody cologne – the one that

used to make me feel safe – hit me and turned my stomach.

I fought to pull away, but he held on like letting go would kill him – arms crushing tight, face buried in my

shoulder, shaking.

“I missed you… God, I missed you so much…” “Two years – I’ve been looking for two years… I’m losing my

mind… Eleanor, please, forgive me…”

“I was wrong, I know I was wrong… I swear I’ll never do that to you again, just give me one chance, please…”

“I can’t do this without you…”

I wrenched his grip apart and looked straight at him. Whatever he saw in my face seemed to stop his

breathing.

Julian went rigid.

While he was still frozen, I shoved him back. “Don’t ever touch me again.” Then I walked inside.

Julian stayed outside the entire day. My coworkers – none of whom had ever met him – kept wandering

over to the windows, watching the man standing in the snow.

“Who is that guy? He’s been out there for hours.” “It’s freezing – he’s going to end up in the ER.”

“Never seen him before, but he’s hot. Ten bucks says he’s someone’s ex begging to be taken back.” They

wouldn’t stop speculating.

Outside, Julian was starting to fade. His head hung low, eyes dull, watching the snow gather around his

knees without really seeing it. Snow piled on his shoulders, soaking through the coat.

His teeth chattered so hard his jaw ached. Ice had crusted over his lashes, and every blink took effort.

He didn’t move.

Because every time he looked up, I knew he was trying to catch a glimpse of me through the window – just a

sliver, a shadow moving behind glass. His wife.

The woman he’d spent two years turning the world upside down to find.

His face went deathly pale. And then his legs gave out, and he dropped into the snow.