His Wine Cost More Than My Unborn Child Chapter 14

His Wine Cost More Than My Unborn Child Chapter 14

Corbin’s Epilogue

When Corbin got home, Nessa’s things were gone.

She’d left clean. Took only what was hers. And every photo from the shelf.

It didn’t make any sense for him to be this devastated. Their entire relationship had been built on a

lie.

Even after discovering the truth, Nessa hadn’t confronted him or demanded an explanation.

One of his friends had pulled the same stunt before. The woman had stormed to his house and

refused to leave until she got two million dollars.

Corbin sat on the couch. For the first time, the lights in the apartment felt painfully bright. He raised an arm to cover his eyes.

When had Nessa learned the truth?

Why had she been at The Velvet Room?

And when had she met Lachlan?

He couldn’t sit still anymore.

He shot to his feet. His car tore through the empty streets at nearly 110 miles per hour.

He went straight to The Velvet Room and demanded the security footage.

That led him to Tamsin.

He knew of her. A floor manager at the club. Sharp chin. Even sharper eyes.

Word was, she’d been a victim of the same game once. Rich kids playing poor.

Smoking a cigarette, Tamsin met his questions with an innocent smile.

“Nessa? Yeah, I brought her on. But I barely knew her.”

“She told me she was broke, so since we were kind of from the same hometown, I let her work as a

server.”

“Honestly, she’s pretty enough to make a lot more as a hostess, but she wouldn’t do it.”

“Then a couple days ago she suddenly called and changed her mind. Said something happened back

home and she needed money fast.”

“How she got hooked up with Lachlan? Beats me.”

“The clients here-they’ve all got an eye for beauty. Nessa’s got that innocent face, pretty eyes.

Course someone’s gonna notice.”

“Mr. Voss, you’re really wasting your time here.”

“I swear, I had no clue you two were a thing.”

“I mean, you? With her? Even if you told me yourself, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Corbin knew he wasn’t getting anything else out of her.

A woman who’d climbed her way up in a place like this—she had backing. Connections.

He couldn’t force her to talk. So he went to Hollow Grove.

They’d been together three years. Every Christmas, she’d ask if he wanted to go home with her.

Meet the family. Make it official.

He knew she had wanted to marry him. She’d wanted to keep their baby too.

There had been moments, more than once, when he’d come close. Close to telling her everything.

He knew she probably would’ve forgiven him.

Life with her had been hard. But somehow, even the hard days had been sweet.

He had this gut feeling that once he stepped back into his old life, his old identity… things between

them would never be the same.

So he hesitated. Put it off. And put it off some more.

He won the bet. But the victory never felt like one.

It was like living on top of a buried landmine. Never knowing when it would blow. Or if.

Still, he couldn’t walk away. So he stayed. Always uneasy.

Now the mine had finally gone off.

Just not the way he’d imagined.

He searched Hollow Grove. No sign of her.

It was as if an invisible wall had cut her out of his world.

He drifted through the days. Lost. Exhausted. Like a trapped animal.

She’d always seemed so insignificant. Yet from the day she left, she vanished completely.

He knew Lachlan had something to do with it.

But Lachlan belonged to a different world.

Corbin’s influence couldn’t reach that far. Not into Portshire.

He stayed in Hollow Grove for a week.

In the end, all he could do was board a flight home.

What he never knew was that less than a minute before he walked into the VIP lounge, Nessa and

Lachlan had already boarded their own flight.

The world was strange.

Some people crossed paths again and again. Others, you missed just once and never met again.

Nessa had been gone two years when Corbin got married. A family arrangement.

A merger, really. Love had nothing to do with it.

Something inside him had changed. Or maybe something inside him had died.

Sometimes he dreamed about Nessa.

In one dream, he confessed everything.

They got married. Had a child. Lived happily ever after.

In another, she slapped him across the face, cursed him for deceiving her, and walked away forever.

But in reality, she chose neither.

She simply watched him play the devoted boyfriend. Then she left without a word.

That silence became an obsession.

He had to know. Did she hate him? Or did she still love him, even a little?

Whenever he had time, he went to Portshire. He kept asking about her.

Sometimes he’d run into Lachlan at year-end business summits.

Didn’t matter if he asked politely or demanded outright. Lachlan always gave him the same answer.

“Nessa? Don’t know anyone by that name:”

“Isn’t she your girlfriend? If you can’t find her, what makes you think I can?”

Two years after Nessa disappeared, Corbin was in a car accident.

He’d spotted someone from behind. A woman.

For one heartbeat-just one-he thought it was her.

He chased after the woman, shouting Nessa’s name.

He ran into the street. A speeding car hit him.

He survived. But he lost a leg.

From then on, he walked with a limp.

Four years into his marriage, he got divorced.

His temper had become impossible.

His wife had agreed to a business marriage. Not a lifetime of misery.

The divorce sent the company’s stock price reeling. Market value took a nosedive.

Lachlan took full advantage of the chaos. Picked off a healthy chunk of the market.

Sometimes Corbin felt this urge. To just lay it out.

Name your price. How much to tell me where she is?

Ten years after Nessa left him, he finally saw her again.

At a seaside resort. He was there on business.

The elevator doors opened.

Nessa stepped out, sunglasses on, a little girl’s hand in hers.

The child skipped beside her, chatting happily.

Nessa was smiling. The same gentle smile he remembered. Time had barely touched her.

“Nessa!”

In that instant, nothing else mattered.

He forgot about the cane. Forgot about the pain. He limped toward her as fast as he could.

She looked at him in surprise. Their eyes met.

His vision blurred with tears. “Nessa!”

Éven he didn’t understand why he’d held onto her for so many years.

Maybe because she had disappeared too suddenly.

Maybe because he’d never been allowed to finish the story.

“Mommy, who is that man?”

The little girl looked at him curiously.

Corbin thought of the baby he and Nessa had lost.

If the baby had been born, if Nessa had stayed, everything could have been different.

One impossible future after another played through his mind.

Nessa just nodded. “It’s been a long time, Corbin.”

As if they’d never loved each other. Maybe they never had.

What they’d had-it started with a lie. Could you even call that love?

“You’re married?” His voice shook. “How old is your child? Does your husband treat you well?”

Nessa smiled. “Yes, I’m married. He’s good to me. Very good. My daughter-she’s six.”

“Mommy, I want to go play in the water.”

The little girl couldn’t care less about grown-ups and their tangled histories. All she wanted was

sand and waves.

“Daddy said he’d build me a castle! Maybe it’s already done!”

“We should go, then.” Nessa gave him a nod. “Goodbye.”

“Wait!” He reached for her.

She stepped back. Her voice remained gentle. But there wasn’t a trace of fear left in it.

“Mr. Voss. Please. Keep your distance.”

“I’ve looked for you for years.” His voice was hoarse. “Lachlan hid you from me.”

“I owed you an explanation. I’ve wanted to tell you everything.”

“You don’t owe me anything. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“We were together for years. Does none of that matter to you?”

“No.” Her answer was quiet. “It doesn’t.”

So please stop looking for me.”

“Lachlan never hid me. I just didn’t want to see you.”

“Do you hate me?” he asked.

Nessa smiled. She picked up her daughter. Then she walked away without looking back.

Corbin tried to follow. But stopped the moment he saw Lachlan.

Lachlan saw him too. He gave Corbin one cold glance.

Then his expression softened as he looked at Nessa and the little girl.

He lifted his daughter into his arms. Reached for Nessa’s hand.

The three of them walked away together. A happy family.

Corbin stood there alone, with no one left by his side.

He knew. This was the end.

But it wasn’t supposed to be. The man holding Nessa’s hand should have been him. The little girl

should have been his daughter.

That was the life he could never get back.

The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

This had to be a nightmare. He only needed to wake up.

He’d always had trouble falling asleep. But that night, he slept deeper than he ever had

In his dream, he returned to the world where everything had gone right.

Nessa lay in his arms, looking at him with love.

She smiled and whispered-today was their tenth wedding anniversary.

After that, Corbin lost his mind.

He wandered around telling everyone he met that he had a wife and a daughter.

His wife’s name was Nessa Merrick. His daughter was ten years old. They were a happy family.

The day they committed him to the psychiatric facility, he saw a gig rider wearing a helmet pass by

on a delivery scooter.

He suddenly screamed. Over and over.

“That delivery guy stole my life!”

He lunged. The scooter swerved-too late.

Both of them crashed into the grass.

A rock struck the back of Corbin’s head. Blood spread beneath him.

Corbin lay there, eyes open, staring up at the blue sky.

A strange, distant smile spread across his face.

His hand still gripped the delivery rider’s helmet.

“Nessa, I’m home.”

“I brought you your favorite. Mac and cheese.”

“I even got you an extra hot dog… just for you.”