My Lawyer Fiancé Left Me at the Altar for a Pregnant Fraud Chapter 02

My Lawyer Fiancé Left Me at the Altar for a Pregnant Fraud Chapter 02

I woke up in a hospital bed.

Sage was next to me. She pressed a cup of water into my hands, her face tight with worry.

“You’ve been unconscious all day. I called Caspian. He’s on his way.”

Yesterday crashed back over me. The ballroom. The girl. The way he walked.

My throat was raw. “Why did you call him? What’s left to talk about?”

Sage hesitated. Her eyes dropped to my stomach and stayed there a beat too long.

“Marlowe… you’re pregnant. Three months.”

My hand flew to my belly. The air left my lungs.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

I have a narrow fallopian tube. The odds were never great.

Caspian and I never used anything. I handled his money. He told me the second I got pregnant, we’d sign the papers and make it official.

So we didn’t try. We simply didn’t prevent it.

For years, I waited for this baby.

I waited for the wedding. The house. The whole life we’d built in my head.

And now—now, when everything had just shattered—it showed up.

The universe has a sick sense of humor.

I tipped my head back and forced the tears down.

The door opened. Caspian walked in.

Sage grabbed her MacBook Pro and slipped out without a word.

I pressed myself against the pillows. My voice trembled. “How long has this been going on?”

Camila Quinn. The new intern. Six months ago, I’d personally placed her under Caspian because they’d shared the same advisor back in law school.

I was the one who put her there.

I was the one who lit the fuse on my own life.

How’s that for irony.

Sunlight slanted through the window and caught the edges of Caspian’s hair. He didn’t look at me.

He was peeling an apple, the skin curling in one long strip toward the floor.

He’d always been like this. Quiet. Steady. He cooked, he cleaned, he handled everything.

I used to love watching him do these small things.

It was how I knew he loved me.

He looked up and handed me the apple.His voice was maddeningly calm.

“Last month. I got drunk. A mistake.”

Drunk. A mistake.

Right. A great excuse.

I laughed. Tears slipped down my cheeks. “So you made a mistake, and instead of saying a single word to me, you left me standing alone in front of three hundred people?”

Did he ever stop to consider how humiliating that was?

How utterly abandoned I felt?

He lowered his head. When he met my eyes again, there was something almost like trust in his face.

“Marlowe. In that moment, the cleanest move was to own it and leave. And I knew—I knew you’d do damage control.”

Damage control.

I let out a hollow laugh.

Of course. Caspian Lowell had never lost a case. That meant he’d made enemies. Lots of them.

Every single time, I was the one who cleaned up the mess.

“That’s what I am to you,” I said. “Damage control.”

His jaw clenched. “That’s not what I meant.”

“So that’s it, then. We’re done.”

The words tore out of me.

I couldn’t stomach betrayal. Caspian had done something unforgivable. I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.

Eight years. Letting go felt like ripping out stitches.

He set the knife down and took my hand.His calluses scraped against my fingers.

His eyes flickered with something.

“No. Just give me time.”

“Marlowe, she’s refusing to terminate. She says she’s keeping it, and she wants me to step up. But I don’t believe I actually touched her. I just can’t prove it yet.”

I didn’t answer.

He leaned closer. His voice dropped.

“Even a defendant gets a chance to present their case, right?”

That line hit somewhere deep.

I was transported back to law school.

The debate club. The way he’d cornered me after a round, fumbling through some painfully obvious excuse to talk to me.

“Marlowe Finch. Whoever said lawyers can’t date lawyers? Just give me one shot. Let me make my case.”

The white button-down. That grin.

It was the same man.

My eyes burned.

I didn’t want to lose him. I didn’t want to walk away.

But God, the hurt was swallowing me whole.

The words of a breakup sat heavy on my tongue.

I couldn’t push it out.

I swallowed hard and met his eyes. “Has she had an amniocentesis?”

Caspian wasn’t stupid. If he believed she was lying, then maybe that night he hadn’t crossed the line.

I needed to believe he hadn’t crossed it.

Because if he had, I didn’t know how to keep this baby.

He shook his head.

“It’s too early. They can’t do the test yet.”

Silence settled between us. Thick. Suffocating.

Caspian was the kind of man who took responsibility. If Camila was carrying his child, he’d be there. No question.

I wasn’t going to let myself become the second choice.

I closed my eyes and kept my secret where it was.

“Then we both need some space. Let’s just… take some time apart.”