The CEO Confessed In Delivery Room While I Bled Out Chapter 10

The CEO Confessed In Delivery Room While I Bled Out Chapter 10

I moved to a small town on the coast with Lily.

Life after Caleb wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

The postpartum depression didn’t go away. Every night I had nightmares.

One minute Caleb and I were in that cramped basement apartment, sharing a strawberry

shortcake.

He always saved the top berry for me. His eyes were so soft. His rough fingers wiped the juice

from my lips.

“You’re so cute, Elena. Let’s have a daughter who looks just like you.”

Then I was on the delivery table under those white lights. He was inside Vanessa, and he turned his

head and smiled.

“I don’t love you anymore, Elena. Vanessa is better. She’s more fun. And she can give me a son.”

The two dreams tore me apart.

I’d wake up and stare at the ceiling, listening to the waves crash outside, my chest tight and

aching.

I saw a therapist. She gave me exercises to get better.

I started baking. Took a class at the community center. Learned to make cookies and cakes from

scratch.

I started documenting my life. Lily’s funny moments. Sunsets on the beach. Baked goods that

came out lopsided. Small beautiful things. I posted videos online.

Slowly, my videos got popular.

The comments were so kind.

[You’re so healing to watch. Your videos make me feel warm inside.]

[A single mom and still this put together? Amazing

[Lily is so adorable. You’re so beautiful. Please stay happy forever.]

The warm comments felt like small beams of light in my dark world.

Slowly, I began to believe I could be valued. That I could be seen.

Eventually, I stopped drowning in the past. The nightmares came less often.

I smiled more. My checkups got better.

Then, a year later, Caleb found me.

He looked like he hadn’t slept in months, thin, worn down, his tailored suits replaced by wrinkled

clothes and bloodshot eyes.

He looked dead already.

He stood in the sun, staring at me. His eyes had regret, pain, and a desperate kind of joy.

“Elena…”

I put Lily behind me without thinking. My voice was flat. “Can I help you?”

Lily could talk now. She sucked her finger and looked up at him. “Mommy, who is that?”

Caleb’s eyes locked onto Lily’s face, as if he were seeing something he had already lost.

He opened his mouth. Then tears just fell.

Lily got scared. She hid behind my legs, clutching my shirt with both hands. “Mommy… scared.”

I lost it. “What do you want, Caleb? If it’s nothing, leave. You’re scaring her.”

He stepped back like he’d been slapped. “Don’t be mad. I just wanted to see her. I know I was

wrong. I’m going. I’ll go.”

“You two be happy. And don’t tell her about me. Don’t tell her that her father is garbage.”

He looked at me and Lily one more time. Then he turned and walked away.

A few days later, his death made the news.

He’d taken Vanessa and her parents with him.

The reason was simple.

The truth always comes out.

Vanessa’s baby wasn’t his. The paternity test came back. Dark skinned. Mixed race. Some other

man’s child.

That single truth shattered him.

Because of that baby, he pushed me away. He lost his daughter. He destroyed the home that once

had a light on for him.

The ending was so absurd.

Caleb came to see me one last time.

And I looked at him with nothing but disgust. No forgiveness at all.

Whatever was still holding him together? It fell apart that day.

He sent the child into foster care.

That night, he went home, mixed sleeping pills into their drinks, and watched as everything went

quiet.

Then he lit a match and burned it all down.

I turned off the television.

Outside, the sun was warm. Waves rolled against the shore.

Lily sat on the porch, drawing with her crayons.

I sat down next to her.

And for the first time in a long time, I let myself believe that this might finally be peace, just her and me, by the sea, day after day.