Thomas answered the door in a towel. Behind him stood a woman—pregnant, radiant, and unaware.

“I’m Laura,” I told her. “Thomas’s wife.”

Shock. Tears. Betrayal. Ryan told his father he was dead to him. I asked for my grandfather’s ring back. And I meant it.

Sophie came home with us—her mother needed space. That night, we shared chocolate cake in silence, trying to make sense of the wreckage.

Our world had cracked open, but it hadn’t crumbled.

We were still here. And for now, that was enough.