Damian Pov
I crouched behind a parked car across the street from Bella's modeling agency. My heart pounded so hard in my chest I could hear it in my ears like a drum.
I had been waiting here for two hours. Hiding like some kind of criminal. But I needed to see her. I needed to talk to her face to face. She would not answer my calls. She blocked my emails. This was the only way left.
The agency door opened. I tensed up. But it was just some young guy in a suit. Not Bella.
I waited. My legs were cramping from crouching for so long. My back hurt. But I did not move.
Then the door opened again. And there she was.
Bella.
She looked exhausted. Dark circles under her eyes. Her face was pale and thin like she had not been eating enough. She was wearing loose clothes that hid her body. But I knew. The private investigator told me three days ago. She was pregnant. Carrying my baby.
She started walking down the sidewalk away from me. I stood up fast. My legs almost gave out but I caught myself on the car.
I stepped out onto the sidewalk. She was about twenty feet ahead of me.
"Bella" I called out.
She froze. Her whole body went stiff. She turned around slowly.
When she saw me her eyes went wide. Shock first. Then anger. Pure burning anger.
"No" she said. She started walking away faster.
"Wait" I jogged to catch up to her. "Please. Just five minutes. That is all I am asking"
She spun around to face me. People on the sidewalk had to walk around us. Some of them stared.
"Five minutes" she said. Her voice was ice. "You want five minutes of my time after what you did"
"Please" I said. "I know about the baby Bella. I know you are pregnant"
Her face twisted into something I had never seen before. Rage. Betrayal. Disgust. All at once.
"You have no right" she said. Her voice got louder. "You have no right to know anything about my child"
People were definitely staring now. A couple stopped walking to watch us. A woman pulled out her phone.
"Bella please" I said. I stepped closer but she stepped back. "That baby is mine too. I have a right"
"You have no rights" she yelled. Everyone within fifty feet could hear her now. "You gave up your rights when you slept with your secretary in our bed. You gave up everything. How did you even know about the baby? You've been stalking me."
Strangers whispered to each other. I saw someone taking video on their phone. I did not care. None of it mattered. Only Bella mattered. Only our baby mattered.
I dropped to my knees right there on the dirty sidewalk. I did not care who saw. I did not care about my expensive suit getting ruined. I did not care about anything except making her listen.
"I fired her" I said. Tears were already falling down my face. I could not stop them. "I ended everything with Karen. She is banned from my building. From my life. She is nothing to me. She was always nothing"
Bella stared down at me. Her eyes were wet too but she was fighting the tears. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.
"I am begging you" I said. My voice broke. "Please. Let me help you. Let me take care of you and our baby. Let me prove to you that I changed. That I am sorry. That I love you more than anything in this world"
She laughed. It was the most bitter sound I ever heard. The tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
"You begged Karen too didn't you" she said quietly. "You begged her to sleep with you. You begged her to come to our house. To our bed. Didn't you"
"No" I said. "That is not...that is not how it happened"
"I do not care how it happened" Bella said. "I do not care about your excuses. I do not care about anything you have to say"
She turned and started walking away again. Fast. Almost running.
"Bella wait" I tried to stand up but my legs would not work right. "Please"
She did not turn around. She did not stop. She just kept walking until she disappeared around the corner.
I stayed there on my knees on the sidewalk. People walked past me. Some stared. Some pretended not to see me. Someone muttered something about crazy people.
I did not move. I could not move. It felt like my whole body had turned to stone.
She was pregnant with my baby. My child was growing inside her right now. And she would not let me anywhere near her. Would not let me help. Would not even let me talk to her.
I finally managed to stand up. My suit pants were filthy and torn at the knees. My hands were shaking. My vision was blurred from tears.
I walked slowly back to my car. I got in and sat there. I could still see the corner where Bella disappeared. I stared at it like she might come back. Like she might change her mind.
But she did not come back. The street got darker as the sun started to set. People walked past. Cars drove by. Life went on for everyone else.
I put my head down on the steering wheel. I cried harder than I had cried since this whole nightmare started. My shoulders shook. My chest hurt. I could not breathe right.
I thought about Bella pregnant and alone. Struggling to pay for doctor visits. Struggling to afford food. Struggling with everything while I had millions of dollars sitting in the bank.
It was not fair. It was not right. That was my baby too. I should be taking care of them. Both of them. I should be at every doctor appointment. I should be making sure Bella had everything she needed. I should be there.
But she would not let me. She hated me too much. And I deserved every bit of that hate. I earned it. I destroyed everything and now I had to live with it.