“So you destroyed your marriage,” she whispered to David, “over something that wasn’t even true?”

David rubbed a hand over his face.

“Paige, wait—”

“No,” she interrupted sharply. “You were completely sure. You told everyone she cheated on you.”

He looked toward me then, finally, but I no longer recognized the man standing there.

Not because he looked different.

Because something inside me had changed.

For weeks I had begged silently for him to believe me.

Now I realized I no longer needed him to.

Dr. Harris quietly excused herself, sensing the tension in the room.

The second the door closed, Paige stepped backward away from David as though she suddenly saw him clearly for the first time.

“You moved into my apartment,” she said slowly, “while your pregnant wife was alone… because you decided she had betrayed you without even checking the facts?”

David’s jaw tightened.

“She could have told me sooner how far along she was.”

I laughed softly in disbelief.

“You never asked,” I said.

The words hit harder than shouting.

Because they were true.

He had never once asked how I felt.

Never asked if I was scared.

Never asked about the baby.

Only whether I had betrayed him.

Paige grabbed her purse.

“I can’t do this,” she said.

“Paige—”

“No.” Her voice shook now. “If you can treat your wife like this after eight years together, what do you think you’ll eventually do to me?”

David reached for her arm, but she pulled away.

Then, without another word, she walked out of the room.

The silence she left behind felt enormous.

David turned back toward me.

For the first time, there was no anger in his face.

Only panic.

“Laura…”

I looked down at the tiny heartbeat still flickering on the screen.

My baby had no idea the world outside was falling apart.

And suddenly, protecting that peace mattered more than fixing my marriage.

“You accused me of cheating,” I said quietly.

David swallowed hard.

“I know.”

“You abandoned me while I was pregnant.”

“I was angry.”

“You humiliated me publicly.”

His eyes filled with regret, but I kept going.

“You let your mother insult me. You let strangers believe I was lying. You moved in with another woman before even speaking to a doctor.”

Each sentence seemed to make him smaller.

“I made a mistake,” he whispered.

I shook my head slowly.

“A mistake is forgetting an anniversary, David.”

Tears burned behind my eyes, but my voice stayed steady.

“What you did was a choice………….

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