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It took a second for him to understand, and when he did, shock and pain crossed his eyes. “Fucking hell,” he breathed. “Is that why you’ve been off lately?” Lan gathered me in his arms so gently, his hard muscles all over my softness. “I’m so fucking sorry, baby.” He softly drew the dirty-blond strands sticking to my face and gave me a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. It’s still fine. It won’t change a thing. We still have plenty of options if you want one. There are so many ways we can do this.”

“We don’t really have any options,” I said in a voice I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t feel anything anymore. “I haven’t had a period in six years.”

“That’s ok—” I felt his muscles still as his stunned eyes flew to me. “What did you just say?”

“I haven’t had a period in six years,” I said in a low tone.

“But you have. I’ve seen it. You complain about it every month…” He stopped, a thin line forming over his jaw as he let out a baffled exhale. “You’ve been lying. All this time, you’ve been lying to me?”

I swallowed. “Yes.”

Pain and hurt flashed in his eyes as he took a step back. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Shame crowded my blood. “Because I couldn’t give you what you want.”

“And you think that’s what I want?” he asked in disbelief. “You think I want children? I want youmore, Katy. You think I’m going to hold it against you that you can’t have children? You think I would leave you for something like that? Is that all you think of me?” His voice rose with each word as his furious eyes swept over me.

And when I didn’t say anything, he shook his head like he didn’t recognize me anymore.

There it was.

The moment I’d been dreading all my life.

The moment I tried so hard to prevent.

The moment when my meticulously compiled facade ended.

It was here, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

LAN

All the light dimmed from those green eyes that I loved very much.

Dimmed so dull that I hardly recognized those soulless, dead eyes anymore.

Was that the way she’d been looking at me all these years and I was too dumb to see it?

I knew my Katy lied to me, but I thought they were plain white lies that, at times, I found them adorable and funny. Her lies never annoyed me because I thought there was nothing malicious about them.

But I have come to the conclusion that it was far from the truth.

The woman I loved with all that I was had been hiding from me, had beentrickingme.

And right this second, I couldn’t feel my heart beating.

Never in all these years I spent loving her had I felt so misunderstood, so low…

She didn’t say anything. She just stood there like a ghost.

“Katy?”

As if my voice snapped her out of whatever world she was in, she brought her attention back to me.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”

“I…I don’t know what to say.”

At any other time, people would’ve found it funny knowing that Katy Evans didn’t know what to say. Because she always had something to say. With her sharp mouth, her commanding personality, and her ruthless nature, she made people fear and respect her.