Page 183 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8

She looked down at her hand, at the twisted strings of silver forming the band around her middle finger.

The note had said it had been made for her, that it belonged to her, and he didn’t want it.

Her heart ached.Still.

He didn’t want her.

She splayed her fingers, flexed them. The weight felt foreign. Wrong. And she supposed it was. It was on the wrong hand. It didn’t belong on that finger. It was too tight. But she couldn’t bear to wear it on the right finger. The silver clawed feet holding the blue stone in the centre pinched, indented her flesh like a branding iron.

His brand.

She knew that ran deeper than the mark that would disappear when she took the ring off.

He’d changed her. Marked her as his from the first night they’d met.

And still she was his. She ached for him. In every way…

Her stomach twinged. She stroked it. But still it ached. Tightened.

‘Not yet, little one,’ she whispered. ‘A few more days, please.’

The baby was ready, she knew. But still she held on. Still she gave him time he hadn’t requested. Time she didn’t have to give him.

But he wasn’t coming.

Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.

‘Ouch!’She doubled over, her hands clutched to her stomach. The Braxton Hicks contraction was tighter than usual. So tight it stole her breath.

It was only a practice contraction. It would pass. Ithadto pass. She wasn’t ready. Not without him.

Hewouldcome. He had to.

They were not over.

They were having a baby.

They were in love.

He doesn’t love you.

Pain tore through her pelvis.‘Ahh!’

She gritted her teeth and breathed through it.

He loved her.

He loved the baby inside her.

So why isn’t he here?

The pain eased. But a pressure built in her back. A weighted thing on her spine.

She sat down on the edge of the bed.

Every day, the conversation was the same. A battle of her heart and her mind. He didn’t want her. He’d sent her away… And what had she done? She’d let him push her into a helicopter. She’d let him end them. Without a fight.

She closed her eyes.