Page 110 of Endgame

‘Chris, I need you to hear me out.’

‘I think I’ve heard?—’

‘Ariella is pregnant.’

His eyes widen. ‘That bastard got her pregnant and now he’s tossing her aside?’

‘No. The baby is mine.’

‘Caleb, I’m going to need you to start from the beginning and tell me everything.’

So I do.

‘What do you need?’ Christopher asks when I am done.

‘If I give you a couple of specific weeks every month, can you request my presence in London to help with a range of different challenges?’

‘Caleb, I’m not Harrison. I can’t manufacture enough issues for you to be in London every other week.’

‘That’s not what I meant. I’ve submitted two holiday requests already that have both been rejected. I’d like to be there at least a week a month, and for a couple of weeks minimum when the baby is due.’

‘Don’t they have paternity leave out there?’

‘I have to be a Singaporean citizen and I have to be married to Ariella by the time the baby is born for it to be enforced at a governmental level. And that’s only a shitty two weeks. I’ve looked through my employment contract too. I don’t get paternity unless we are married.’

‘Are you not thinking of marrying her then?’

‘Of course I am, but not like this. She’s not a legal get-out-of-Singapore-free card.’

‘I don’t think I have enough for once a month. Maybe once every two months? Once we know her due date, I can work towards getting you out here for a couple of weeks and find a huge problem that might require you to stay out for an extra week or two?’

‘Thanks, Chris.’ I hear my voice shake.

‘A word of advice, Caleb. Seek help. Your anger has robbed you twice. Don’t let it happen a third time, and especially not with someone who really matters.’

I know what he is saying. ‘I understand.’

‘Good. Because if you hadn’t laid into him, you’d both be coming home.’

‘No. I may have been able to come back and forth as much as I wanted, but it would have been just Aari.’

‘No. She requested both your returns. He’d agreed. Then you did what you did.’

The full impact of regret for what I did hits me. Dominic is absolutely evil for retaliating with this. I am going to make him pay.

‘Don’t, Caleb.’

‘Don’t what?’

‘Whatever you’re thinking, just don’t. Let me know when Ariella’s flight back is. I may not be able to get you out together, but I can arrange for you to follow the week after. Piers is acting up anyway and I could use your help straightening him out.’

TWENTY-NINE

ARIELLA

The house doesn’t feel or look any different to when I moved in, after I’ve packed my belongings ready to go to the airport. It only reinforces what I already know. This was never my home.

It has been a calm day. Caleb and I moved around each other quietly. He packed the final bits to move into his new place later tonight. He spent the rest of the day checking the house and ensuring we haven’t left anything. Things haven’t been the same since that night at Dominic’s and, while we are still together and talking, there remains a distance between us that neither of us can reach across. What used to be intimacy-filled nights with intermittent spells of sleepy chatter are now silent as Caleb holds on to me with a hand on my belly.

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