Chapter 63
Frank’s POV
I never expected to fall in love with Emily. Not when I started this plan, not when I got close to her, and certainly not when I was tasked with destroying her life. But it happened. I fell for her, hard. By the time I realized how deep my feelings ran, it was already too late.
The truth was going to come out eventually, and when it did, there was no turning back. I had ruined everything–the life we could’ve had, the future we could’ve built. It all fell apart because of my own mistakes.
As I sat in my cell, the weight of my actions pressed down on me. Every day, the guilt gnawed at me, and I knew there was no escaping it. The sound of the guard’s footsteps broke through my thoughts.
“Hey, Frank, someone’s here to see you.”
I instinctively knew it wasn’t my parents. They had visited a few times, but their disappointment was always clear, and lately, they’d stayed away. My chest tightened, a mixture of hope and dread forming a knot in my stomach. Who could it be?
When I stepped out into the visiting room and saw her sitting there, my breath caught in my throat. Emily. I hadn’t seen her since my trial, and the sight of her now–still as beautiful, still as strong–was almost too much to bear. I choked up, struggling to keep my emotions in check. The
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Chapter 63
thought that this might be the last time I’d ever see her face–to–face tore
me apart.
“Emily, how are you?” I asked, my voice filled with a nervous energy. “Are you okay? Is everything alright? God, I’ve been worried. I—” My words tumbled out in a rush, desperation leaking through.
Emily’s gaze was steady, though her eyes held a sadness I wished I could erase. She didn’t answer my questions right away, just watched me for a moment. Then she spoke, her voice soft but clear. “Frank,” she began, “I’m pregnant.”
For a moment, everything around me stopped. The noise of the guards, the clatter of chairs–everything faded as her words sank in. “Pregnant?” I whispered, disbelief and shock flooding my mind. “You’re… pregnant?”
Emily nodded, her hands resting protectively on her stomach. “Three months.”
I couldn’t believe it. My heart swelled with an unexpected joy, a flicker of something bright in the midst of this darkness. I was going to be a father. For a brief moment, I imagined what that would mean–a child, a family, something that tied Emily and me together forever. But that moment was flecting.
Reality crashed in as quickly as it had lifted me up. “Are you… are you going to keep the baby?” The question escaped my lips before I could stop it, and the second the words hung in the air, I regretted them.
Chapter 63
Emily’s face crumpled, her eyes welling with tears. “Why would you ask me that, Frank?” she cried, her voice shaking. “Is that what you think I’d do? Get rid of our child because you used me? Because you never cared about me?”
“No, Emily,” I stammered, my hands clenching into fists as I tried to explain. “It’s not that. I care about you more than you know. But what can I give you? What kind of life can I give our child while I’m rotting in here? I don’t want you or the baby tied to this mess I created. The child deserves more than a father in jail.”
Emily went quiet, her gaze fixed on the floor. She didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity. The silence between us was suffocating, and all I could do was sit there, hating myself for everything I had done to her, to
- us.
When she finally looked up, her voice was steadier, but the pain in her eyes remained. “I’m going to keep the baby, Frank,” she said firmly. “Our child will know the truth–everything, even about you. And I will come to see you, for the baby’s sake. But don’t expect me to forgive you. This isn’t something I can easily forget.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. I had hoped for some form of forgiveness, some glimmer of redemption. But I couldn’t blame her for feeling this way. I had betrayed her in the worst way possible.
“I….. I understand,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “But I have to ask, Emily… do you think you’ll ever forgive me?”
She looked at me with a mixture of sadness and resolve. “Maybe. But not
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Chapter 63
now, Frank. Not yet. I’m still hurting.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. It was more than I deserved, even the possibility of forgiveness in the distant future.
As we sat there in silence, the reality of the situation settled in. There would be no future for us. No family dinners, no watching our child grow up together. Everything I had once imagined for us had been shattered by my own actions.
But before we parted, before the guards came to take me away again, I had to tell ho “Emily,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. “I loved you. I still do. I know it doesn’t change anything, and I know I ruined everything, but I need you to know that. I loved you.”
Emily’s eyes softened for just a moment, and she nodded, her lips. trembling. “I know,” she whispered.
Our last kiss, filled with the weight of everything left unsaid, was brief but powerful. I knew it was the end of something we could never reclaim, a future that would never be. As I pulled away and watched her walk out of the room, my heart broke all over again.
This was it. The last time I would ever h
