CHAPTER 2 — TOO LATE TO FIX

Weeks passed.

Richard searched everywhere.

Private investigators.

Airports.

Bank records.

Mutual friends.

Nothing.

Clara had disappeared completely.

His mistress lasted exactly eleven days.

The relationship that once felt exciting suddenly felt empty.

One evening she laughed while scrolling through her phone.

Richard realized he didn't even know her favorite color.

He ended the affair that night.

But ending it changed nothing.

The damage had already been done.

Every room in the penthouse haunted him.

Clara's favorite books remained on the shelves.

Her coffee mug still sat in the kitchen.

The nursery remained unfinished.

One afternoon Richard opened a closet and found a small notebook.

Clara's pregnancy journal.

He sat on the floor reading page after page.

First heartbeat.

First kick.

Names she liked.

Dreams she had for their son.

One entry shattered him.

If Richard ever reads this one day, I hope he knows I never wanted to leave. I only wanted him to love us enough to stay faithful.

Tears filled his eyes.

Real tears.

Not because he lost.

Because he finally understood what he had destroyed.

For the first time, Richard stopped looking for ways to bring Clara back.

Instead, he began asking himself whether he deserved her return at all.