"And let's be honest—life is long. I'm a normal man. If you could take care of my physical needs, I wouldn't have had to go looking elsewhere, right?"
Every word out of Leo's mouth was more shameless than the last.
As if all of this were somehow my fault.
"Leo… do you actually still love me?"
His voice carried a thin edge of impatience.
"Of course I still love you. Why else would I have gone through all this trouble to keep it from you until now? Rose, you can't be this selfish. You can't let your condition stop me from having what any normal person needs."
So in the end, I was the selfish one.
My voice shook with barely contained fury.
"Leo, when you were eighteen, you didn't abandon me over this 'condition.' Seven years. And now you're telling me you need this."
He frowned, not a shred of shame on his face.
"We were students back then. All we needed was love, and that was enough. But we're adults now. Love alone doesn't cut it."
"But don't worry. Once Adela has the baby and everything settles down, I'll marry you. And then we'll have a child of our own."
When I didn't respond, he sat down beside me.
His tone softened a fraction.