Ray drew a deep breath. "I can give you something. But not much. A hundred thousand."
A fortune worth tens of millions, and he was offering me a hundred thousand.
My vision blurred. Not from tears.
From the aftershock of loving a man I'd never truly known.
It took me a long moment to steady myself enough to speak normally. "There has to be a reason. Give me a reason for the hundred thousand."
Ray inhaled and spoke as if stating something perfectly reasonable: "She's pregnant. She's carrying my child. And you—you can't have children."
That reason nearly knocked me off my feet.
So that was it.
"But being unable to have children—is that really a reason?"
"There are so many medical options now. Having a baby isn't impossible. So why are you saying I can't?"
I laughed, mocking him.
And as I laughed, it suddenly clicked.
"You never loved me. Ruth is the one you've always wanted, isn't she? Once you had money, you went running back to your first choice to have children with her."
"But have you forgotten how she used to treat you? Do you have Stockholm syndrome?"
In my memory, Ruth Newton had tormented Ray more times than I could count.