Chapter 3 - The Gathering Storm
I walked out of the bank with exactly zero dollars in our joint account.
I had drained every single penny that rightfully belonged to me before Sophia could touch it.
That evening, Lukas came home with a bouquet of expensive red roses and a charming smile.
He kissed my cheek and asked how my sick day at home had been.
I smiled back, thanking him for the flowers while fighting the urge to smash the vase over his head.
I told him I was feeling much better and had even prepared a special dinner for us.
I served him a traditional German pork roast, a recipe I had secretly translated from his mother's private cookbook.
Lukas took a bite and froze, his eyes darting toward me with a flash of genuine suspicion.
He asked me where I had learned to cook something so specific to his childhood.
I casually lied, claiming I had found a random recipe video online that morning.
He relaxed, buying the lie completely, and pulled out his phone to send a quick text message.
He left the phone resting face-up on the dining table when he went to the kitchen to grab a beer.
The screen lit up with a new notification from an unsaved number.
I leaned over the table, using my newly acquired German vocabulary to read the incoming message.
The text was from Sophia, and it was entirely in German.
She wrote that the doctor had just confirmed the new schedule.
May you like
They weren't going to wait another four months for the baby to arrive.
Sophia was actually eight months pregnant, and she was being induced next Tuesday.
