Chapter 18. Chaos Again

Evelyn

“W-what?” My voice trembled, barely a whisper. Somewhere deep inside me—somewhere I refused to acknowledge—there was hope. A desperate, foolish hope that he’d say something different. That he wouldn’t break me with a brutal truth like this.

“Yes, Evelyn.” His voice was steady, his eyes cold, though maybe—just maybe—there was a flicker of guilt in them. But at that moment, guilt didn’t matter. His words did. His actions did. The emotions he chose to display, and the ones he kept buried, were the only things that mattered.

“I am not fucking ready to be a father.” His tone was unyielding, each word a blade slicing through me. “I don’t want to be a father. I don’t have it in me, and I’d rather die than carry a burden like that. Raising a kid, all of it—it’s pointless. Stupid. Meaningless shit. And I thought you felt the same, but I was wrong. And that fucking scares me. I hoped I could convince you, but you’re proving me wrong at every turn. Evelyn, no ma