The Day I Stopped Waiting Was the Day He Started Begging novel Chapter 183

"York, what are you trying to prove?"

"Evie just turned two this year. Do you want me to fetch her birth certificate for you?"

Madeline forced herself to remain calm, stripping all emotion from her voice.

"You left without a word back then, and you were gone for over two years. York, what makes you think I would have your child?"

"Ours was just a marriage of convenience. Having a child would only tie me down and make the divorce endlessly complicated."

"Do you really think I'd bring that kind of trouble upon myself?"

Every word Madeline spoke felt like a blade, wounding him while tearing herself apart in the process.

She hadn't wanted it to be this way.

Hating someone and projecting all those negative emotions was too exhausting.

But she was in so much pain.

Her own biological daughter was fighting for her life in the emergency room, yet she had to waste her energy dealing with him.

Facing York, she couldn't find the strength to remain calm and forgiving.

If it hadn't been for what she witnessed back then, she wouldn't have gone into premature labor.

She knew deep down it was her own foolish delusion. If she hadn't gone to San Francisco, perhaps nothing would have happened.

But life offered no 'what-ifs.' No one could remain completely rational, and emotions always needed an outlet.

Madeline paused and added, "York, do you still not get it? Whether you left or not, I would never have had your child."

"Sharing blood with you is a miserable existence."

That sentence was utterly lethal.

York stood rooted to the spot, his fists clenched tight.

He ground his back teeth, keeping his voice dangerously low out of respect for the hospital setting.

"Ms. Monroe, you really know how to strike where it hurts."

"Not as well as you do. We're perfectly matched in that regard."

Madeline looked up at him, her gaze unsettlingly calm.