Chapter 3

Donny Bradshaw POV:

The week I spent recovering in the hospital was a blur of pain, medication, and a hollowing grief that was worse than any physical ache. When they finally discharged me, I took a cab back to the small house we' d shared. Our house.

The key felt foreign in my hand.

The moment I stepped inside, I knew. The air was different-stale and empty. Her scent, the faint lavender and vanilla that always clung to everything, was gone.

I walked through the quiet rooms. The closet was half-empty, all her designer dresses and silk blouses vanished. The bathroom counter was cleared of her dozens of creams and serums. The framed photo of us on the mantelpiece, taken last Christmas with me in a goofy reindeer sweater and her laughing, was gone.

She hadn't just moved out. She had erased herself.

On the kitchen table, propped against the salt shaker, was a single folded note. I recognized her elegant, looping script immediately. My hand trembled as I picked it up.

"Donny," it read, "I need some space to think. This is all happening so fast. I hope you can understand. I do love you. Always. - Di"

"I do love you." The words were a bitter joke. I crumpled the note in my fist, the paper crackling in protest, and threw it into the trash can. She was probably already in Eugene's penthouse apartment, sipping champagne and laughing about the gullible mechanic she' d left behind.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was my best friend, Mark.

"Hey, buddy! You out?" he asked, his voice cheerful. "Heard the surgery was a huge success. You're a damn hero, man. Giving your future father-in-law a kidney? That's some next-level love right there. Diane must be over the moon."

A dry, harsh laugh escaped my lips. "Yeah. Love."

I sank onto a kitchen chair, the crumpled note a lump of poison in the bin next to me. Three years. Three years of early mornings at the garage, of saving every spare dollar for a ring she deserved, of believing I had found my person. It all felt like a lie. A long, elaborate joke, and I was the punchline.

"What's wrong?" Mark' s voice turned serious. "You don't sound good."

I stared at the empty space on the wall where our engagement photo used to hang. I could still see the faint outline in the dust.

"We might be getting a divorce," I said, the word tasting like acid.

"What? You're not even married yet! What the hell happened?"

Tears pricked my eyes again. I wiped them away angrily with the back of my hand. "She doesn't want to marry me anymore, Mark. She's back with Eugene Crosby."

The silence on the other end of the line was heavy. Mark knew all about Eugene. He' d been there through my early days of insecurity, telling me a guy like that didn't stand a chance against real, honest love. We were both wrong.

"After you gave her dad a kidney? She dumped you after that?" Mark' s voice was laced with disbelief and fury.

"Two days after," I confirmed, my voice hollow. "In the hospital room."

"I'm going to kill him," Mark snarled. "And her. My God, Donny. I'm so sorry."

We talked for a few more minutes, but I barely registered his words of support. After we hung up, I sat in the silent house, the emptiness pressing in on me. I felt a sudden, desperate need to get rid of everything that reminded me of her, to purge my life of the lie.

I started in the bedroom, pulling our old photo albums from the closet. My hands stopped on a small, wicker basket tucked away on the top shelf. I' d forgotten it was there.

I lifted it down and opened the lid.

Inside, nestled in tissue paper, were a tiny pair of baby sneakers, a soft yellow onesie, and a worn copy of "Goodnight Moon."

A wave of nausea hit me so hard I had to brace myself against the wall.

When we first got together, Diane had been adamant she didn't want kids. She said her career was too important, that she wasn't the maternal type. I, on the other hand, had always dreamed of being a father. I was an only child, and the idea of a big, noisy family was my deepest desire. But I loved her. So, I respected her decision.

I convinced myself she was just scared. I' d started buying little things, hiding them in this basket, imagining a day when I could show them to her and she would smile, her fears melting away. I' d watch parenting shows with her, pointing out how happy the families were. I saw the flicker of longing in her eyes sometimes, and I thought I was winning her over.

The day I finally gave up, I packed all the baby things into this basket to throw them away. She found me sitting on the floor, holding the tiny sneakers. She knelt beside me, her expression soft with a pity I now realized was fake.

"I'm sorry, Donny," she' d said. "I just can't."

I had smiled through my own disappointment, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay," I' d told her. "As long as I have you, it's enough. We're enough."

I had saved the basket. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. A small, stupid part of me still held out hope.

Now, looking at the tiny, perfect items, I felt a rage so pure and white-hot it eclipsed the grief. It was never about not wanting children. It was about not wanting them with me. She was probably already planning a nursery with Eugene.

It was all a lie. Every gentle touch, every whispered promise, every shared dream. A three-year-long performance.

And I had been her most captivated audience.