The Price of Their Little Princess

I shoved the divorce papers against his chest.

"Your head is so full of Maya, isn't it? Fine. Go be with her. I'm done. Sign the papers!"

Caleb's brow furrowed. "Clara, I've been a good husband. Are you really going to throw our marriage away over some paranoid fantasy?"

"A good husband? You ignore your pregnant wife, you skip your own son's funeral, and you give your mistress massages while you get 'physical therapy' half-naked together—and you have the nerve to call yourself a good husband?"

Just then, Julian walked out, his face a mask of impatience.

"Tessa, why do you always have to meddle in their business? You two are unbelievable. You're almost seven months pregnant and you're out here making a scene. For the sake of your baby, can't you just be quiet for once?"

He shouldn't have mentioned the baby. The word was a lit match. Tessa exploded. She snatched her divorce papers and slapped them across his face.

"I'm done with you, Julian. I want a divorce, too!"

Julian's face went dark.

Caleb rubbed his temples. "Pregnant women are so emotional. Let them cool off. Maya's probably hungry. Let's go eat."

And with that, they turned and walked back into the house, leaving us standing in the biting sea breeze. Through the window, we could see them laughing with Maya as if nothing had happened.

Tessa and I shivered in the cold night air. We pounded on the door, but they ignored us.

"They asked for this," I said, glancing at Tessa.

She nodded grimly. We got back in our car, pulled a megaphone from the trunk, strapped it to the roof, and began circling the exclusive beachfront community.

"Caleb Hayes and Julian Hayes ditched their pregnant wives to spend two weeks shacked up, naked, with Maya Keller!"

"Maya Keller is sleeping with two men at once!"

It was a gated community for the ultra-rich. Everyone knew everyone. Humiliation was guaranteed.

After just two laps, our phones blew up. A moment later, Caleb and Julian rushed out, with a tearful Maya trailing behind them, and blocked our car.

Maya was a wreck, her eyes red and puffy. "Is it because I'm not rich and beautiful like you? Is that why you hate me so much? If everyone just wants me to disappear, then maybe I should just die!"

"Clara, how can you be so cruel?" Julian yelled.

Tessa's eyes were bloodshot as she stepped in front of me. "You're the cruel one! You're cruel and disgusting!"

Maya made a show of lunging toward me. "Don't stop me! I have nothing left to live for!"

"No, Maya!" Caleb leaped forward, catching her just in time. In his heroic effort to "protect" her from our "attack," he shoved me hard.

I stumbled back and fell to the ground.

Tessa rushed to help me, but she tripped and fell hard herself.

"Clara, are you okay? I didn't mean to—" Caleb reached for me, his eyes landing on my midsection. "Your stomach… it's flat."

Julian, who was helping Tessa up, also froze. His voice trembled as he looked at her. "Tessa… our baby… wh-where's our baby?"