With His Baby, Without Him

"The night before I was supposed to marry the heir to the Moretti family, I found a string of ninety-nine filthy texts on my fiancé Leo’s phone. A woman named Ava Collins, telling him she loved him. Shameless. Desperate.She was begging him to call off our wedding, threatening to kill herself if he went through with it.I didn’t waste a second. I shoved the phone in his face and demanded an explanation.The silence stretched for an eternity before he finally broke.“Her brother was Liam. My underboss. He took a bullet for me. My bullet. I promised him I’d look after her.”"Jennifer, we grew up together. You know it’s you. It’s always been you. I swear, I’ll handle it. I’ll cut her off."I searched his eyes, hunting for the lie.I swallowed the acid in my throat and chose to believe him. The wedding was on.This was bigger than us. It was a treaty signed in blood between two families. And God help me, I still loved him.But on our wedding day, as we stood at the altar, vows on our lips, Leo got the call. It was her. Ava.On a bridge, threatening to jump. Demanding he come. Now.The diamond ring, a breath away from my finger, clattered to the stone floor of the church.Not a word. Not a single explanation. He just left. Left me, our families, our future... left me standing alone at the altar.Through a blur of tears, I screamed after him, "Leo, if you walk out that door, we are done!"His only reply, tossed over his shoulder, “She needs me.”He never looked back.Carrying his child, I vanished from his world and never looked back."