I didn’t provide one, and my mother-in-law, Harriot, came rushing down the stairs, tying a dressing gown tight around her middle. “Owen?”

I spluttered, my voice deserting me in the face of my own guilt, not ready to add more casualties to my reign of terror.

I couldn’t breathe. Didn’t want to fucking breathe.

Harriot pushed forward, enveloping me in her arms. “Calm down, Owen. Tell us what’s happened.” Despite her gentle embrace, her tone was strained, all manner of scenarios racing through her head.

Phil cut in. “Where is Alexis? Is she okay?”

“No,” I whimpered. I’d never felt so pathetic and small.

Before their fear could spiral out of control, I confessed my sins in one torturous exhale. “I cheated on Alexis with Everly, and now, she’s pregnant with my baby.”

Harriot’s arms dropped away, warm contact lost. Tension spiked as my statement settled between us.

Then, without hesitancy, Phil sidestepped his wife and punched me straight in the face. I collapsed to the ground, my mind fuzzy as blood seeped from my nose. I didn’t move. What was the point?

Distantly, I heard Harriot yelling at her husband to go inside. Once the front door was slammed shut, my mother-in-law crouched beside me.

“I’m not going to apologise. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.”

I shook my head until the pounding between my ears grew too loud. “I deserve that and more.”

Phil’s solid fist was nothing compared to the disappointment shining in Harriot’s green eyes—the same colour and shade as my wife’s.

An involuntary sob escaped my throat as reality set in.

Tears lined Harriot’s lash line but didn’t quite spill over. “Where is my daughter?”

“I don’t know. I thought she was here. That’s why I came. I just need to speak to her, Harriot. I’ll give her time, but I will fix this.”

“And how will you fix this, Owen? You are to have a baby—with her close friend, no less.”

“Can I just wait here until she comes? Make sure she’s safe.”

“Her safety is no longer your concern,” she said, tone waspish and sharp as a knife. She may as well have stabbed me.

“Please—”

Harriot straightened to her full height—which wasn’t that tall, but staring up at her from ground level had her looking like an avenging giant. “You have no right to ask for anything. From here on out, you will do what’s best for Alexis. Whatever she wants to do, you will follow. Everything will be on her terms.”

Dread crept back into my system, infecting my thought process. “I just have to see her, apologise—”