Chapter 100

Valerie

"You... you what?" I finally managed to choke out.

"I didn’t know what else to do," he said, tears streaming down his face. "She was crying, Val. She was so upset, and I just wanted to make it better. I thought if I agreed, she’d be happy, and things would calm down. But I didn’t mean it. I don’t want to marry Laura. I don’t want to be with anyone but you."

His words swirled around in my mind, but I couldn’t make sense of them. He had agreed to marry Laura? How could he do that to me, to us? I felt a surge of anger and betrayal.

"You agreed to marry her?" I repeated, my voice shaking. "How could you, Aiden? How could you do that to us?"

"I didn’t mean it," he pleaded. "I was just trying to calm her down. I don’t want to marry Laura. I love you, Val. You and our baby are everything to me."

"But you said yes," I said, my voice rising. "You told her you’d marry Laura. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? Do you even care about what I want, what I need?"

"Of course, I car