“Believe what?” I asked.
Rebecca’s mouth tightened.
Ryan’s eyes moved from Noah to Leo, then to Elena. He looked like he was counting backward through time and finding the answer waiting for him at the end of every calculation.
The silence inside the ballroom became unbearable.
Then Ryan whispered, “How old are they?”
“Three,” I answered calmly.
The room exploded into whispers.
Vanessa’s face drained of color.
Rebecca staggered backward as if someone had struck her.
Ryan looked as though he could not breathe.
Three years.
Exactly three years.
The timeline fit perfectly.
And everyone in the room knew it.
“That’s impossible,” Rebecca snapped. “Ryan would have known.”
I laughed softly.
It was not a happy sound.
“No,” I said. “He would have known if he had waited one more day before throwing me out of our home.”
Ryan flinched.
The memory hit him instantly.
The suitcase.
The divorce papers.
The packed belongings.
The woman he had loved for eleven years standing at the gate while he sat beside another woman.
For the first time, genuine shame appeared in his eyes.
“Mariana…” he whispered.
“Don’t.”
My voice stopped him immediately.
“You made your choice.”
Vanessa suddenly stepped forward.
Her beautiful face had become tense.
“Ryan,” she said carefully. “What exactly is happening?”
Ryan didn’t answer.