Chapter 127: It Was Never an Affair

Chapter 127: Chapter 127: It Was Never an Affair

Leo drove in complete silence for ten minutes.

He didn’t take them back to the apartment. Instead, he pulled the heavy SUV into a quiet, empty park overlooking the city lights. He shifted the car into park and killed the engine.

The silence inside the cabin was completely deafening.

Chloe sat in the passenger seat, quietly wiping tears from her cheeks. Leo kept both hands firmly on the steering wheel, staring straight out the windshield. He was deeply frustrated, but more than that, he was incredibly hurt.

Finally, Leo let out a long, heavy exhale.

He turned his head and looked at her.

"Now let me talk," Leo said quietly.

Chloe sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her sweater sleeve.

"Tell me exactly why you thought I was cheating on you," Leo instructed. His voice wasn’t angry anymore. It was just tired. "I want to hear all of it."

Chloe pulled her knees up to her chest. She looked at him, her chest hitching with residual sobs.

She explained everything she had noticed over the past few weeks.

"It was the late-night calls," Chloe started, her voice shaking. "Your phone would ring at nine or ten at night, and you would physically leave the room to answer it. You never used to do that."

Leo just listened. He didn’t interrupt.

"Then, you started putting your phone face down on the counter," Chloe continued. "You changed your gym schedule without telling me. You said you were training, but you weren’t there. And then..."

She swallowed hard.

"And then I saw a text message pop up on your screen," Chloe whispered. "It was from a woman. It said, ’I secured the booking for Thursday, I’ll send you the details.’"

Leo closed his eyes for a brief second, but he still didn’t speak.

Chloe looked at him with desperate, wet eyes.

"You were always coming home late. You were so distant," Chloe cried softly. "I kept telling myself there had to be another explanation. I defended you in my head every single day."

A tear slipped down her pale cheek.

"But I couldn’t find one, Leo," she whispered.

Leo reached into his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone, unlocked the screen, and set it on the center console between them.

"The late-night calls," Leo began, his voice entirely calm, "were because of the time zone difference. I was speaking to a clinic on the West Coast."

Chloe frowned in confusion. "A clinic?"

"The meetings, the schedule changes, the secrecy," Leo continued. "I wasn’t sneaking around with another woman, Chloe. I was secretly organizing something."

Chloe stared at him. Her heart gave a confused flutter.

"What exactly have you been planning?" Chloe asked.

Leo looked at her for a long moment. All the frustration completely melted from his eyes, leaving only a deep, protective warmth.

"Something for you," Leo said.

Chloe’s frown deepened. "For me?"

Leo nodded slowly.

He reached across the console and gently took her cold hands in his.

"I know how much you have always wanted to have a child," Leo said softly.

Chloe completely froze. The air left her lungs.

"And I know exactly how much it broke your heart when the doctors told us about your low ovarian reserve," Leo continued, his thumb gently rubbing the back of her hand. "I know how much pain that diagnosis caused you."

Chloe’s expression changed immediately. The defensive anger vanished, replaced by an old, familiar ache.

"I didn’t tell you what I was doing because I didn’t want to give you false hope," Leo admitted quietly. "If it didn’t work out, I didn’t want you to have to go through that heartbreak all over again."

He took a slow breath.

"But during the last few months, I’ve been doing a massive amount of research," Leo explained. "I found a top tier specialist. There is a new, advanced surgical fertility treatment that has shown incredible results for women with your exact diagnosis."

Chloe’s eyes went completely wide.

"The woman who texted me?" Leo said, offering a sad smile. "She is the medical coordinator at the clinic. She was helping me arrange the private consultations and securely transfer your medical records."

Chloe stared at him in absolute shock.

"You were doing all this?" Chloe whispered, her voice trembling.

"I wanted to find out if there was something we could do," Leo said honestly.

Fresh tears instantly flooded Chloe’s eyes. This time, they weren’t tears of fear or anger. They were tears of absolute, overwhelming realization.

Leo reached out and gently wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I wasn’t trying to fix you, Chloe," Leo promised softly.

"Then what were you trying to do?" Chloe sobbed.

"Give us another chance," Leo whispered.

Chloe looked down at their joined hands.

Her mind rapidly replayed the last month. The late-night phone calls. The secret meetings. The hidden phone.

Absolutely everything she thought was concrete evidence of betrayal had actually been her husband quietly, desperately fighting to give her something she wanted more than anything in the world.

She felt completely sick to her stomach. She had completely doubted him.

Chloe looked back up at him.

"You were trying to help me have a baby?" Chloe whispered.

Leo nodded.

"If the doctors say it’s possible," Leo clarified gently. He needed to make sure she understood that nothing was guaranteed. He didn’t want her building her entire world around a promise he could not legally make.

"I just wanted you to know we still have options," Leo said.

Chloe let out a shaky breath. The guilt in her chest was completely suffocating.

She couldn’t keep her secret anymore.

"Leo," Chloe hesitated, her voice barely audible. "I asked Zoya to draft divorce papers."

Leo went completely still.

His large hands loosened around hers. The warmth drained from his face.

"You what?" Leo asked. His voice was entirely hollow.

"I didn’t sign them!" Chloe explained quickly, totally panicked. "I haven’t filed anything. Zoya absolutely refused to let me do anything until I actually spoke to you first."

Leo slowly pulled his hands away from hers. He looked out the window at the dark park.

He was incredibly hurt.

"You were ready to leave me?" Leo asked quietly.

Chloe started crying again. She reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

"I thought you were leaving me first!" Chloe cried.

Leo slowly looked back at her. His dark eyes were filled with a heavy, quiet pain.

"Chloe, I could never do that," Leo said.

Leo didn’t yell, but he didn’t hide his pain either.

"Do you have any idea how much that hurts?" Leo asked softly. "Not that you were suspicious. I know things looked bad. I know I was hiding things."

He shook his head slightly.

"But after nearly a decade together... after everything we have built... it hurts that you actually believed I could betray you so easily."

Chloe completely broke down. She buried her face in her hands.

"You should have come to me," Leo said.

"I was scared," Chloe whispered through her fingers.

"I know," Leo sighed heavily.

He couldn’t stand seeing her cry. He reached out, gently pulled her hands away from her face, and took them back into his own.

"But don’t let fear convince you that you’re alone, Chloe," Leo said firmly. "You are my wife. We fight things together."

Chloe let out a broken sob and leaned completely into his chest.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. The quiet car was just filled with the sound of her crying and his steady breathing.

Eventually, the tears slowed down.

Leo rested his chin on the top of her head.

"There’s one more thing," Leo revealed quietly.

Chloe sniffled and looked up at him. "What?"

"I already arranged for you to meet the specialist," Leo told her. "Not immediately. And absolutely not as an obligation. Only if you want to go. The choice is entirely yours."

Chloe looked at him through her wet eyelashes.

"You really did all this for me?" Chloe asked.

Leo smiled faintly. The familiar, warm light completely returned to his eyes.

"For us," Leo corrected.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him incredibly tightly. Leo wrapped his massive arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair.

And for the very first time that night, Chloe finally felt completely safe again.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Then, Chloe slowly pulled back. She wiped her face and looked at him.

"Leo?" Chloe asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"That woman," Chloe said.

Leo closed his eyes. He let his head fall back against the headrest with a loud groan.

"We’re really going to have this conversation again?" Leo asked, completely exasperated.

Chloe let out a watery, genuine laugh. "I just wanted to make absolutely sure!"

Leo shook his head, looking at her with a highly amused, completely exhausted smile.

"No, Chloe," Leo promised. "She was never anything more than part of the surprise."

Chloe finally smiled. It was a bright, beautiful, completely relieved smile.