The Only Shark In The Sea (The Date Shark Series Book 3) by DelSheree Gladden Page A

it.”
    Everything Vance knew about keeping someone calm vanished from his mind. Panic welled in him so fast he nearly choked on it. “What? What does that mean?” Shaking his head back and forth, he couldn’t accept what she was saying. No. No. There’s no way she would do something like that without even telling him.
    “I couldn’t do it, Vance. Please, you have to understand,” she pleaded. Stephanie reached for him, but he snatched his hand away and stared at her, unable to speak a single word. “Please, Vance.” Her voice broke and fresh tears cascaded down her cheeks.
    “Say it,” he demanded. “Tell me the truth.”
    Pressing her hands to her head as she winced in pain, she rocked back and forth. “I…I had an abortion.” Her head popped up, pleading for understanding. “I just couldn’t go through with the pregnancy, Vance, you know that. I couldn’t have a child. You understand that, right? I had to do it. Please, Vance, say something, please.”
    When she was so sick two years earlier, it was the first time she had ever missed work. Vance had cancelled patients and sat with her for days. Comforting her. Supporting her. He’d given her everything he had. What had she done in return?
    “You didn’t even tell me?” His words were devoid of emotion, just like he felt. Blinking once, twice, it took his last remaining ounce of strength to look her in the eyes. “You were pregnant with our child, and you never even told me?”
    “I knew you’d want me to keep it,” Stephanie said with a sob.
    Blistering anger rumbled in his core. How could she? His movements were robotic as he stood and took a step backward. Stephanie panicked, grabbing at him, but he pushed her hands away. “Don’t touch me,” he snapped.
    She backed off, but started crying again, the heavy, wracking sobs echoing through her whole body. “I’m sorry.”
    “Sorry?” he demanded. “But not sorry enough. You were going to do it again, weren’t you? You weren’t even going to tell me you were pregnant before you made the decision about our child all on your own and got rid of it like it was nothing, like it wasn’t a part of us !”
    “I can’t have a child,” she sobbed.
    “Why?” Vance demanded. “We’ve been together since college. Have I ever given you a reason to think I would treat you or our child like your father did? Have I not done enough to earn your trust? You know how much I want children, but have I ever tried to pressure you into it? Have I ever put my needs before yours or made a life-altering decision without talking to you about it first?”
    Stephanie dissolved into a fit of awful sobbing. “If I had told you, I would have seen how much you wanted it.”
    “So?” Vance yelled. “Do you really think I would have forced you into a decision just because I wanted it?”
    “I…” She pressed her hands to her face, tears spilling over her fingers with abandon.
    That hurt almost as much as her lies and betrayal. “I would never hurt you like that.”
    He couldn’t take anymore. She begged him not to leave as he turned for the door, but he had to get away from her until he calmed down. He got a few steps away before her crying forced him to look back. The sight of her lying on the floor with her hands wrapped around her head like she couldn’t take the pain almost broke him. The piercing sting of what he’d just learned was too fresh, too deeply cut for him to give in, so he turned and walked away. The front door slammed behind him as he left, the sound of her sobbing echoing in its wake.
    He was barely out of the apartment building before he yanked his phone out of his pocket and called the one person he thought might be able to give him answers.
    “ Bonjour ,” Sabine answered happily. “How is the darling baby Amelie?”
    “Did you know?” Vance snapped. “About Stephanie? About the pregnancy and the abortion?”
    “Vance, I am so sorry,” Sabine whispered.
    He fell against his car,