April 26, 2022
Cody was a new man. He sold the house, and sent half of the profit to Leighton, Kacie's brother, in hopes that the money would reach her since he had no idea where she or her sister, Belle, were.
He now lived in a high rise penthouse in downtown Los Angeles. 3 bedrooms. One for him, the baby, and an extra one, just in case. It was empty, mainly because most of the decorations and furniture were Kacie's, and he never had a good taste in design like her... so he'd probably have to hire someone to do it for him.
All of Kacie's belongings that were left behind still sat in his storage unit, waiting for the time to go through it and get it all shipped back.
Though, among those belongings he realized the baseball that he had given her when he first met her had vanished. The case was still there, but the ball wasn't.
She had made a promise to cherish it forever, and even after what he did to her she still took it with her.
And secretly, he keeps her diamond tennis bracelet on his sink counter, and even wears it from time to time.
They hadn't talked since she left. Those words she repeated in her sad croaky tone echoed through his head at night. The last he had heard she had hopped a flight to the A-T-L to find her sister, and now the rumor is that she's moving to London.
Kacie was gone.
It had taken him three months to process that. And one to realize she wasn't coming back, no matter how much he called or texted.
Now he realized he had new responsibilities.
He knew he couldn't just leave this woman to raise their child on her own, no matter how much he wanted to.
The woman, named Lydia, was in no way shape or form responsible at all..
It sounded to him like she'd been drinking and partying since she graduated highschool, and he knew if he didn't supervise that he'd lose his child.
And he wasn't going to lose this child after everything he'd lost.
The pair had discussed going into the second trimester that once the baby was had they would go the court and split custody, then go their separate ways. The details to be decided when the day comes.
He had told his family the full story on what was going on, even the bad parts about him. They didn't ask about Kacie, where she was, or how she was doing. But he knew they knew. They knew she was probably broken, but at least hopefully with her family, and they could only pray she was doing okay.
The more Cody thought about it the more he realized how awful this all must be for her. She did everything for him. She made sure he was always happy, and would sacrifice her happiness to make sure of it.
In past relationships, this was the first where his partner hadn't done anything wrong. It was all him. He cheated, drank, partied, and lied. All without telling her. And it came back to bite him in the ass.
