Smothering
It's the right thing to do. He looks into the mirror and tells himself. It's best for everyone. Love and religious belief have no say in this. He needs to take the necessary responsibility and make the right decision, like it or not. He's a highly praised police detective with a promising career ahead of him. He wants to be on top of the pyramid someday, and no, he can't afford to have a scandal like this. Police politics is cruel and simple in a complicated way. Having a wife, fiancée or girlfriend who's always involved with another man is a perfect roadblock to promotion, and raising a child whose bio-father will always be a huge hanging question mark—no paternity testing will be 100% accurate, as a matter of indisputable scientific fact—will only make him a laughing stock. And he knows he won't be able to love the child even if it's truly his. He will always have doubts no matter what. And not to mention now he doesn't even know if he still wants a future with Stephanie Plum.
He finishes shaving, gets dressed, locks his door firmly behind him and drives to her parking lot. He didn't stop at Pino's or Tasty Bakery to grab something for her. Her old dirty yellow Ford is still in front of the dumpster. Her small shabby apartment is silent. Her pet is nowhere to be seen. Her closet and drawers are half-empty. He knows where and whom she is with. He becomes angry right away even if he knows that's totally meaningless and not necessary. He knows he wants to end it, everything, right here right now. He knows he needs to walk away and save himself. But he's still unsure if he can let go just like that. So he sits down heavily on the crappy couch and starts waiting for someone who is already gone and won't be back. No, he doesn't cry. Tears are for women and sissies and he's a grown up matured man, Trenton's very own Italian Stallion. He just needs some time to figure out...to figure out whatever he has or never has with Stephanie Plum. He holds his aching head in his hands. And he doesn't even want to think about what he should do if Stephanie wants to raise his flesh and blood with someone else.
Maybe suing the birth control pill company will be a good start.