My head spun, not from the vodka anymore, but from the sudden, earth-shattering realization that I was pregnant.
I am pregnant.
The words echoed in the small, unfamiliar bathroom, the pregnancy test clutched in my shaking hand.
My heart, which had felt like a dead stone for the past forty-eight hours, suddenly started thumping with manic speed.
A child. A child.
For years, that was the one thing Jason and I fought over. The one thing he desperately wanted, and the one thing I couldn't give him.
I had been devastated when I thought I was infertile. But now, here it was. Proof that I wasn't.
A smile stretched across my face, wide and bright, pushing away the memory of Jason's fists, Rhea's cruel smirk, and the dark, intoxicating allure of the man named Four. None of it mattered now. This changed everything.
This baby Jason's baby, very certainly would save my marriage.
I rushed out of the bathroom, barely registering the strange man, Four, still shirtless and powerful, sitting in the kitchen.
"I need to go," I blurted out, grabbing my expensive handbag that was sitting on the counter.
He stood up, his green eyes narrowed, the movement making the muscles in his chest and arms shift. He was like a piece of dark, beautiful marble, intimidatingly huge.
"Where the hell are you going?" he asked, his voice deep and demanding.
"Home! I'm going home!" I cried, feeling giddy. "I have to tell Jason. I have to tell my husband!"
The smile vanished from Four's face. He walked towards me, and for a second, I felt that strange, compelling pull again, the dizzying effect he had on me.
"The man who beat the crap out of you?" he countered, his voice dripping with cool disapproval. "The one you were raving about, saying he hated you?"
I flinched but shook my head violently. "You don't understand! He only did that because he was angry! He wanted a child, and now... now I can give him one! This changes everything, Four! It fixes us!"
He looked at me with an expression I couldn't decipher contempt, maybe pity.
"You're a fool," he stated simply, but his eyes were blazing. "That kind of hatred doesn't go away with a baby. It only changes its target."
"Stop it! You don't know him!" I snapped. I hated his persistence. I didn't need to hear his opinion. I just needed to get to Jason.
I snatched the keys to my car, which he must have taken from my bag last night, and darted out the door before he could stop me.
I didn't even care that I was wearing the gown he'd laid out for me and not the expensive dress I had been wearing when he drugged me.
I drove frantically back to the mansion, the adrenaline pumping in my veins. I am pregnant. I am pregnant.
I chanted in my head like a desperate prayer.
Roberts wasn't there, so I parked my car, stumbling out onto the perfectly manicured lawn. I flung open the front door and ran through the grand marble foyer.
"Jason! Jason!" I called out, heading straight for the sitting room where he sometimes held informal meetings.
I stopped dead in the doorway.
He was there. Jason, looking impossibly handsome in an open-collared silk shirt, was sitting across from Rhea, my treacherous best friend.
They were leaning over a large, glossy catalogue. A small smile genuine this time, not the forced one he'd given me at dinner played on his lips as he pointed to a picture.
Rhea laughed, a high, tinkling sound that used to comfort me but now grated on my nerves.
"The calla lilies, darling," Rhea purred, touching his hand. "They'll be perfect for the aisle. My aisle."
My blood ran cold. Wedding plans.
I walked into the room, my voice a shaky whisper. "What is this?"
Jason looked up, and his blue eyes were completely devoid of warmth. Rhea just smiled, that cruel, indifferent smirk.
"Veronica," Jason said flatly, as though I were an annoying interruption. He stood, picking up a sleek manila envelope from the table. "Timing is everything, isn't it? I was just finalizing the date. The prenup for the second marriage, that is."
He tossed the envelope onto the table. It slid across the glossy surface and stopped right in front of me.
Divorce papers. Signed by him.
"I told you it was over," he said, his voice cold and indifferent. "Now sign."
I didn't look at the papers. I didn't look at Rhea. I looked only at Jason, my heart pounding with a painful mix of hope, fear, and desperation.
"I'm pregnant," I choked out.
The room fell silent. Rhea's smile faltered, her blue eyes widening in genuine surprise. Jason didn't move.
"What did you say?" Jason asked, his voice low.
"I'm pregnant, Jason! We're having a baby!" I cried, rushing towards him, reaching for his arm. "It fixed us, right? We fixed it! We can throw those papers away. We can be a family!"
He didn't take my hand. He looked down at my face, and for one heartbreaking second, I thought I saw a flicker of emotion, maybe even hope.
Then, the coldness returned, harder and sharper than before.
"A baby?" he scoffed, pulling his arm away. "After three years of trying and failing, you suddenly get pregnant a few days after I serve you divorce papers? Who is the father, Veronica? That thug you spent the night with at the bar?"
Did he stalk me?
My eyes widened in shock. How did he know about Four?
Rhea recovered quickly. "Don't be naive, darling," she said sweetly. "She's desperate to keep you. It's probably a pathetic lie."
"It's not a lie!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face. "It's yours, Jason! It has to be! I love you! This is what you wanted!"
Jason just leaned down, his face inches from mine, and delivered the final blow, his voice dangerously soft.
"I wanted a child from a loyal wife. And I'm certainly not going to raise a possible bastard from some lowlife you picked up in a dive bar. Sign the papers, Veronica. I have a wedding to plan. With a woman who is ready to give me an heir."
Loyal? Look who's talking about loyal
I was shattered.
Utterly and completely shattered. He didn't deserve me, he didn't deserve this child. He had traded me for a traitor and now denied my gift out of cold spite.
I walked back to the table, picked up the pen, and with a shaking hand, signed the papers. I was done being the meek wife.
"You can have the name, the houses, the money, everything," I whispered, throwing the pen down. "But you will never see this baby."
Well, Four was right
