CHAPTER 1

Amanda sat opposite Xander in the cold silence of the dining room, her fingers twisting the hem of her blouse so tightly she feared it might tear.

She swallowed, her mouth dry. Her lips parted, then closed again. She tucked a trembling hand over her stomach, more for comfort than anything else, and finally whispered. “There’s something I need to tell you”.

Xander had just cut into his steak medium rare, exactly how he liked it, when her voice broke through the soft clinking of silverware

“Now?” He glanced at her as she nodded, his expression unreadable at first, then a flicker of annoyance passed through his eyes.

He exhaled through his nose and leaned back in his chair, napkin tossed carelessly onto the table.

“Amanda, I’m eating. Whatever it is, can wait”. He said flatly, expecting a reply, but her silence told him it couldn’t. She looked ready to collapse under the weight of her own words.

He studied her for a bit longer, jaw tightening, and the irritation in his chest simmered into something cold.

“Let me guess,” he said, voice dry and cold, like her silence hit deeper than he had expected. “You’re pregnant.”

Amanda's eyes immediately welled with tears, and his gaze hardened in return.

“I know you said never to fall in love with you, Xander, and I know I’m not supposed to carry your child,” Amanda’s voice trembled. “But I didn’t plan any of this. I swear I didn’t.”

“Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something… that we’re not just some contract, agreement, or a mistake”.

“Please understand,” she whispered. “I’ve never had safety, not until you. My own family ruined everything. My mother... They killed her, Xander. And you being with you was the first time I didn’t feel disposable.”

“Wow,” Xander finally said with a dry chuckle. “Remind me, was ‘don’t fall in love’ too complicated, or did you just skip that part of the contract?” he asked with raised brows. He didn't even care about anything she had said.

"No! That contract saved me." Her voice cracked with desperation. "I did everything you asked. I got the IUD. I never questioned anything. But things happen. Nothing is a hundred percent.”

She remembered every memory regarding the contract, how he told her she was beautiful and that he wanted no familiarity, no family history, no questions, no strings attached. 

And in desperation for her love to be reciprocated, she agreed to all of it.

“Please, Xander, you can learn to love me and our child”. She clasped her hands together, not in prayer, but in a silent plea, for him to see her, for once, not as a contract but as a woman who loved him.

He stood suddenly, shoving back his chair. "Are you out of your mind, Amanda? You can’t be fucking pregnant.” he grabbed his hair in frustration as if he just understood the gravity of what she had said.

“Please”. He heard her beg again.

“Don't you get it, Amanda? You think this is love? His voice dropped, dark and low. "You are just a convenience. A toy for my pleasure. You were never meant to carry the Westwood heir.”

She was just another face, another name he barely bothered to learn. Pretty, yes, but ordinary. Disposable and, just like all the others, desperate. He would never make the same mistake of being with an ordinary woman.

She opened her mouth to explain, but he was already moving fast. He slammed his fist against the edge of the dining table, making the plates jump. With a wild sweep of his arm, he knocked everything to the floor. Porcelain shattered. A wine glass exploded like a firework, red liquid bleeding across the marble like spilled blood.

“You think I’m stupid?” he snarled, but there was panic bleeding through the fury barely contained. I made you get an IUD, Amanda. I don’t make mistakes. I don’t do attachment, and I don’t do babies. So how the fuck did this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Amanda whispered. “I didn’t plan”......

“Don’t give me that,” Xander snapped as he interjected. “You planned all of it. The crying. The ‘maybe it’s fate’.The look in your eyes like you’re the victim.” 

He knew exactly what she was trying to do. She wanted a permanent ticket to luxury, she wanted to continue to live the lifestyle he gave her.

But to Amanda, he was a lifesaver, he saved her from the people she called family. The people who orchestrated and killed her biological mother and her father, who immediately married his mistress a few months after her mother’s death. 

She never loved him because of his money; all she wanted was to feel truly loved and appreciated.

Before Amanda could speak again, Xander’s hand shot out and gripped her wrist like a vice. Not soft, not with concern, but with rage in the form of touch.

“Xander, wait, what are you doing?” she gasped, trying to pull back.

But he was already dragging her through the mess of shattered dinner and broken promises, out into the dark hallway and toward the elevator.

“Let go of me!” she cried, heels stumbling on the sleek floor. “Where are you taking me? Xander, talk to me!”

He didn’t. His jaw was clenched, eyes fixed, as if speaking to her would kill him.

The elevator dinged open. Without a word, he shoved her into his sleek, black car. The silence between them stretched like a rubber band about to snap. The car finally stopped in front of a private hospital on the edge of the city. And just by the name “West Wood Haven Clinic”. You could tell the hospital was his.

“Why are we here?” she whispered, her voice thin with fear.

Xander's lips didn't open. He stopped at the reception desk, muttered something under his breath, and moments later, they were ushered into a white room that smelled like bleach and metal.

“You still haven't told me why you brought me here, Xander”. Amanda's voice echoed in the background, and just as she tried to yank her hands off him, she was interrupted by the doctor’s entrance, who was in his mid-twenties. He seemed very calm, and from the way he greeted Xander, it was obvious they were acquaintances.

“Please lie down, madam”. He said, politely gesturing for her to come.

“If you don't tell me why I am here, Xander, I won't do what he tells me”. Amanda yelled on top of her tiny voice.

“I want to know if she’s pregnant,” Xander said to the doctor, answering her indirectly but flatly, arms crossed, voice sharp with disbelief.

Amanda whipped her head toward him. “You don’t believe me?” Her voice quivered in disbelief. “You think I'd lie about being pregnant?” she scoffed.

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t look at her. He only nodded to the doctor to go on.

The doctor nodded stiffly and motioned for her to lie down 

Reluctantly, Amanda obeyed, feeling more like a specimen than a woman. Well, she was going to do anything to prove she wasn't lying.

Cold gel hit her stomach. A wand pressed down. She stared at the ceiling, trying not to cry.

And after a few minutes, the doctor stepped back to deliver the message to Xander.“She’s pregnant,” he confirmed.

Amanda turned to Xander, searching his face, hoping for a flicker of emotion, relief, guilt, something. But his face remained insipid, he only bobbed his head, as if signalling for the doctor to proceed. What else is left? She thought to herself.

Then came the sound of metal instruments being unpacked behind her.

She immediately sat up abruptly. “What are you doing?” Her brows arched in confusion.

The doctor didn’t meet her gaze as he spoke. “We’re preparing for the procedure.” He simply said.

Amanda's breath caught hard.“What procedure?”

“Xander, what’s going on?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Xander didn't care, and from his expression, he had already made up his mind.

The doctor finally met her eyes. And in his silence, Amanda’s eyes widened as she realized this wasn’t just about proving a pregnancy.

It was about erasing it. Erasing her.