Chapter Thirty-Three
I hadn’t expected to feel this way—distant, disconnected, as though I were just a piece on Stefan’s chessboard, moved when and where he wanted. Yet here I was, standing on the balcony of his penthouse, watching the city below. The view was breathtaking, like something out of a movie. The skyline stretched before me, a collection of twinkling lights and towering buildings that seemed to promise success and power. But it felt empty, like everything had been stripped away and replaced by something I wasn’t sure I could define.
I should have been happy. I was carrying his child—his heir, in his words. I had a life most people could only dream of. Yet, all I could focus on was the sense of loss that lingered, the reality of my situation pressing down on me with every breath I took.
Shania.
The word echoed in my mind as I stared out at the city, trying to gather the fragments of myself that were slipping away. The woman I used to be, the one who had her own life, her ow
