Novel-novel oleh Ellie Wynters

Grace’s POVI stared at the pregnancy test in my hand, still sitting on the closed toilet lid where I’d been for the past twenty minutes.Two pink lines.Pregnant. There was no escaping the truth of the test lying there.I was pregnant with Helena and Hunter’s baby.The surrogacy had worked. The embryo transfer with Helena’s egg and Hunter’s sperm had taken. There was a tiny life growing inside me, a piece of my sister living on while she wasn’t.I pressed a trembling hand to my still-flat stomach. A baby. Helena’s baby. The boy or girl she’d never know. I wasn’t getting symptoms yet because it was too soon. Only a few weeks. I’d taken one of these early tests because my period was late.I couldn’t stop the tears then as they poured down my face. I’d been so caught up in the guilt of Chicago, in the shame of what Hunter and I had done, that I hadn’t even considered how this would make me feel. That the surrogacy might have worked. That I might be carrying the child Helena and Hunter

Hunter’s POVThe whiskey wasn’t working anymore. I’d been drinking for three days straight, and all I had to show for it was a pounding headache and the same fucking thoughts circling my brain like vultures.Helena was dead.I’d betrayed her with Grace. I was a dirty bag.I set the glass down too hard. It cracked, a thin line appearing from base to rim. Figures. Everything I touched these days seemed to break or turn to shit.“Hunter?” My father’s voice, followed by a knock. “Son, we need to talk about the funeral.”I ignored him, staring at the cracked glass, at the amber liquid inside it. I didn’t want to talk about the funeral. Didn’t want to think about Helena in a box, lifeless.Even now, all I could think about was Grace. Which made me feel even worse and unable to look at her. I couldn’t get the image of her underneath me on that hotel couch out of my head. Grace’s soft gasps in my ear. Grace’s body responding to my touch while my wife was alive and breathing and somewhere in N

Grace’s POVThree days. Helena had been dead for three days, and I still hadn't been able to cry properly. Just pathetic little hiccups that got lodged in my throat, making me sound like I was choking rather than grieving.Maybe I was choking. On guilt. On shame. Because of the memory of Hunter’s hands on me just hours before my sister died.I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, splashing cold water on my face for the third time that morning. I looked like shit. Pale. Hollow-eyed.I was two days late. My period was always right on time. I was scared to take a test and find out… if.“Grace?” Maya’s voice through the door. Hunter’s sister had barely left my side since the hospital. Hovering. Watching. Like she thought I might break. “You okay in there?”“Fine.” The word scraped my throat raw. I wasn’t fine. Nothing was fine. Nothing would ever be fine again.“Margo’s here,” Maya said. “With your dad.”Great. Just great. Just what I needed. My mother, with her razor-sharp grief and he

Grace’s POVI must have dozed off, because suddenly Maya was shaking my shoulder.“Grace,” she whispered urgently. “Something’s happening.”I blinked awake, confused. The room was dimmer than before, only a small wall light casting shadows. Hunter was on his feet, leaning over Helena. A nurse was checking machines, moving quickly.“What’s going on?” I asked, rising.Maya shook her head. “I don’t know. Her monitors started going crazy.”The nurse pressed a button on the wall, and suddenly the room was flooded with activity. Dr. Patel appeared, barking orders. Someone pushed Hunter away from the bed.“Sir, you need to step back.”“What’s happening?” Hunter demanded. “What’s wrong with her?”“Please, Mr. Sinclair, let us look after her wife.”Maya grabbed Hunter’s arm, pulling him back. I stood frozen, watching the events unfold. Time stretched, seconds feeling like hours.And then, too quickly, it was over.Dr. Patel stepped away from the bed. The machines were silent.“Time of death, 2

Grace’s POVHunter had barely spoken a word since the phone call. He’d gone white, then moved like a man possessed—barking instructions at the driver. He had shut himself inside a shell.Now he strode ahead of me, leaving me half-jogging to keep up.“Hunter,” I called. “Hunter, wait—”He didn’t slow down. Maybe he couldn’t hear me over the thoughts that had to be circling in his head. Or maybe he was choosing not to hear me.The Emergency Department doors whooshed open. Hunter zeroed in on the reception desk and made a beeline.“Helena Sinclair,” he said, his voice rough. “Car accident. They called me—I’m her husband.”The receptionist’s eyes widened slightly in recognition. The Sinclairs were well known in New York. “Let me check, sir.”While she tapped on her keyboard, I caught up, standing behind Hunter. My heart hammered against my ribs. My sister. My sister was hurt. And here I was about to see her after almost sleeping with her husband.Jesus Christ. What kind of person was I? I

Grace’s POVA knock at the connecting bedroom door startled me.“Grace?” Hunter’s voice, muffled through the wood. He must have used his key to the connecting door. “We need to talk.”“Go away,” I called, hating the tremor in my voice.“Please. Just five minutes.”“There’s nothing to say.”Silence, then: “I’m not leaving until we talk.”I took a deep breath. I had to face him at some point. When I opened the door, Hunter was standing in the middle of the room, looking as wrecked as I felt.“Five minutes,” I said, keeping my distance. “Then you leave.”He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture I’d always found endearing. Now it just made my chest ache.“I’m sorry,” he began.“Don’t.” I cut him off. “Sorry doesn’t fix this.”“I know.” He took a step toward me, stopping when I backed away. “But I need you to know that I never meant for this to happen. I never intended—”“Intentions don’t matter,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. “What matters is what we did. We betrayed Helena. We

Luca dragged himself out of bed. Shit.He looked back at Audrey’s naked body, barely covered by the sheet. She was still asleep.He hadn’t meant to sleep with her. He’d come here to end things. Break it off clean. But the second he saw her, touched her—tasted her—he caved. As always. It was like trying to quit smoking. Not that he ever had. But she was addictive.Maybe that’s why this thing between them had lasted eleven months. The longest he’d ever been with anyone.He should’ve ended it months ago. Luca had known this was coming—known he had responsibilities he couldn’t outrun forever. He just hadn’t expected them to catch up in the form of his father’s heart attack.Nick De Santis had pulled through. But it had been close. Too close.And before the surgery, his father had made him promise. Made him swear that if he survived, Luca would finally fulfill the commitment he’d made sixteen years ago.The promise that still made Luca’s blood boil.When Luca was sixteen, his father had ag

Sutton stood in front of the mirror, making a few last-minute touches to her platinum blonde hair and makeup. She still hadn’t taken out the bright green contact lenses from her earlier photo shoot. They masked the true blue of her eyes. Luca had called from the airport to let her know he was on his way. She hadn’t seen him in five weeks. Five long weeks. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed him until she heard his voice. This had been the longest they’d ever been apart. He’d sounded tired… but that had never stopped him from coming straight to see her before. Whenever he returned from a trip, he always came to her first. He’d take her in his arms, devour her with a hunger that defied words. They rarely made it to the bedroom. Sutton glanced down at the pregnancy test on the vanity, the two pink lines still boldly visible. She didn’t know why she’d kept it. Her doctor had already confirmed the result, but maybe part of her needed the reminder. Her life was about to change

Blair leaned back in her office chair, rubbing her temples as she tried to focus on the reports in front of her. She’d been at it for hours, and the numbers were starting to blur together. Taking over her parents’ company had been challenging but rewarding, and three months into her role as CEO, she was finally finding her feet.Her phone buzzed with a text from Roman: Dinner tonight at 8. Don’t be late. I have news.Blair smiled, typing back: Intriguing. Should I be worried?His response came immediately: Only if you’re worried about how much I’m going to make you enjoy yourself afterward.Heat crept up her neck as she read his message. Three months of marriage, and Roman still had the ability to make her blush with just a few words. Grinning. Promises, promises, she texted back.Setting her phone aside, Blair returned to the reports, but found her concentration slipping again. She’d been feeling off for the past few days… tired, slightly, and inexplicably emotional over the smalle

“Breathe, Blair. You look like you’re about to pass out,” Sutton said, adjusting the delicate veil in Blair’s hair.“I’m fine,” Blair insisted, though her heart was racing. “Just... processing.”Keira snorted, carefully touching up Blair’s makeup. “Processing that in exactly thirty-seven minutes, you’re going to be Mrs. Roman Kingston?”“When you say it like that, it sounds so... real,” Blair whispered.“That’s because it is real,” Sutton laughed softly. “After everything you’ve been through to get here, I’d hope so.”Blair glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her dress was perfect. The hairdresser had styled her hair in loose waves. Inside, though, she felt anything but calm. Not because she was having doubts… she had never been more certain of anything in her life, but because the moment felt so monumental.“Mom and Dad would be so proud,” Keira said softly, as if reading her thoughts. “Of all of us, but especially you today.”Blair felt tears threatening and blinked rapidly. “

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” Blair said, stepping out of the car in front of Bella’s Bridal Boutique. “The wedding is this weekend. Shouldn’t we have done this months ago?”“Most people, yes,” Sutton agreed, carefully maneuvering her very pregnant form out of the car. “But most people don’t get engaged, catch an embezzler, confront a jealous ex-wife, expose a murderous uncle, and take over a family business all within the span of a few weeks.”Keira jumped out from the back seat, grinning. “Yeah, Blair. Stop being such an overachiever. Some of us can barely manage to show up to work on time.”“Speaking of which,” Blair said, eyeing her younger sister, “how did you get time off from His Royal Highness?”Keira’s smile turned smug. “I may have implied there was a family emergency. Technically, not having a wedding dress a few days before your wedding qualifies.” She had arrived home this morning and Blair could see she was jetlagged.“You’re terrible,” Blair laughed.“I’m pr

“Ms. Warner is part of the executive team,” Roman replied smoothly. “She’s here in her official capacity.”Blair watched Dan’s face carefully, noting the flash of anger that crossed it. His gaze dropped to her engagement ring, and his expression hardened further.“Who I have with me at any meeting is completely up to me and not up for debate. Also, not the reason we find ourselves in this meeting. We’re here to discuss the two hundred and seventeen thousand dollars that’s been stolen from Kingston Industries over the past eleven months,” Roman continued, his voice deadly calm.Caroline visibly paled. Dan’s expression barely changed, but Blair noticed his right hand twitch.“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What stolen money?” Dan said, his voice steady.Roman opened a folder and slid documents across the table. “Bank statements. Transfer records. Hotel receipts. Email exchanges. It’s all here, Dan. We know everything.”Dan glanced at the papers but didn’t touch them. “This is r