LOGIN**CHAPTER 033****ROSA'S POV**Seven months.I lay on the examination table and stared at the ceiling and thought about that. Seven months since I'd walked through Michael Cross's front door. Seven months since I'd stood in his kitchen in my pajamas holding a cup of coffee like an offering and been told it was acceptable.Seven months.How, I thought, is that possible."Everything looks perfect," the doctor said, moving the ultrasound wand slowly across my stomach. The screen beside her showed the familiar shape — that small curved outline that never got less extraordinary no matter how many times I saw it. "She's a good size. Strong heartbeat. You've been taking care of yourself.""I've been taken care of," I said, which was more accurate.The doctor smiled. "It shows."I looked back at the ceiling.Seven months of Marie appearing at my door every morning with food I hadn't asked for. Seven months of a wardrobe that kept quietly expanding with things that fit a growing stomach withou
**CHAPTER 033****ROSA'S POV**Seven months.I lay on the examination table and stared at the ceiling and thought about that. Seven months since I'd walked through Michael Cross's front door. Seven months since I'd stood in his kitchen in my pajamas holding a cup of coffee like an offering and been told it was acceptable.Seven months.How, I thought, is that possible."Everything looks perfect," the doctor said, moving the ultrasound wand slowly across my stomach. The screen beside her showed the familiar shape — that small curved outline that never got less extraordinary no matter how many times I saw it. "She's a good size. Strong heartbeat. You've been taking care of yourself.""I've been taken care of," I said, which was more accurate.The doctor smiled. "It shows."I looked back at the ceiling.Seven months of Marie appearing at my door every morning with food I hadn't asked for. Seven months of a wardrobe that kept quietly expanding with things that fit a growing stomach withou
**CHAPTER 032**I stared at her.The words wouldn't come out.*Doctor, what the hell are you saying.* I turned it over in my head, trying to make it make sense, trying to find the part where it became logical and landed properly. *How the hell would Rosa be pregnant. I never — I always used protection. Every single time. So how—*A sound from behind me.Small. Quiet. Suspiciously close to laughter.I turned.My mother sat with both hands folded in her lap and her expression perfectly composed — except for the very corner of her lips, where a smirk was sitting that she was making absolutely zero effort to hide."Except," she said pleasantly, "maybe someone forgot to use protection once." She tilted her head slightly. "Cassian. You used to come home drunk. Regularly. So there is a very real possibility that on one of those nights you were not quite as careful as you thought you were." She paused, letting that sit. Then she waved a hand. "But that's by the way." Another pause. A shorter
**CHAPTER 31****CASSIAN'S POV**—7 MONTHS LATER—"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weldon."The doctor's voice was gentle. The kind of gentle that people used when they already knew the words coming next were going to land hard, and they wanted to at least cushion the fall a little."The reports are very clear." She set the folder down on the desk in front of her and folded her hands over it. "You're barren, Mrs. Weldon. I'm so sorry."The room went completely still.It was the kind of still that had nothing to do with quiet—because the room wasn't quiet; the air conditioning was humming, someone in the hallway outside was walking past with shoes that clicked against the tile, a phone was ringing somewhere down the corridor—but none of that registered. None of it existed. The only thing that existed was the word the doctor had just put down on the table between them like something that couldn't be taken back.*Barren.*I watched Isolde's face.I couldn't help it. I was sitting two seats to her left,
***CHAPTER 030*** I almost said no. The word was right there, sitting at the front of my mouth, ready — because I'd seen what happened the last time I asked about that woman. I'd seen his face close like a door being shut from the inside, and I was not entirely sure I wanted to be responsible for putting that look on his face a second time. But my mouth opened anyway. "Are you sure?" I said. "Because if it's going to hurt you — if it's something you're not ready to talk about — you really don't have to. I'm not asking you to—" "Do you want to know or not," he said. Not unkind. Just direct. The way he said most things. I pressed my lips together. "Yes," I said quietly. "I want to know." He stayed at the door. Didn't come in. Didn't move closer. Just stood there with one hand still resting on the door frame and looked at me with those steady hazel eyes and said nothing for a moment. I waited. "Her name was Sarah," he said. Something in the room shifted. Just slightly. Like t
CHAPTER 029 "I am." The voice came from directly behind me, and I turned so fast I nearly dropped both bags of popcorn. Michael. He'd come back. Wallet in hand, mask still at half-mast, cap still pulled down, walking toward us with that measured, deliberate stride that didn't change regardless of the situation — and his eyes were fixed on Mrs. Weldon with an expression I couldn't read from this angle but that made her take one very small, involuntary step backward. He stopped beside me. Right beside me. And then — before my brain could process what was happening or issue any kind of warning or prepare me in any way whatsoever — his arm came around my waist. Firm. Warm. Settled there like it belonged, like this was something he did regularly, like wrapping his arm around me in the middle of a public park in front of my ex-mother-in-law was a completely normal Tuesday — Wednesday — activity for him. Oh… oh my God. I stopped breathing. Not dramatically. Just quietly.
**CHAPTER 010** **6:25 AM** I stared at the red numbers glowing on the clock face. What… what… how was this even possible? I asked myself. No. No, no, no, no. I threw off the covers and stumbled out of bed, my legs tangling in the sheets for a moment before I caught myself against the nightstand
**CHAPTER 009** I heaved a heavy sigh as I remembered what the doctor at the hospital had told me. *"Living with him might be difficult. He has strict routines, strict rules about how his home is kept. He's not cruel, but he's not flexible either. Everything must be perfect, controlled, organized.
**CHAPTER 008 ** Only the doctor and I were left in the room after Michael left. The silence felt heavy. Oppressive. I stared at the closed door, still trying to process what had just happened, what I'd just agreed to. "Why?" I asked finally, turning to look at the doctor. "Why is he helping me?"
**CHAPTER 007** "You're joking," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. He had to be joking. he was a stranger—a man whose name I didn't even know until a few minutes ago—couldn't possibly be serious about letting me stay with him. The doctor's eyes went wide. She stood up from the bed, turning







