“I've sacrificed so much for our sake, to get this duplicitous act from my husband and my foster sister!” My heart clenched at the sight of their naked bodies. I lacked words to say, My heart felt crushed under the weight of their sinful act! I was about to give Liam the most exciting news of our lives on our third wedding anniversary. The insemination procedure was a success, and I was pregnant with his child. That day turned out to be the opposite of what I expected it to be. I ended up being humiliated in the presence of my foster sister, I was asked to sign the divorce papers, and was also sent out of my matrimonial home that same day. **** “Mrs Sophia, there was a big complication from the final procedure we carried out on you. “What's wrong? I managed to say, without minding the tension coming from his voice. After a few minutes of silence… “A mistake occurred during the insemination procedure, leading to the incorrect sperm being used and….” he took a deep breath. "You're carrying the child of the CEO Williams Corporation.” My eyes widened in shock. “Whatttt!! This was just the beginning of my twist of fate with the ‘Cold and Callous Billionaire’.... Ethan Williams.
View MoreTwo weeks earlier.
Sophia “Finally!” I shut my eyes, and took a deep breath. “This is it! The day I waited patiently for” I was taken into the hospital ward by one of the nurse aides. I looked around the neatly arranged ward, and the pungent smell of sterile antiseptic sent a wave of anxiety crashing over me. The nurse aide could see right through me, and she gave me a reassuring smile that the process was going to be a smooth one, and that I had nothing to fear. “Let me help you put this on," she said, gesturing at the neatly folded patient’s gown in her hands. The procedure was about to begin. The young doctor came in, he was putting on a white lab coat, with his name boldly imprinted on the left side of his coat, “Dr Brown”, I muttered under my breath. He walked in with two other nurses, who carried a surgical tray, covered neatly with a blue piece of cloth, their expressions were intense, and I could swear my heart skipped a bit. After two weeks of tracking my ovulation that seemed like forever. I was really determined to get this done. Three years of childlessness, I felt this could be the only way out. I do not want my Liam to ever feel bad about this issue of us not having a child. I’ve been visiting the ‘We Care Fertility Clinic’ for almost a month now, and I could say that it hasn't really been an easy follow up. I hid my intentions from Liam, I wanted this to come as a surprise, since it's two weeks to our third wedding anniversary. I can only imagine that excited expression on his face when I tell him I'm expecting his child. He would definitely carry me up in a bridal style, spin me around, and plant a kiss on my forehead. I blushed hard at my thoughts, and I would say that if the nurses or the doctor spared me a glance, they would think I'm going crazy. Lost in my thoughts, I could only see the nurses hand over some instruments to the doctor who was carrying out the procedure, and I felt those instruments go in and out of me, then I also felt a warm liquid flow inside of me. I felt a little cramping, but due to the over excitement that lingered in my heart, it was nothing. Ten minutes later, “You're all set, Mrs Sophia. I heard the doctor say with a smile that faded almost immediately, and I wondered how he was able to have a change of expression within a blink of an eye. “Your next appointment with us is in two weeks.” Dr Brown said, gesturing his hands in the air. I rested for about an hour, before I headed home. ******** Two weeks later. I arrived at the fertility clinic. There were different women trooping in and out of the clinic, some escorted by their partners and family members, while some of them who came alone. It was my choice to come here by myself. “Good morning." I broke out from my thoughts and smiled at the receptionist who recognized me immediately and smiled back at me. “Doctor Brown is available in his office," she said briefly, returning her gaze to whatever she was doing. Great! The clinic's corridor stretched out before me. I've been here a couple of times, so it was easy to locate Dr. Brown’s office. After running a pregnancy test and some other examinations, I was told to wait at the lobby until the results were out. “The insemination was successful, and I'm glad to share the good news that you’re pregnant.” The doctor said with a brief smile, handing over a neatly sealed envelope. “Really! This is fantastic news” I exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you so much doctor," I said, as I left his office. "Congratulations ma'am, I'm so happy for you,” Mary, the nurse aide who took care of me, said. “Thank you so much Mary, you're so kind.” She supported me every step of the way since the beginning, she always reassured me, and relieved me of anxiety and doubt. “Bye Mary,” I waved at her, and I let out a sigh of fulfillment. Today is our wedding anniversary, and I could feel the butterflies in my belly go wild, this is going to be the best gift to my husband Liam. I took a day off from work, and let me say for a month now, I've not really been consistent with work. "Your pay for this month will be splitted into half,” Mrs James, the owner of one of the biggest coffee houses in the South city. I was the best worker of every year, and that was the least she could do than firing me from my job. I had already prepared his favourite dish,(Breaded, fried chicken topped, melted mozzarella cheese with pasta) before leaving. I walked into our apartment, though not really big like those billionaires' mansions, but I could say that I was very comfortable living here with my husband, Liam. I stood in front of the door, and I could hear some distant noise coming from my apartment. Did he call Lindsay over to surprise me? I leaped in excitement, and I just couldn't wait to announce that we'll be expecting a child. I walked in through the passage to the living room, but Liam was not there. I was so lost that I didn't notice the rose petals on the floor. When I looked, my heart skipped and I gasped with excitement. I followed the trail of the rose petals, and it led to our room. He wanted to surprise me in our room. How sweet! I decided to tiptoe, so he wouldn't realize I was back home. “Surprise!" I pushed the door wide open, but I was indeed the one surprised by the scene I saw. How did I not realize the moans coming from the room? I was actually thinking he was planning something beautiful with my childhood best friend, Lindsay. Liam was pumping her from behind, and their body was covered with sweat. It was the moment I had her cry out Liam's name that I realized who it was. Luna! I watched as she grabbed the sheets of my matrimonial bed, crying out my husband's name in between her moans. “What the hell is going on here?” I yelled on top of my voice while clutching my chest, my voice quivered with a mix of disbelief, and that was when they realized someone was even standing by the door. “Sophy, you're back? Liam said, covering himself with the blanket, while Luna hid at his back, glaring at me with a devilish smirk. "Can you explain what is going on in my matrimonial home and on my matrimonial bed!?" I yelled again, as the weight of betrayal pressed down on me.—Sophia's POVClarissa.The name hit like a second shot to the chest—and this time, I felt it.Not from pain.From betrayal.From memory.From every damn lie we'd built our survival on.She should've been dead. I saw it. The flames. The collapse. Ethan standing over what was left."You..."The word barely escaped my lips.She was exactly as I remembered her. No. Worse. Because her smile wasn't just cruel now—it was victorious."Hello, Aria," she purred, stepping into the cabin like she owned it.Ethan shifted in front of me so fast I barely saw it. His body a barrier. A shield. But his silence was volcanic. Ready to erupt.She laughed softly. "Still playing the protector, Julian?"My stomach twisted. The way she said his real name. Like it was hers to touch.Ethan didn’t blink. "How are you alive?""You should know by now," Clarissa said, removing her gloves one finger at a time, "that I'm very good at faking death.""Phase Two," I whispered. "You said it begins now. What does that me
—Sophia’s POVI didn’t feel the cold.Didn’t feel the blood pounding through my legs as they carried me into the snow, away from Ethan, away from the wreckage, away from everything that had ever made sense.My breath came in sharp bursts.But none of it felt real.Because that name—Aria Davis—was supposed to be a child’s lie. A name I buried. A dream that belonged to a girl in a bangle.Not me.Not this.Yet there it was. That metal tag. Still clenched in my hand like a curse I couldn’t throw away.Aria‑01.Not a name. A designation.Failed Compatibility.Memory Overridden.I didn’t know how far I walked, but the blizzard kissed my cheeks like an old ghost. It whispered through my hair and across my lips, the way Ethan used to—when I still thought he was a stranger.Behind me, footsteps crunched. I didn’t turn. I knew who it was.The wind didn’t stop him.Nothing ever stopped him.“Say something,” I said, voice low, throat raw.But Ethan didn’t.I heard his breath behind me, uneven.
— Ethan’s POVTen minutes.That’s what Marcus said. Ten fucking minutes until hell tore through these walls. And all I could hear was the hum of those pods.Aria‑02. Julian‑03.More versions of us than should ever exist.I stared at them, frozen. My breath fogged the pod glass, and inside lay a child no older than five—suspended in some nutrient fluid, eyes closed, lips the same as Sophia’s, eyes the same as mine. Even the bangle was replicated. A stolen memory locked inside glass.Sophia’s hand clutched mine harder. She hadn’t screamed. She hadn’t pleaded. I could feel the burning grief in her squeeze—an anger that ran deeper than fear.This wasn’t a lab.This was a crucible.And we were standing in its epicenter.“We don’t have time to shut them all down,” I muttered.She nodded, voice hollow: “Then we blow it up.”Her words weren’t desperate. They were inevitable. Words you spoke when the world had shattered beneath your feet and only ruin made sense.I moved fast. A wall of contr
— Ethan’s POVShe said it like a crown.Like the name meant something.Like A.J. wasn't a scar but a goddamn trophy.I didn’t move. Not at first. Because something inside me had gone very, very still. That kind of still you feel when a building starts to fall, and there’s no use running because it’s already too late.Clarissa fucking Wren.Alive.Looking at us like we were puppets that finally learned how to dance.And Sophia—no, Aria—was shaking beside me. I felt it. Not the tremble of fear.Rage.Grief.Something deeper. Like her soul had just been scraped raw.“You should be dead,” I said. Not loud. But clear.Clarissa smiled. She always smiled. That polished, sterile smugness she wore like perfume.“You should be grateful,” she replied. “You both exist because of me.”Sophia took a step forward. “We exist despite you.”Clarissa's eyes flicked to her belly. “Do you, though?”I moved between them before Sophia could throw something—because she would. Hell, I wanted to.Clarissa cock
—Sophia’s POVI stared at Ethan like I didn’t know him.Because right now, I didn’t.Not the man holding that weathered journal. Not the one looking at me like this wasn't the moment everything cracked.Like my whole life hadn’t just been rewritten in front of me."We were never random." he said.My heart stuttered."What did you just say?"His eyes didn’t flinch. Cold. Too calm. That calm that only ever shows up right before something explodes."She designed it. All of them, the clinic, the orphanage. The records. Everything about you and me."He hesitated, then said it.—"Us" It didn’t feel real.Not the silence that followed. Not the pressure blooming behind my ribs.Not the fact that Clarissa Wren—dead, buried, forgotten—was still pulling our strings like we were marionettes stitched together in her lab.I took a step back. Then another."So what, are we now an experiment now? Is that what we are now?”Ethan’s jaw clenched. "Sophia, you're not some experiment." "But you are?"
—Ethan’s POVI don't think she's after revenge. She’s after succession.Sophia was very correct, and that hit me like my father’s voice was coming back through the pages of that damned journal, I've kept for so many years. Clarissa didn’t want to destroy the family name.She wanted to rewire it.Rewrite it in her own ink.My ink.Our child.I closed the journal slowly, feeling every second thicken around me. Sophia leaned into me, her body trembling, but her grip on my arm never faltered. That grip was what kept me steady—what kept me from exploding.“She’s been building this for decades,” I muttered. “Underneath everything. The companies. The foundations. The clinic. It was all just... grooming. Preparing.”Sophia nodded, her lips pale. “Preparing for what?”I looked at her, and in that moment, I saw it clear as blood on snow.“For the perfect heir.”She swallowed. “Our Son, Irene?.”I couldn’t breathe.Not because I was afraid.But because I could feel the storm finally turning i
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