Chapter 3

On the elevator down, I couldn't stop thinking about Selene and everything she'd done over the past three months. Looking back, the signs had been embarrassingly obvious.

She hadn't even been particularly good at pretending. I'd just been too willing to believe her.

I'd explained every strange look, every slip, and every moment that didn't quite add up with the same excuse. She had amnesia.

I was so lost in thought that when the people beside me stepped off the elevator, I followed them without thinking. It took me a moment to realize I was on the Women's Health floor.

I'd already made it halfway down the hall before I noticed and turned to head back toward the elevator.

Then I stopped. Someone familiar was standing farther down the corridor. Someone who had no reason to be there. Selene.

I stared at her, confused. She was supposed to be at home making dinner with Evander.

Without meaning to, I stopped just outside the examination room and heard the doctor speak. "You're pregnant. About eight weeks along. Have you decided whether you want to continue the pregnancy?"

Evander didn't even get the chance to answer.

"Yes," Selene said immediately. "Absolutely."

Through the partially open door, I saw the ultrasound printout trembling slightly in her hand.

Then she turned to Evander and threw her arms around him. "Did you hear that? We're having a baby."

She was already talking about what came next.

"We should get married before I start showing. I'll call my parents tomorrow and tell them. It doesn't give us much time to plan, so you'd better make it special. I'm not letting you use the short notice as an excuse to give me some rushed little wedding."

Selene had her back to the door, but Evander didn't. His eyes met mine over her shoulder. The color drained from his face.

He shoved Selene away so abruptly that she stumbled. Confused, she followed his stare and turned toward the doorway.

The instant she saw me, panic flickered across her face.

It vanished almost immediately, but I'd seen it.

"Kieran?" she blurted out. "I thought you went to work. What are you doing here?"

I ignored her question. My eyes stayed fixed on Evander. "Selene's pregnant?"

I already knew the answer. I just wanted to hear him say it.

Evander dropped his gaze, shame written all over his face. He couldn't even look at me.

Selene frowned and immediately stepped between us. "We're engaged, Kieran. We weren't exactly planning for a baby, but these things happen."

A quiet, bitter laugh escaped me. I wasn't sure whether I was answering her or finally admitting the truth to myself. "Right. You two are the ones getting married now."

Evander didn't say a word the entire drive home. He kept both hands on the wheel and his eyes fixed on the road, as if looking at me would somehow make everything worse.

Selene, meanwhile, sat rigidly in the passenger seat with one hand resting protectively over her stomach. Every few minutes, her eyes flicked warily toward me in the rearview mirror.

As if she genuinely believed I might do something to Evander or to the baby she was carrying.

I didn't say a word, simply lowered my gaze to my phone, and opened the message I'd received from HR.

There was an overseas position they'd been trying to fill—an engineering role at the company's office in Valeria. I'd turned it down before.

This time, I typed my reply without hesitation. "I'll take the transfer to Valeria."

At the company's midyear meeting, senior management had announced plans to expand into Valeria. They were putting together a team of engineers from offices across the country to help get the new operation off the ground.

As it happened, I was the only engineer in my branch who spoke Valerian. I'd studied it as a second major in college. That made me an obvious choice.

I'd still turned them down. Even before Selene's accident, I knew I couldn't handle a relationship from opposite sides of the world.

When I'd been forced to choose between a major career opportunity and a future with Selene, I'd chosen her.

I wouldn't make that choice again. From now on, the future I planned would be my own.

It wasn't until we got home that I learned what had happened. While making dinner, Selene had suddenly gotten so nauseous that she'd started throwing up. Evander had assumed something was wrong and rushed her to the hospital.

Maybe he didn't want the smell of food making her sick again, or maybe he was simply looking for an excuse to get me alone. Either way, Evander volunteered the two of us for kitchen duty.

Selene glanced at me skeptically. "Kieran? He doesn't even know how to cook."

Evander guided her toward the couch and helped her sit down. "Then he can learn. There are two perfectly capable men in this house. We're not making you cook dinner when you're pregnant."

The word hit harder than it should have. Pregnant.

I turned away before either of them could read my face and headed into the kitchen.

I was rinsing vegetables at the sink when Evander came in behind me. The door clicked shut.

Then came the unmistakable sound of the lock turning.

I looked over my shoulder. Before I could ask what he was doing, Evander dropped to his knees in front of me.