Chapter 3

Emilia kept pacing around the doctor’s office. “How do I even tell my husband his sperm went missing? How? And what do we do about the young lady—you ruined her life. How can you let another woman carry my husband’s sperm? You just ruined everything. Just so you know, Doctor, I paid you millions, but you couldn’t even do one thing properly!”

“I am very sorry,” the doctor said, swallowing hard. “We will need your husband’s sperm again. That’s the only way out.”

Emilia turned sharply. “And what pathetic nurse mixed our files? Where is she? She needs to be sacked.”

The door creaked and Maria rushed in, her face pale. Emilia didn’t wait—her hand flew with precision and slapped her hard across the cheek.

Maria gasped, stunned silent.

“An ordinary nurse in charge of sensitive files, and you couldn’t even differentiate between me and a random nobody?” Emilia shouted, her voice breaking.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” Maria whispered, clutching her stinging cheek. “All I know is… she came with a friend.”

“That silly information of yours is not enough to get her. And even if we find her, what do we make her do—abort the child?” Emilia’s voice cracked. “And I am sure you boosted her fertility rate, right? Right? That means she’ll definitely be pregnant. What bullshit have you caused for me?”

Silence stretched between the walls like a noose tightening around all their throats.

Emilia slammed her handbag down on the doctor’s desk, her chest heaving. “You better erase everything. I want every trace of that girl gone. If Lucan finds out…” Her voice trailed off as her lips trembled, fury threatening to crack into hysteria.

The doctor swallowed hard. “We can destroy the paperwork and wipe the CCTV entries from today. But—”

“No buts, you incompetent idiot,” Emilia cut in sharply. “If a single word of this reaches my husband, I will make sure you never work again. I’ll bury this place so deep no one will even remember it existed. Are we clear?”

“Clear ma’am” the doctor said, trying to keep his voice steady.

Emilia whirled on the nurse. “And you—Maria—you’re done here.”

Maria’s face crumpled. “Ma’am, please. It was an accident—”

“I don’t care if it was the ghost of Florence Nightingale who tripped over the files,” Emilia snapped. “You mixed my life with some nobody’s. Some poor street girl, some random patient off the hallway—” She pressed her palm to her forehead and took a sharp breath. “You think this is just a mix-up? My husband’s legacy is in another woman’s womb.”

Maria looked down, trembling.

“And what’s worse?” Emilia’s voice dropped to a hiss. “If this story ever leaks, the media will have a feast. Billionaire CEO’s sperm implanted in random woman by accident. I’ll be the laughingstock of every table on the Upper East Side. Do you understand the kind of mockery I’ll face?”

Maria nodded mutely.

“Good,” Emilia sneered. “Because I’m not here to be pitied. I’m here to fix this before it blows everything I’ve built to hell.”

The doctor spoke carefully. “We’ll need to act fast. The insemination window is narrow. If she conceives—”

“Oh, she will,” Emilia snapped. “I paid for the best fertility enhancers, the strongest hormonal boosters. You guaranteed a 95% success rate. You think I didn’t memorize your sales pitch? So yes, she’s probably already carrying my future.”

A silence settled in the room.

Emilia stared out the frosted window, her jaw clenched.

“She’ll want to keep it,” she muttered after a moment. “Women like her… desperate types… they never let go of a golden ticket once they hold it.”

The doctor straightened. “We could… offer her money. Confidentially. Get her to sign an NDA. Perhaps a termination arrangement—”

“And if she refuses?” Emilia’s eyes glinted with something cold. “You think she’s stupid? You think a woman who unknowingly ends up pregnant with Lucan Crestwell’s heir would walk away for a few hundred thousand? This girl could shake our empire if she opens her mouth.”

Maria whispered, “But we don’t even know where she lives…”

Emilia turned slowly, her expression deadly calm. “Then find her. Track her through her form. Check the number she wrote down. Follow her medical insurance. Talk to the friend she came with. I don’t care how you do it, but I want her name, her address, her job, her family. I want her entire life on my desk by tomorrow morning.”

“Yes ma’am,” Maria said shakily, backing toward the door.

“And when you do…” Emilia paused, tilting her head. “I’ll handle her myself.” She said then she walked away, she slid into her car immediately then she drove off.

Few minutes later, Emilia reached the mansion, she barely kept the tremble out of her fingers as she stepped out of the car. Her mind was still spinning, but her face—her face was perfect. Cold. Controlled. Composed.

At the front steps of their marble estate, Nora, her personal assistant, was already waiting in her usual sharp suit and heels, a folder clutched tightly to her chest.

“How is the company?” Emilia asked without stopping.

“I’m taking care of the documents you asked for, but… we need you,” Nora said carefully, falling into step beside her.

Emilia halted abruptly, her eyes snapping toward her. “This is not the fucking time to need me, Nora. You can handle things. Don’t get me mad.”

Nora’s mouth opened slightly, but she quickly looked down and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Emilia turned and pushed open the door.

Inside, Lucan was fastening his Rolex, ready to leave for a late meeting. He looked up, his dark eyes flickering with something unreadable. “What’s that about?”

“Nothing, darling.” Emilia forced a soft smile, tossing her handbag onto the table like it hadn’t just held the fallout of a scandal. “Set to leave?”

Lucan’s gaze didn’t waver. “Where are you coming from?”

Emilia didn’t blink. “It’s not important.”

There was a beat of silence.

Lucan Crestwell adjusted his cufflinks in the mirror of his private suite. He was powerfully built, sharp-jawed, with an aura that made people lower their voices when he entered a room. Behind him, Emilia stood, her eyes hollow then her expression softened.

“Don’t forget,” she said softly as she walked towards him, brushing invisible lint from his suit. “We have dinner tonight with the board. I’ve arranged everything.”

He nodded absently. “Okay.”

“Also,” Emilia added as if it were nothing, “the clinic called. We’ll need to redo the insemination procedure. They said the sample had a minor complication.”

Lucan paused. “A complication?”

“Yes. But nothing big. Just a minor storage error. They’ll need a fresh sample.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly. “Why didn’t anyone call me directly?”

Emilia didn’t blink. “Because I told them not to bother you. You’ve been working too hard.”

Lucan nodded after a beat. “Fine. I’ll stop by at the hospital tomorrow and ask them what went wrong.”