Chapter 1: The Eviction in the Downpour

Valkyrie's POV

Melbourne had been experiencing a storm all afternoon, but the actual unrest was within the penthouse.

"Don't touch me, Valkyrie."

Kaelen’s voice did not get any louder; that was unnecessary since it was a cold blade that sliced through the background noise of the climate control system.

Standing behind his desk, the harsh LED light from his two monitors cut deeply into his cheekbones, creating a dent.

His hair was a bit messy, with one strand dropping over his forehead, the only evidence indicating that the perfectly maintained, billionaire investor was beginning to come apart.

My hands were hanging in the air between us, shaking. "Kaelen, please just let me have a look at the logs. You know how digital signatures work. Anyone with high-level access could have faked my IP address…"

"Quit talking." He didn't turn to look at me and kept his eyes fixed on the data streams flashing on his screen.

"Just quit talking."

The atmosphere in the room seemed heavy, thickened by the suffocating weight of an accusation that I was unable to resist.

On the screen was the death sentence for Vance Energy's main subsidiary: millions of dollars' worth of proprietary trade secrets had been lost, leaked to our most determined competitor in one neat upload.

Moreover, as the digital record on his desk shows, the keystrokes had been made from my personal laptop, signed in with my private security token, while I was in this room four hours ago.

I didn't do it, I whispered, my throat hurting as it rubbed against the words. "Kaelen, look at me, please."

He turned his head slowly and heavily.

The breath caught in my chest when our eyes met.

His eyes, just as cold and attractive as they had been before, when they had gazed at me with unshakable warmth and had softened during our late-night conversations about the contracts, were now empty.

There was no love left in them. No trust either. All that remained was rage.

"I gave you everything," he said, lowering his voice by an octave and making it extremely quiet.

"I gave you a seat at my table, my name, and my bed. I placed with you the very essence of my family's company, Valkyrie, and you had sold it out before the ink on our marriage certificate had even dried."

This is a trick! I took a desperate step forward, and the soles of my feet stuck slightly to the polished hardwood.

Think over it! Why on earth would I want to destroy Vance Energy? What could be gained by making you bankrupt?

“Chloe”.

The name struck me just as if it had given me a physical blow, causing my jaw to close firmly.

In front of my mind's eye, I saw the icy blue eyes of Victoria Vance again, from yesterday afternoon.

"If you so much as say one word to my son," Kaelen's mother had whispered, tapping her fingernail against the medical file which held my sister's life-support authorization, "I will personally put in the order for Chloe's ventilator to be switched off before you have even got to the elevator."

My heart beat hard against my ribs just as if a bird were trapped there. I couldn't tell him.

If I pointed the finger at Victoria without having absolute, bulletproof evidence, Kaelen would consider me as shifting the blame onto his own mother, and Victoria would carry out her threat before sunrise.

I was stuck in a vice, the steel jaws closing in from both sides.

"You're not answering me," Kaelen said in a soft voice. He moved round the desk, his broad frame standing tall over me and throwing a long shadow that completely covered me.

"What has come of your silence now, Valkyrie? Where is the bright, clever mind that you're so proud of? Give me a lie if you have one. Give me something."

"I am telling you I'm telling the truth," I managed to get out, a single tear working its way past my lashes and feeling hot and bitter against my cold cheek. "I didn't leak those files. I swear upon my life, Kaelen."

He looked straight down at me for a long and painful moment; for a brief instant I could see a sign of hesitation in the rigid position of his jaw.

The memory of the man who had loved me almost managed to push through his defensive attitude, but then his phone buzzed on the desk.

There was a message from his legal team confirming the bankruptcy filing, and the wall once again settled back into place, even more firmly and coldly than before.

“Get your stuff,” he said.

The room appeared to tilt. "What?"

Take your things and leave my house.

"Kaelen, it’s pouring outside "

"Now!" His voice finally broke, erupting into a roar so loud it echoed off the glass walls.

The force of the sound caused me to jump back.

He turned away from me and grasped the edge of his desk with such strength that his knuckles went completely white.

"If you're still in this building in five minutes, I'll have the security personnel throw you out onto the street. Don't test me."

I shook so much that I had difficulty zipping up the small leather suitcase which was by the closet door. I didn't include my jewellery in the luggage.

I didn't take the expensive dresses that his money had bought.

Instead, I packed three sets of practical clothes, my personal documents, and the little wooden music box that Chloe had given me before she collapsed.

After pulling the suitcase into the lobby, I found Kaelen standing next to the door as he kept it open.

Outside, the private elevator was humming and waiting.

I came to a halt in front of him. Although my heart was splitting into a thousand pieces, I managed to raise my chin.

I wouldn't let him see that I was completely broken.

"One day, Kaelen," I said, my voice steady even though a storm was going on inside of me, "you are going to realize what you did tonight. And when you work out who actually did this, don't come looking for me."

His jaw tightened, but he said nothing and didn't look at me as I walked past him into the private hallway.

The door closed behind me with a loud thud.

Twenty minutes later, I left the residential lobby and stepped straight into the downpour in Melbourne.

The rain struck me like icy needles, quickly soaking through my light coat and sticking my hair to my face. The city lights became blurred streaks of red and yellow through the thick sheets of water.

I pulled my suitcase down the slippery sidewalk, my teeth shaking violently as the cold wind dashed down the street.

My body was shaking, not only because hypothermia was getting into my arms and legs, but also because a severe feeling of nausea swept over me and struck me right in the stomach.

I sank onto a cold stone bench beneath the leaky roof of a coffee shop that was closed, pressing my shaking back against the brick wall and holding my chest as I tried to get my breath, but the feeling of nausea came over me once more, and this time it was stronger.

I slowly lowered my hand into the front pocket of my coat, my fingers numb from the rain.

Three hours before Kaelen got home, before the accusations, before the shouting, before my whole world came apart, my fingers came into contact with a small plastic stick that I had hidden there.

I pulled it out.

I wiped the rainwater from the small glass screen under the dim and flickering streetlamp.

Two distinct, dark pink lines stared back at me.

I let out a gasp, which was immediately swallowed up by the roaring thunder overhead.

I put my palm to my lower abdomen, the freezing rain soaking my skin as the terrifying realization swept over me.

I was having his child and, at the same time, entirely on my own.