Chapter 5: Pregnant

Cora's POV

The harsh fluorescent lights sting my eyes as I blink awake. My vision clears just enough to see my parents and Liam stepping closer to my bed.

A groan escapes my lips as I push myself upright. Pain flares in my hip—no doubt bruised from the fall. I'm wrapped in soft hospital blankets, an IV drip secured to my arm. Everything feels surreal, like I'm floating somewhere outside myself.

I meet Liam’s gaze. For a fleeting second, relief washes over me—he’s here. But the feeling shatters almost immediately, the memory of what happened slamming into me like a punch. My heart hardens instinctively, throwing up walls I can barely hold steady.

“Are you feeling unwell?” Liam asks, his brows drawn tight.

For a heartbeat—a single, foolish heartbeat—I wonder if maybe, somewhere deep down, he still cares.

But his next words crush that fragile hope without mercy.

“How could you not even know that you're pregnant?” Liam spits, his voice sharp, eyes blazing with anger. “From now on, you’re not doing anything alone. You’re not going anywhere until you give birth to the child!”

The world tilts. I’m still lightheaded, the fainting spell leaving my mind foggy and slow, but one word slices through the haze like a knife.

Pregnant?

I stare at him, the word echoing in my head, each repetition louder than the last. A dizzying cocktail of emotions surges through me—joy, grief, disbelief.

Once, I dreamed of carrying Liam’s heir. I imagined it would bring us closer, that it might forge a bond strong enough to overcome everything else. I thought... maybe it would mean something to him. To us.

But standing here, listening to the disgust in his voice, all those dreams curdle into something bitter and sharp.

This isn’t love. This isn’t anything close to love.

He doesn’t want this child because he cherishes me, or because he longs to be a father. He wants it because it serves a purpose. A tool. A solution. Nothing more.

All he’s ever cared about is Iris.

Tears prick at my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I lift my chin and meet Liam’s cold gaze head-on.

“Have you ever loved me?” I ask, my voice low and raw. “Or was it all just... for Iris?”

Liam frowns. Not with guilt. Not with regret. Just irritation, like my question is an inconvenience he has no patience for.

“Iris and I have been together for five years,” he says flatly. “If it hadn’t been for her illness, we would’ve been married a long time ago.”

The finality of his words crushes something inside me. But he isn’t finished.

“I know you love me,” he says, his tone chillingly detached. “As repayment for saving Iris, I made you my Luna. I've fulfilled my promise. Now it's your turn—have my child.”

I laugh, a brittle sound that doesn’t even feel like it belongs to me. How many times can one heart break before it simply stops trying to mend itself?

I glance at my parents—silent, complicit. Traitors, every single one of them.

“Out,” I say, voice trembling with rage. I raise my arm and point fiercely at the door. “All of you. Get out.”

They hesitate, exchanging glances, but none of them argue. My parents leave first, slipping away like cowards. Liam lingers for a moment longer, his hand on the doorframe, his expression unreadable.

I hate him.

I hate him because a part of me still wants to love him, still aches for the man I thought he was. I hate that loving him feels like driving a knife into my own chest again and again, and still begging for more.

“Calm down,” he says coolly. “This doesn’t have to be difficult. Aside from love, I’ll give you anything you want. All you have to do is give birth to my heir.”

Without waiting for a response, he turns and slams the door behind him.

Silence crashes over the room like a wave. For a long moment, I just sit there, the sound of my own heartbeat roaring in my ears.

Slowly, my hand drifts to my stomach, resting there gently, protectively. A sob rises in my throat, and this time, I don’t fight it.

I’m carrying a life inside me. A new beginning. But nothing about this situation is right. This child deserves more than being born into a twisted web of lies, bargains, and betrayal.

They deserve love. Freedom. A future that isn't tainted by old debts and broken promises.

And so do I.

I wipe the tears from my cheeks and take a deep, shuddering breath. I can’t stay here. I can’t spend the rest of my life trapped in a marriage built on deception, forced to bring a life into the world just to serve someone else's needs.

This can’t be my life.

It won’t be.

I glance around the sterile hospital room, my heart pounding with a clarity I haven’t felt in months. There’s only one choice left, and it’s the hardest one I’ll ever make.

I have to leave the Snowcrest Pack.

Not just for me.

For my child.