Chapter five

Lucien

I sat alone in my study, staring at the documents spread across my desk, yet none of the words made sense to me. I had been sitting there for hours, pretending to work, but the truth was I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Ever since Laura left, everything had felt heavy and wrong. The silence in the house was unbearable, and no matter how hard I tried to focus, my mind always drifted back to her. It was exhausting, and some days, I barely had the strength to get through my work.

The door to my office suddenly opened, breaking my thoughts. I looked up to see my mother walking in without hesitation. My jaw tightened immediately.

“I thought I made it very clear that you should always knock and wait for my permission before coming into my office,” I said sharply as she walked over and took a seat across from me, completely unbothered by my tone.

“If I had knocked, you wouldn’t have answered,” she replied calmly. “You’ve been avoiding a proper conversation with me ever since Laura left.” She made a face of clear disgust the moment she mentioned Laura’s name.

I felt my chest tighten, irritation and exhaustion mixing together. “What do you want?” I asked coldly. “As you can see, I’m busy.”

In truth, I wasn’t busy at all. I just didn’t want to hear whatever she had come to say. I didn’t have the patience for her comments or her opinions, especially not now. 

“Well, I came to inform you,” she said after a brief pause, her tone firm and unapologetic, “that Megan will be moving into this house. I expect the two of you to get reacquainted properly so we can finally begin planning your marriage.”

My jaw tightened instantly, anger rushing through me, but I forced myself to stay calm. I took a slow breath before speaking. “Whatever you’re planning with Megan will never work,” I said coldly. “And I don’t want her anywhere near my house.”

My mother’s eyes darkened. Suddenly, she slammed her hands down hard on the desk, “This is my house too,” she snapped. “And I will decide who stays here.”

She leaned forward, her voice sharp and filled with anger. “There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. You and Megan are destined to be together. Everything was going perfectly until you ruined it by marrying that swan.”

My chest tightened at her words, but she wasn’t done. “I will be announcing your engagement very soon,” she continued, her voice final and unyielding. “Whether you like it or not.

I slowly nodded my head, even though anger was burning inside me. “I have indulged your shenanigans for far too long,” I said firmly. “I gave you too much control over my life, and that ends right now. I am taking it all back.”

I leaned back in my chair and looked her straight in the eyes. “I dare you to announce any engagement to anyone. I am still married to Laura, and nothing about that is changing.”

She suddenly laughed, the sound cold and mocking. “Don’t forget,” she said, “that your marriage was nothing more than a contract. And despite that, she still went ahead and cheated on you.”

My heart skipped. “She even gave birth to a child that isn’t yours,” my mother continued cruelly. “A bastard.”

My eyes snapped to her immediately, shock and disbelief crashing into me at once. She noticed my reaction and froze, she  swallowed hard and quickly looked away, avoiding my gaze.

“H-how did you know about that?” I asked, my voice breaking as the words came out in a stutter. 

No one on earth knew about Ryan’s paternity except the four doctors I personally contacted. I had done the test months after he was born, back when he was constantly falling sick and he needed blood transfusion immediately and my blood didn’t match. I ran the DNA test in three different hospitals, hoping one of them would prove me wrong, but every single result came back negative.

I made every doctor involved sign strict non-disclosure agreements. There was no way this information should have reached anyone else. So how did my mother know?

“Because I ran a DNA test too,” she said calmly. “That child looks nothing like you, and from the very beginning, everything about him felt wrong.”

I studied her closely, suspicion creeping into my chest. “But you never said anything,” I said quietly.

She shook her head. “You withdrawing from her and her son was punishment enough already,” she replied. “I was only waiting for her to overstep so I could use it against her.” She paused, then added coldly, “But thank God she left honorably.”

I leaned back in my chair and let my head fall against the backrest, staring up at the ceiling. My chest felt tight, like something was slowly crushing me from the inside. I had truly believed she loved me. I believed we were building something real, something strong, even if our marriage had started as nothing more than a contract.

I had always loved Laura, ever since our high school days. Back then, I never had the courage to approach her, not because I didn’t want her, but because my mother was already forcing Megan on me. I stayed away, convincing myself it was better not to complicate her life or mine.

Years later, when her father came to me for help through my grandfather, everything changed. My grandfather thought he was simply pushing me into another arranged marriage. He said Laura and I were a perfect match, that he could see great potential in us as husband and wife. What he never knew was that Laura was the same girl I had loved quietly for years, the one I had always wanted but never thought I could have.

She became the best thing that ever happened to me. For the first time, I allowed myself to hope. I was already planning how and when I would finally confess my love to her, to tell her the truth about how I had always felt.

And then everything fell apart, I I found out that Ryan wasn’t mine.

Two weeks later, my world shattered even more when I received pictures of her in compromising positions with my late friend, Andre. In that moment, everything I believed in our marriage, our future, and the love I thought we shared collapsed right in front of me.

I wished Andre hadn’t died that night. As much as the thought hurt, I needed him alive. I had so many questions to ask him questions that would probably haunt me for the rest of my life. Of all the women in the world, why did it have to be my wife? Why Laura?

I had thought about divorcing her more times than I could count. The idea tempted me, especially on the nights when the betrayal felt too heavy to carry. But in the end, I decided against it. I would rather spend a lifetime in pain with Laura than marry Megan. That much, I was sure of.

Pretending to be back together with Megan was exhausting. Every smile felt fake, every conversation forced. Pretending to love her daughter, Aria, while deliberately neglecting our so-called “son” was even worse. It tore at something inside me, but I convinced myself it was necessary. This was her punishment for lying to me, for cheating on me, for destroying everything I believed in.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?” my mother snapped, her voice sharp. “Megan is coming to live here, and I don’t care what you think.”

I didn’t respond, My phone rang, breaking the tension. I glanced at the screen and saw Theo’s name. My lawyer and friend, I answered immediately.

“Bro, I missed your call earlier,” he said. “I was tied up.”

I lifted my eyes and looked straight at my mother. I already knew she wouldn’t like what I was about to say but for once, I didn’t care about her feelings.

“I need you to review the contract between Laura and me,” I said calmly. “She didn’t properly go through it when we got married. I want changes made.”

There was a brief pause on the line.

“I need you to include clauses that make it impossible for her to leave me,” I continued, my voice steady despite the storm inside me. “Turn it into a lifetime contract.”