Divorced, Now Watch Me Rise!

CLAIREThe pregnancy test sat heavy in my purse, a secret I'd carried all day like a fragile egg, two pink lines, clear as the day. I pressed a hand to my still-flat stomach as I stood outside Ethan's study, trying to steady my breathing. Four years... Four years of hoping, waiting, believing that one day he'd look at me the way husbands in movies looked at their wives. That the cold, contract marriage our parents arranged would melt into something real, maybe this baby would be the bridge, maybe this would finally make us a family.I knocked softly."Come in."His voice was clipped, distracted. I pushed the door open and found him behind his massive desk, eyes glued to his laptop screen, he didn't look up."Ethan," I said, my voice barely above a whisper."What is it, Claire? I'm busy."My hands trembled as I stepped closer. "I... I need to talk to you. It's important."He sighed, the kind of sigh that said I was an inconvenience. Still, he closed his laptop and leaned back in his c

CLAIREI was back at the motel, sitting on the bathroom floor with my knees pulled to my chest, when my phone rang... Dad.My heart leaped. Finally, someone who might listen, someone who would believe me.I grabbed the phone with shaking hands. "Dad? Dad, please, I need...""Come to the house." His voice was cold. "Your mother and I need to speak with you."Mother, he meant my stepmother, Patricia. My real mother had died when I was eight."Dad, I can explain everything. Those photos aren't...""Just come. Now."The line went dead. I stared at the phone, hope and dread warring in my chest, maybe this was good. Maybe they wanted to hear my side, maybe...I pushed myself off the floor and grabbed my jacket. The cab ride to my father's house felt like it took forever and no time at all. When I arrived, the front door opened before I could knock. Patricia stood there, her face a mask of disgust. She looked me up and down like I was something dirty she'd found on her shoe."Come in," she s

CLAIREPain. That was the first thing I felt when I woke up. Not the sharp, tearing pain from before. This was different, like my entire body had been put through a grinder.I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds, voices drifted around me. Soft and distant."...stable now...""...lucky she didn't...""...a few more days..."I forced my eyes open. White ceiling... again.But this ceiling was different, cleaner. With soft recessed lighting instead of harsh fluorescent bulbs. I turned my head slowly, wincing at the ache in my neck. This wasn't the same hospital.The room was private, expensive-looking. Cream-colored walls, a large window with heavy curtains drawn shut, a single leather chair in the corner, and sitting in that chair, watching me, was a man. My heart stopped.Dark hair, sharp jaw, gray eyes that seemed to see right through me. Julian Cross. Ethan's stepbrother. The man I'd supposedly cheated with.I tried to sit up, panic flooding m

CLAIREWe walked forward, my heels clicking softly against the marble floor, each step felt like walking through water, slow and impossible. Vanessa saw us first.Her smile froze on her face, her eyes went wide, then narrowed into slits of pure hatred.bShe touched Ethan's arm, her perfectly manicured nails digging into his sleeve and he turned, and when he saw me, saw us, his entire body went rigid.For a long moment, no one said anything.bGuests continued flowing around us, offering congratulations to the happy couple, but the four of us were locked in our own frozen bubble of shock and tension. Finally, Vanessa's mask slipped back into place. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes."Claire," she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "What a... surprise."I didn't answer, just met her gaze and held it. Julian's hand pressed slightly firmer against my back. A silent reminder that I wasn't alone.Ethan's jaw tightened. His eyes moved from me to Julian, then back to me, somet

CLAIREI woke to the sound of my phone buzzing constantly, like it wouldn't stop, like something had broken loose in the world while I was asleep.I rolled over in the unfamiliar bed, squinting at the bright sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. For a moment, I forgot where I was, then it all came rushing back: Julian, the contract, the engagement party, Ethan's face when he realized I was wearing a ring.I reached for my phone on the nightstand and my stomach dropped when I saw the screen. Twenty-three missed calls and forty-seven text messages.My heart started pounding as I scrolled through the notifications. Most were from blocked numbers, a few were from people I barely knew, old acquaintances and distant relatives I hadn't heard from in years, and three were from my father.I didn't open any of them, instead I opened my browser and the first thing that popped up was a gossip website with a massive headline that made my blood run cold."TECH CEO'S EX-WIFE SPOTT