Chapter 1

SLOANE

There are many ways a marriage can end. Mine ended with a pregnancy test that wasn't mine.

“Sign it," My husband stated, sliding the divorce papers towards me as if all the years of our marriage had been temporary.

Nika stood beside him, her hand slightly resting on her belly and a smug smile curling up her lips.

My stomach dropped and my hand began jittering as I stared at my husband, Killian Ardenian.

"Killian...” His name escaped my lips like a whisper as I grabbed the hem of my dress, trying to ground myself as a hollow ache spread across my chest.

“Sloane, this decision is also hard on—" I glanced at Nika, utterly disgusted by that fake, pitiful expression she always managed to pull over her face.

“Anika, I am talking to my husband. Not you!" Nika swallowed immediately, taking a few steps backwards wincing and clutching her belly like I had hit her.

“Don't yell at her like that. She's only trying to speak for me." Killian glared at me, staring at her, his eyes filled with concern while he tossed the pen to me.

That was exactly how he used to stare at me. Like I meant the world to him.

“We don't need to act like this matters," His voice was calm, his fingers interlocked in each other as he kept peering at me, “You can't give me an heir, just sign." 

It didn't matter? 

Four years!

 Of my life! Four years of my youth! Four freaking years playing the dutiful wife and believing that he had even a sliver of love for me and now, it didn't matter?

 “If you're refusing to sign because you think you'll be at a loss, I promise you'll be heavily compensated." 

Compensation!

He was treating this marriage just the same way he treated his businesses. Everything that went wrong could be fixed with compensation?

And maybe I wished that was the case, but it wasn't. 

I knew Killian, perhaps even better than he knew himself and I knew that he loved me. No matter how cold he turned out to be, there still was that calmness that belonged only to me.

“Killian, please. We…we don't have to end like this. I can give you an heir too. I can— you love me! You do, don't you? If Nika is—” I paused as his glare turned cold and harsh.

"It's already been 4 years and you haven't been able to bear a child for me, Sloane.” His voice was calm, gentle, almost soft just the way it sounded when we were happy together.

“I need an heir not wishful thinking. You're barren! You know that. Even strangers conceive faster. You should be grateful Nika is willing to take your place." 

I need an heir.

I couldn't give him that. Was that it? Was all of our sweet nights, coiled up in each other's arms while whispering sweet nothings all just a formality to give him an heir?

"Don't drag this out, Sloane. Sign the papers—" 

“Sir, the board members are here." His assistant informed, standing by the door with a folder between his hands.

“I'll be there in 5," He answered, standing to his feet as he turned to me, “My lawyer would be back in 3 days for the signed document and by then, your belongings should have been moved out of the Ardenian residence." My face was wet with tears and I could see dots in my vision as I flipped the pages of the divorce agreement while he stepped out with Nika, not even sparing me a second glance.

My knees trembled as I stood to my feet clutching the divorce agreement, the realization that I had nowhere to go, slamming in.

And this…this was all my fault. If my father hadn't been a narcissistic male oriented dad, perhaps I would have never met Killian.

As I walked out of his company, I heard whispers, murmurs, like the whole world knew my life was now a joke. It was as though everything from 5 years ago was rushing in.

My brother had died and father said I couldn't inherit the family business because I was a woman. 

 He preferred entrusting it into the hands of my late brother's best friend, Dominic. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand any of them and the look of pity whenever there was an event or occasion. So I left!

Because it felt like the right thing to do.

But leaving Velmora and coming to Norcane became the worst choice I had made.

I thought I had found love, hope, warmth in the arms of Killian Ardenian. 

He was the only one who had truly seen me. He was the only one who had told me that my opinions matter, the only person who treated me like an equal. 

But that night turned out to be my regret, the night Killian had been drugged and filmed with me. But he hadn't shown any regret either. 

When his grandfather proposed marriage because I had turned out pregnant, it felt like a blessing.

But I should have known. Two days after the ring slid into my finger, he suddenly said he wasn't ready for a child. He made me remove the baby, and I did it all for love.

And that cost me a ruptured womb. Yet now, he was divorcing me just because I couldn't give him a baby anymore.

Now I dared to think, maybe he had never loved me.

Maybe all of it was fake and fickle but could all of four years truly be faked?

Did he really only want me for reproduction whenever he was ready and when he was finally ready and I couldn't, I became a discarded tool.

By the time I got home, I was drenched completely. Yes, it was raining heavily and I had walked in it anyway, hoping it would wash away my sadness. It didn't. 

As soon as I was in my bedroom, I fell to the floor, curling up and shivering, mentally not able to go take my wet clothes off.

He wasn't coming home. He hadn't come home in days and so I lay there. Wet, heartbroken and torn and dozing off. There was no place for me, not here, not back at home.

~

Nika waltzed into the room and I jolted out of bed at the sound of the door banging open.

What is she….wait. it's already three days. The deadline Killian gave me to sign the divorce agreement.

I swallowed hard as I stared at her, some servants behind her just gawking.

 “This… this is my room. What are you doing here?” Nika’s lips curved up as she glanced at me briefly.

 “Not anymore.” She clapped her hands once, gesturing to the servants.

“Throw everything out, immediately.”

The servants didn’t move and I felt a flicker of hope, maybe they wouldn’t, maybe they’d refuse and Nika’s smile widened.

“Oh, you need confirmation?” she said, pulling out her phone.

She clicked on a voice messaged and Killian's voice rang out.

“Clear her things before I return. I don’t want any trace left.”

I couldn’t breathe, the room seemed to tilt, while my chest tightened as the servants finally obeyed.

 My clothes were yanked from hangers, my shoes hit the floor and my jewelry boxes overturned.

“Stop, please, be careful!” I cried, stepping forward, but my voice felt small.

A sharp crash made me jump.

They had dropped our wedding photo and it was currently in shards.

 I sank to my knees, trembling as I reached for the broken pieces 

“Please… just leave that one.” I whispered.

“You really should learn when to let go,” she murmured.

One of the servants stammered, “Mad—” She stopped herself.

“Miss Sloane.” she corrected softly.

Miss.

Not Madam. Not Mrs. Ardenian.

Two security guards appeared at the doorway, and my stomach sank.

Nika didn’t even glance at them.

“Escort her out once they’re done.” She said casually.

 “You can’t do this.” I refuted, tears spilling out of my eyes.

“Not me, he did.”

 “Please come with us, ma’am.”

I couldn’t fight the numbness, my feet moved slowly, as I descended the staircase.

The front doors opened and I stared at my suitcase already outside.

They banged the door shut and I grabbed my suitcase, walking slowly, not even knowing where to go from here.

 A sharp pain twisted in my lower abdomen, it had persisted for days now.

I kept walking when the pain flared again and I gripped my stomach, trembling.

“Whats going on with me?” My legs felt heavy to lift even as I tried walking and I could feel dots in my vision.

I tried to keep walking. I tried.

The world was swirling and I felt myself hitting the floor as the world outside blurred. Then there was a voice, very close yet distant.

I woke up with a throb in my head, my belly was hurting and I tried to caress it when I felt an extra weight there. 

“Easy." I heard someone say as I winced while the drip connected to my hand cut due to the pressure I had pulled on it. I looked around. 

A hospital? How did I get to a hospital? 

A doctor rushed over to me immediately as he helped me sit up.

“Be careful, ma'am. You're putting your child at risk behaving l

ike this—”

"Child?” I snapped my head towards him, " What child?” I queried and he stared at me in confusion.

"I'm sorry, didn't you know? You're 6 weeks pregnant.”