CHAPTER 2

YOU ARE NOT SAFE

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, but for a moment, I didn’t move. The words still echoed in my head, sharp and impossible to ignore, repeating themselves in a way that made it difficult to think clearly or even breathe normally.

“You’re pregnant.”

It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t make sense. My fingers tightened around the phone as I stepped out slowly, the bright lights of the lobby suddenly feeling too harsh, too loud, too real. People were moving around me, employees, security, assistants but their voices blurred into meaningless noise as my mind struggled to catch up with what I had just heard.

No. That man didn’t know what he was talking about. He couldn’t.

And yet… a strange uneasiness settled deep in my chest, because there was something else, something I hadn’t allowed myself to think about since that night, since three nights ago.

“Ma’am?”

A security guard’s voice broke through my thoughts, pulling me back into the present. I looked up, realizing I had stopped walking in the middle of the lobby, standing there like someone who had lost direction completely.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

The answer came too quickly, too automatically, and I didn’t stop to explain. I turned and walked out of the building, the cool air hitting my face the moment I stepped outside, but instead of clearing my thoughts, it only made everything feel sharper and more real.

My phone was still in my hand. I looked down at it again, staring at the unknown number with no trace, no identity, no explanation just those words lingering in my mind.

“You’re pregnant.”

My heart started beating faster as I swallowed hard and turned toward the street, raising my hand to stop a cab. Before I could, a black car pulled up in front of me smoothly, deliberately, like it had been waiting for this exact moment.

The window rolled down slowly.

“Get in.”

I froze immediately. The voice was the same, low, controlled, unmistakable. The same voice from the phone. My grip on my bag tightened without me realizing it.

“I don’t know you.”

A quiet pause followed, stretching just long enough to make the air feel heavier.

“That’s not the problem.”

A chill ran down my spine at the way he said it.

“What do you mean?”

The man inside the car shifted slightly, but his face remained partially hidden, leaving me with nothing but his voice and the strange certainty behind it.

“What matters is that I know you.”

My stomach tightened, and every instinct in my body told me to walk away immediately, to leave before this situation turned into something I couldn’t control.

“I’m not getting in.”

“Serena.”

The way he said my name calm, certain, as though he had every right to use it, made my pulse spike instantly.

“You should.”

“No.”

I took a step back, my voice firmer this time.

“Whatever this is, I’m not interested.”

Another pause followed, longer this time, heavier, as though he was deciding how much to reveal.

“You just signed your divorce papers ten minutes ago.”

My breath caught sharply, my entire body going still.

“I can prove it if you’d like.”

Silence settled around me again, thick and suffocating. Slowly, I turned back toward the car, my mind racing through possibilities I didn’t like.

“You were watching me?”

“I was waiting.”

“For what?”

“For you to walk out alone.”

That was enough. A cold wave of realization hit me all at once, sinking deep into my chest.

This wasn’t random. This wasn’t coincidence.

This man had been there the entire time.

“Who are you?”

The door clicked open.

“Get in.”

I hesitated, every part of me warning me that this was dangerous, that I should walk away while I still could. But another part of me the part that had already lost everything, didn’t want to leave without answers.

Slowly, I stepped forward and got in.

The door shut behind me with a soft click, sealing me inside the car. The first thing I noticed was the silence, not empty silence, but controlled silence, the kind that felt intentional, like even the atmosphere was being managed.

I turned my head slightly and finally saw him.

For a second, I forgot to breathe.

He wasn’t what I expected. His features were sharp, his expression calm and unreadable, his presence quiet but overwhelming in a way that didn’t need effort to be felt. Everything about him suggested control absolute control.

“You’ve been staring.”

I looked away immediately, forcing myself to steady my breathing.

“You’ve been watching me.”

“That too.”

Something about his honesty unsettled me more than if he had lied.

“Who are you?”

“Lucien Cross.”

The name hit instantly, settling heavily in my mind. Even if you tried not to know it, you knew it.

Damian’s biggest rival.

“…Why are you following me?”

“I’m not following you.”

He leaned back slightly, his gaze still fixed on me.

“I’m interested in you.”

That didn’t make me feel better.

“In what way?”

“In a way, your ex-husband never was.”

The words landed cleanly, precisely, and for some reason, they hurt more than anything Damian had said.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Everything about you is about to become my business.”

I frowned slightly, confusion mixing with unease.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Instead of answering, he leaned forward and tapped the driver’s seat lightly.

“Hospital.”

My head snapped toward him instantly.

“No.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“You already are.”

The car began to move.

Panic rose quickly in my chest.

“I said stop the car.”

“No, you said you’re not going.”

His gaze met mine again, steady and unshaken.

“And yet… here you are.”

My heart pounded harder.

“You can’t just decide things for me.”

“I don’t decide.”

“I predict.”

I stared at him, frustration building.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re pregnant.”

My chest tightened immediately.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

He didn’t answer immediately. His eyes dropped briefly just for a second toward my stomach before returning to my face.

“Because everything about you says so.”

My breath caught.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“No.”

“It doesn’t.”

A brief pause followed.

“That’s why we’re going to confirm it.”

The car slowed as it turned into a private driveway. My pulse spiked the moment I recognized where we were heading.

A hospital.

Real. Close.

Too close.

I reached for the door handle instinctively.

“I’m not doing this.”

“Yes, you are.”

His voice didn’t rise, didn’t change, and somehow that made it worse.

“Why do you care?”

“Because… if I’m right…”

He leaned slightly closer, his presence suddenly more intense, more overwhelming.

“Then your life just became very complicated.”

My heart skipped.

“What does that mean?”

For the first time, he smiled not warmly, not kindly, but like a man who already knew something I didn’t.

“It means…”

He paused, just long enough for the tension to build.

“You’re not safe anymore.”