CHAPTER 5

YOU DON'T GET TO TOUCH ME AGAIN

The moment I stepped out of the consultation room, the air in the corridor felt different, heavier than before, as though something had shifted quietly while I was inside, something I could not see yet but could already feel pressing in around me. My steps slowed without me meaning to, my mind still trying to process everything the doctor had said, every word repeating itself in a loop that refused to settle into something I could fully accept, because accepting it meant accepting that my life had just changed in a way I could never reverse.

“You need to leave here carefully.”

Lucien’s voice came from beside me, calm as always, but there was something beneath it now, something more deliberate, more watchful, and it made me turn to look at him fully for the first time since we left the room.

“What does that mean?”

He didn’t answer immediately, his gaze shifting briefly down the corridor before returning to me, as if he was measuring something, calculating something I was not yet aware of.

“It means you are not the only one who knows you are here.”

My chest tightened slightly, my thoughts snapping into focus in an instant.

“Who else would know?”

Before he could respond, the sound of footsteps echoed from the far end of the hallway, steady, controlled, unmistakably familiar in a way that made my body react before my mind fully caught up.

I turned.

And my breath caught.

Damian.

He was walking toward us with the same composed stride he always carried, his expression unreadable at first glance, but there was something in his eyes that I had never seen before, something sharper, something more focused, and for the first time since I left his office, I felt a flicker of something I refused to name.

He stopped a few steps away from us, his gaze moving from me to Lucien and then back again, taking in everything without missing a single detail.

“Serena.”

My name sounded different coming from him now, heavier, more deliberate, as if it carried something he had not bothered to show before.

“What are you doing here?”

I didn’t answer immediately because the question itself felt absurd coming from him, as though he had the right to ask it, as though he had not just ended everything between us less than an hour ago.

“That’s none of your business.”

The words came out calm, controlled, but I could feel the tension building beneath them, tightening with every second he stood there.

“It became my business the moment you walked out of my office and came here.”

His gaze didn’t leave mine, and I could feel the weight of it in a way that made it difficult to ignore, but I refused to step back, refused to give him that.

“You don’t get to decide what your business is anymore.”

A brief silence followed, thick with something neither of us acknowledged.

“Who is he?”

The question came suddenly, directed not at me but at Lucien, and something about the way Damian said it made the tension in the corridor sharpen instantly.

Lucien didn’t move.

Didn’t react.

He simply looked at Damian with the same calm indifference he had shown since the beginning, as though none of this affected him in the slightest.

“That is not your concern.”

Damian’s expression hardened slightly.

“She walked out of my office ten minutes ago and got into your car.”

“And that bothers you?”

Lucien’s voice was smooth, almost amused, and it only made the situation worse.

“It should not.”

“It does.”

The answer came faster than expected, sharper than expected, and for a brief second, the silence that followed felt louder than anything else.

I stepped forward before either of them could continue, the tension between them already too much, already moving in a direction I did not want to deal with.

“This is pointless.”

Both of them looked at me.

“I came here for a reason. That has nothing to do with either of you.”

Damian’s gaze shifted back to me, more focused now, more intense.

“You’re here for a pregnancy test.”

The words landed without warning, cutting through the moment cleanly, leaving no space to pretend otherwise.

My breath caught slightly, but I didn’t look away.

“And if I am?”

Another silence.

Longer this time.

“Whose child is it?”

The question was quieter now, but far more dangerous, carrying something beneath it that I could not ignore, something that made my chest tighten despite everything I was trying to control.

“That is not your concern either.”

“It is if it is mine.”

The air shifted.

Everything seemed to stop at once, the weight of those words settling into the space between us in a way that made it impossible to breathe normally.

“You do not get to ask me that.”

My voice came out steadier than I expected, but my heart was beating too fast, my thoughts moving too quickly.

“I get to ask anything that involves me.”

“You made sure I was no longer your responsibility.”

The reminder was sharp, deliberate, and for a moment, something in his expression changed, something subtle but noticeable, like a crack in something that had always been perfectly controlled.

“That does not change the fact that you were my wife.”

“Were.”

I didn’t hesitate.

“Past tense.”

Another silence followed, heavier than before, but this time it was filled with something different, something that felt closer to frustration than calm control.

Damian took a step forward.

Instinctively, I stepped back.

That was when Lucien moved.

Not quickly.

Not aggressively.

But enough to place himself between us, his presence shifting the balance of the moment in a way that made it clear where he stood.

“That is far enough.”

His voice remained calm, but there was no mistaking the warning beneath it.

Damian’s gaze darkened.

“This does not concern you.”

“It does now.”

The tension snapped tighter.

I could feel it in the way the air seemed to press in around us, in the way neither of them was willing to step back, in the way this was no longer just a conversation.

It was something else entirely.

“Move.”

Damian’s voice was colder now.

“No.”

Lucien did not hesitate.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, but the silence between them said enough, heavy with challenge, with something unspoken but understood.

I stepped forward again, forcing myself between them before this escalated any further, my patience already worn thin by everything that had happened in the past hour.

“Enough.”

Both of them looked at me.

“This is not happening here.”

My voice was firm now, leaving no room for argument.

“I am leaving.”

I turned without waiting for a response, my steps quick and controlled as I moved down the corridor, refusing to look back, refusing to let either of them pull me back into something I had already walked away from.

“Serena.”

Damian’s voice followed me, sharper this time.

I didn’t stop.

“Serena.”

My hand tightened slightly around my bag, but I kept walking.

Then

“You cannot keep this from me.”

That made me stop.

Slowly, I turned back, meeting his gaze one last time.

“Watch me.”

The words came out quiet, but they carried more weight than anything I had said before.

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Then I turned again and walked away.

Outside, the air felt colder than before, but it didn’t matter, because the moment I stepped out of the hospital, something deep inside me had already settled into place, something stronger than confusion, stronger than fear.

I knew one thing now.

Everything had changed.

And whatever came next

I was not going to let anyone control it.

Behind me, inside the hospital corridor, Damian stood still, his gaze fixed on the space I had just left, his jaw tight, his expression unreadable, but his thoughts far from calm.

“She is not leaving the city.”

Daniel’s voice came from behind him, cautious but clear.

Damian didn’t respond immediately.

Instead, he spoke after a long silence.

“Find out everything.”

A pause.

“About the pregnancy.”

Another pause.

“And about him.”

His gaze shifted slightly in Lucien’s direction, cold and deliberate.

Because whatever this was

He was not going to lose control of it.