CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

Amber Desiree’s POV

The house was cold. Not in temperature, but in silence.

I sat on the couch with a blanket draped over my legs. A drama series was playing on the TV, but I wasn’t really watching. My eyes were fixed on the clock.

9:28 PM.

Lorenzo still wasn’t home. Again.

My gaze drifted toward the kitchen, where the plate of food I’d prepared for him earlier sat untouched. His favorite—garlic butter steak with red wine. It had gone cold an hour ago.

I sighed softly and turned off the TV.

I was about to stand up to put the food in the fridge when the lights by the front door flicked on.

Lorenzo walked in, briefcase in hand, coat slung over his arm, his expression calm and unreadable as if he hadn’t kept me waiting the entire night.

“Did you eat?” I asked quietly, my voice careful, gentle.

He paused mid-step, barely glancing in my direction. “I had dinner with a client.”

“Oh.”

I nodded faintly, even though disappointment stung in my chest. He could’ve at least messaged me. Just one text, so I wouldn’t have spent hours waiting or cooking something he wouldn’t touch.

He walked past me without another word, like I was nothing more than part of the furniture. No glance. No acknowledgment. Only silence, and the faint scent of his cologne lingering as he disappeared down the hallway.

I stood there, frozen for a moment, before letting out a shaky sigh.

Lately, that was all he ever did. Come home late, offer empty answers, and lock himself in his office until morning.

Sometimes I wondered if he’d already forgotten that we were married.

THE NEXT MORNING, I woke up feeling nauseous.

A wave of dizziness hit me so suddenly that I had to clutch my stomach and run to the bathroom. I threw up until my body trembled, then I leaned weakly against the sink, staring at my pale reflection in the mirror.

It wasn’t the first time this happened.

For the past few days, I’d been feeling lightheaded, and my appetite came and went in odd ways. I barely touched dinner last night, and now my body felt like it was betraying me.

I gripped the sink, my pulse racing. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hide my pregnancy.

That night, I was already getting ready for bed when Lorenzo walked into the room. He was still in his work suit, his tie slightly loosened.

He didn’t even glance at me as he tossed his coat onto the chair and began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

I looked at the wall clock.

10:00 PM.

“You’re late again,” I said softly.

“Meetings,” he muttered, walking toward the bathroom.

I clenched my blanket, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “Do you… ever wonder why we’re still doing this?”

He paused, his hand on the doorknob, but didn’t look back. “Doing what?”

“This.” I gestured vaguely around the room. “Pretending like we’re not married. Or worse… pretending that we are.”

Lorenzo finally turned his gaze toward me, his green eyes sharp and distant. “I didn’t ask for this marriage, Amber.”

“And you think I did?” I shot back softly.

Silence filled the room, heavy and suffocating.

I lay down and turned away from him before the tears could fall. I didn’t want him to see me cry. I didn’t have the strength to keep fighting someone who wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

He said nothing. The only sound was the quiet click of the bathroom door closing behind him.

I shut my eyes tightly and took a shaky breath, wrapping my arms around my belly as I whispered to the little life growing inside me—the only piece of warmth left in this cold house.