LOGINInside, Blair sat on the sofa, her hand resting on her slight belly, while Roman stood nearby deep in conversation with Luca. Two-year-old Olivia was showing off her drawings to anyone who would look."Aunt Keira!" Olivia shouted, abandoning her colouring-in to run across the room. Keira bent down,
Olivia, growing restless, wiggled off Blair’s lap. “Can I go play with my blocks?”“Yes, but stay in the playroom,” Roman told her. “I’ll be there in a minute.”As Olivia skipped off, Roman pulled Blair to her feet and into his arms. “You look tired. You should have let me bring someone in to handle
“Mama! Look!”Blair looked up from her laptop to see her two-year-old daughter, Olivia, proudly showing off a crayon drawing that was mostly colorful scribbles.“That’s beautiful, sweetheart,” Blair said, genuinely impressed with the artwork of her toddler. “Is that our family?”Olivia nodded madly,
"Is that what you think?" Niko's voice was dangerously quiet. "That your only value is as a... what? A royal broodmare?""It's the reality of our position," she insisted. "The Wystovian crown needs an heir. You need an heir. And I can't—" Her voice broke.Niko crossed the distance between them in th
"I'm trying to protect him—""From what? From having a choice?" Keira's voice grew stronger. "You're deciding what's best for Niko without asking him what he wants. That's not protection, that's control."Amelia stared at her, startled by the blunt assessment."Look, I get it. The pressure is overwh
Amelia shook her head, the weight of her failure pressing down on her. "The doctors say there's nothing wrong with Niko, which means the problem lies with me. I'm considering stepping aside, letting him divorce me so he can marry someone who can actually give him an heir." She glanced at Keira, sudd
They didn’t speak during the elevator ride to Luca’s office. The sexual tension between them—and the tension from the confrontation with Nicole was still hummed through her body. Sutton watched the floor numbers light up one by one, her mind racing through everything that had just happened. The reve
Around 11:30, her stomach growled loudly enough for Elliott to hear.“Lunchtime for mama bear,” he announced, spinning in his chair to face her.“I think I’ll go grab something from the break room.” Her cheeks pink.An hour later, Sutton was still deep in code, her lunch of a ham and salad sandwich
Sutton had been wide awake since 5:17 a.m., and not from baby kicks this time.She just couldn’t sleep. Her thoughts had been spinning. So she had laid there until it was time to get up, thinking about Luca and the baby. His offer of marriage and the job offer. When the light spread across the room
They both stood, Luca with a non-pregnant grace, Sutton with an awkward step. She felt his hand at her elbow, steadying her, and though she didn’t need the help, she didn’t shake him off. It was a little like turning to put the horse in the barn after it had bolted.The nurse walked them into a wait







