Chapter 4: The Woman Before Me

The message hung between us like a loaded gun.

(You promised she would never carry your child.)

I stared at the screen until the words blurred, each one piercing deeper.

My hand went cold, a chill spreading through me.

Nathaniel moved first, snatching the phone from the desk and flipping it facedown, as if hiding the screen could erase what I had seen.

“Leave,” he said, his voice a low growl.

I laughed, a sound that felt foreign, thin and broken. “You can’t be serious.”

His eyes met mine, calm as ever. I hated that calm more than the message itself.

“Claire.”

“No.” I pointed at the phone. “Who is Celeste?”

A muscle tightened in his jaw, and that was the only answer I needed.

“She’s not your concern.”

“Your mistress is asking if you touched me, and I’m supposed to be unconcerned?”

“She is not my mistress.”

“Then what is she?”

Silence filled the space, heavy, cruel.

Nathaniel looked past me toward the window, as if searching for the right words outside.

“She was supposed to be my wife,” he finally said, quiet like a confession.

The floor felt like it had shifted beneath me.

“What?” I blinked.

“Before you,” he said softly.

Before you. Two words that felt like a slap.’

My throat tightened, but I wouldn’t let him see it hurt.

“So I’m the replacement.”

“No.” His gaze snapped back to mine.

“Don’t lie to me. Not after everything.”

“I said no.” His voice sharpened.

For a flash, I caught a glimpse of something beneath his icy demeanor, pain, raw and unsettling. Then it vanished.

I crossed my arms, trying to shield myself from the truth. “If you wanted her, why marry me?”

“Because my father doesn’t care about want.”

“And you do?”

His lips curved faintly, but it wasn’t a smile.

“No.”

That answer stung more than it should have.

I looked away, furious with myself for caring at all.

Nathaniel walked to the side table, pouring himself a glass of water. His hand was steady, but the blood from Adrian’s punch dried in a dark line at the corner of his mouth.

“Celeste can’t have children,” he said, his voice suddenly heavy.

I froze, the anger in my chest morphing into something colder; understanding, disgust, horror.

“So Victor refused her,” I whispered.

Nathaniel didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

I swallowed hard. “And then your family picked me because I can.”

“Do not reduce yourself to that.”

I almost smiled. “Funny. Your contract already did.”

His fingers tightened around the glass; for once, he had no perfect retort.

The silence felt like a small victory, but it didn’t bring me any comfort.

Celeste had been discarded for her inability to bear children. I had been chosen because I could.

Different cages, the same men holding the keys.

I stepped closer to the desk. “So what was the agreement?”

Nathaniel fell silent, his lips pressed together.

I picked up the phone, but this time he caught my wrist, quick and firm.

“Do not.” His touch burned, not from pain but from memory; Adrian’s hand, warm and rough, so different from this.

Nathaniel’s gaze dropped to where his fingers encircled my wrist, then he let go, as if remembering too.

“The agreement,” I pressed.

His face closed off again. “I marry you. I keep the merger intact. Your father’s debt is covered. I do not touch you. I do not give my father the heir he wants.”

I stared at him, realization dawning. “You planned to make this marriage fail.”

“Yes.”

The word landed cleanly, no apology, no hesitation.

My chest tightened. “Then why marry me after finding out about Adrian?”

His eyes shifted, revealing the real wound. “You think I should have let him have you?”

I flinched, and I saw the flicker of regret in his expression, almost.

“I am not something men let each other have.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.” My voice shook now. “Your father bought me for an heir. You married me to punish your brother. Adrian looks at me like I’m some lost thing he failed to save. Everyone keeps deciding what I am.”

Nathaniel studied me, his eyes searching mine.

“What are you, Claire?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

I hated that I didn’t have an answer.

A daughter.

A wife.

A mistake.

A woman entangled with one brother and married to the other.

My eyes burned, and I looked away. “Trapped.”

Nathaniel's expression shifted, just a fraction, before the door swung open.

Adrian stood there, his gaze moving from me to Nathaniel, then to the phone on the desk.

“Am I interrupting?”

Nathaniel’s voice turned cold. “Always.”

Adrian ignored him, focusing on me. “Are you okay?”

That question should have felt comforting, but instead, it made everything worse.

Nathaniel noticed the way my face softened, and his eyes darkened.

The room tightened around us.

I stepped back from both of them. “Stop looking at me like that.”

Adrian’s jaw flexed. “Like what?”

“Like I belong to whoever suffers more.”

Neither of them answered.

I turned toward the door.

Nathaniel’s voice called after me. “You are not leaving this room.”

I stopped, slowly looking back. “Watch me.”

Adrian moved first. “Claire.”

I walked past him before he could reach for me, but I didn’t get far.

A woman stood at the end of the hallway, beautiful, elegant, draped in cream fabric that made her look almost bridal.

Her eyes moved over me slowly before she smiled, not kindly, but knowingly.

“You must be Claire.”

My stomach dropped.

Behind me, Nathaniel went completely still.

The woman looked past me, meeting his gaze. “Hello, Nathaniel.”

Then she turned back to me. “I’m Celeste.”

Her smile widened, a predatory glint in her eyes. “His first love.”