Two

Nick Grimm had never liked lies. They left a sour taste in his mouth, even the ones told for survival. But sometimes, lies were necessary. Sometimes, truth destroyed more than it saved.

And today was one of those days.

The moment Nita disappeared from sight, swallowed by the crowd in the lobby, he peeled himself away from the woman clinging to his arm, Kira. Her perfume lingered like an unwanted stain on his suit, too artificial.

He clenched his jaw. He hadn’t meant for the display in the lobby to go so far. All he’d wanted was for Nita to walk away. To cut ties before she was trapped in a future she didn’t deserve. But instead, he had humiliated her. Publicly. Deliberately. He could still see the wounded look in her eyes, the way her body stiffened when he had said she was “nobody”. The memory carved a hollow ache in his chest.

Kira pouted beside him, trying to act cute. “Didn’t I do well?” she asked, trying to sound playful. “I helped you send off that leech.”

Leech.

Nick’s finger flexed, aching to break something. But not here. Not where cameras could flash, not where whispers could be turned into headlines. He swallowed his anger and kept walking, his face composed, his stride calm, until they reached his office suite.

Only then, when the door clicked shut behind them – did he turn on her.

“Don’t you ever speak of that woman like that again.”

His voice was low, dangerous. The kind of tone that had board members cowering and rivals reconsidering their moves.

Kira blinked, stunned, then forced a laugh. “Nick, relax. I didn’t mean anything by it. You’re too serious.” She tied to slip closer, her manicured hand reaching for his arm the way she had downstairs.

Nick caught her wrist and pushed her gently but firmly away. “And don’t ever come this close to me again. Unless you’re ready to lose every single transaction you’ve been begging me for.”

The threat hit its mark. Kira stiffened, her confidence wilting instantly. Their deal was worth millions, and she knew better than to gamble with his temper. She backed away quickly, as though his touch burned her.

Still, she recovered fast, plastering on a coy smile. “Fine. But, tell me something, Nick. Who was she? The girl didn’t seem like a nobody. Not to you.”

He exhaled sharply, forcing the muscles in his shoulders to relax. “Do I owe you an explanation? State your reason for being here or leave.”

That was enough to redirect her. She launched into her pitch, detailing investments and profit margins, her voice rising and falling with rehearsed charm.

Nick didn’t hear a word. His mind drifted replaying Nita’s face. The disbelief. The hurt. The betrayal. When Kira had claimed to be his woman, Nita had looked at him as though she were clinging to one last thread of hope – hope he had crushed with silence.

He hated himself for it.

But it was necessary.

Better to end it now than let her cling to illusions. Better she hate him than nurse him through the slow decay of his body.

Because Nick Grimm was dying.

His gaze drifted to the drawer in his desk. Slowly, lost reluctantly, he pulled it open and took out the white envelope that had haunted him for months. Inside, the .doctor’s report was folded neatly, its word etched permanently into his memory: terminal illness. Few months left. No cure. No reprieve.

He stared at it until the letter blurred. Rage flared in him – not at death itself, but at the cruel timing. Just when he found someone he could have truly loved, fate had decided to rip it away.

If she knew. IfNIta knew the truth. She would fight for him. She would waste her days at his side, caring for a man whose body was betraying him. he couldn’t let her sacrifice her youth, her dreams, for a man doomed to fade.

So he had made his choice: better to wound her now, deeply, irrevocably, than let her drown with him later.

The door clicked. Kira was finally leaving, tossing him one last suggestive smie. “Lunch? My treat?”

His glare was all the answer she needed. With an awkward chuckle, she retreated, heels clicking out of his office.

Nick leaned back in hs chair, exhausted by the charade. He reached for his phone.

“Jeff,” he said when his assistant picked up. “I want you to find out what my wife did yesterday. And what she’s doing now?

“Yes, sir.”

He ended the call and rubbed his temples. His thoughts churned with image of Nita. Her laugh, her stubbornness, her quiet strength. The way she had once looked at him as though he were her entire world.

And now she look at him with hatred.

A safer emotion than love.

The phone rang . Jeff’s voice came steady on the line, “Yesterday, madam was at the hospital, sir.”

“Hospital?”

“Yes. She fainted from fatigue. One of the maids rushed her there.”

“And today?”

There was a pause. “Sir, I also found out she’s pregnant.”

The words hit him like a fist.

Nick shot to his feet so violently that his knee banged against the desk. Pain shot up his leg, but he hardly felt it. “Are you sure?”

Jeff chuckled lightly, oblivious to the storm just on the end. “Congratulations, sir. You’re going to be a father.”

“Father.”

The word echoed in his skull, shattering every wall he had built.

For one dizzyling second, a vision flashed before his eyes: Nita smiling, holding a tiny infant in her arms. Their child. His blood. His legacy.

Then reality snapped back.

He gripped the phone tighter, “Find her. Immediately. She came here earlier and left angry. I want her found now.

“Yes, sir.”

Nick didn’t wait. He grabbed his suit jacket and stormed out of his office. He couldn’t sit still, couldn’t pretend to work, not while his pregnant wife was out there angry, humiliated and alone.

The mansion was alive with movement when he arrived. Maids hurried along the corridors, carrying trays and linens, avoiding his gaze as though his presence were poison. He could sense the fear lingering from last night’s outburst. But he didn’t care. Let them fear him. His only concern was Nita.

He tore through room after room, calling her name once, twice, before silence answered him. the bedroom still held her belongings, neatly arranged, untouched. She hadn’t planned to leave permanently – at least, not yet.

That was a small relief.

He waited in their bedroom, staring at his phone with the hope that Jeff was going to call anytime soon to give him a positive response. Jeff was one of the best in the field. He could find a needle in a haystack. So, he hoped Jeff would find his wife one way or another.

After hours of sitting and waiting in vain, he started losing hope. He questioned the maids with the hope that someone would know where his wife was, but they all claimed she hadn’t come back since she left the house in the morning.

He called Jeff, and his response was unexpected. He couldn’t find Nita.