Chapter 3

Three Weeks Later

Alexandra Wolfe realized she might be pregnant in the middle of a board meeting about cardiac algorithms.

Not because of a missed period. Not because of logic.

Because the smell of coffee made her run from the room like the building was on fire.

She barely made it to the executive bathroom before nausea bent her double. Nothing came up — it never did — just that awful, rolling wave that left her shaking and hollow.

“This is ridiculous,” she muttered to her reflection. “You are a grown woman, not a teenager in a health class PSA.”

But this was the third morning in a row.

Three weeks of exhaustion she couldn’t fix with sleep. Three weeks of food tasting wrong. Three weeks of her body feeling… off.

She rinsed her mouth and stood very still.

Three weeks.

Her mind tried to dodge the math.

It failed.

A soft knock came at the door. “Alex?” Maya’s voice. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“Liar.”

Maya slipped inside anyway, arms crossed. “You look like death reheated.”

“Thank you for the clinical assessment.”

“I’m serious. You nearly fell asleep in yesterday’s board meeting. You’ve lost weight. You live on coffee and air. When did you last get a physical?”

Alex opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

Maya’s expression softened. “When was your last period?”

The question hit like a dropped glass.

Alex’s world tilted.

“I… I’ve been busy,” she said weakly.

“Alex.”

She looked up at her friend in the mirror.

The truth was already there, staring back at her.

That same evening, after hours of pacing her apartment, she drove twenty minutes out of her neighborhood to a pharmacy where no one knew her face.

She wore a baseball cap and oversized sunglasses like a celebrity avoiding paparazzi. It would’ve been funny if her hands weren’t shaking.

She bought three tests. Different brands. Maximum certainty.

Back home, the boxes sat on her bathroom counter while she paced the hallway.

“This is insane,” she whispered. “One night. One time.”

But she remembered exactly how little caution had existed in that elevator. In that penthouse. In that moment when grief and longing had swallowed sense whole.

She took all three tests in silence.

Set timers.

Waited in the living room, staring at nothing.

When the alarms went off, she walked down the hall like she was approaching a verdict.

Three sticks.

Three lines.

Positive.

She slid down the bathroom wall to the floor, back against the cool tile.

Pregnant.

With Dominic’s child.

A sound escaped her — half laugh, half sob.

“This cannot be my life.”

Her phone lit up on the counter.

Dominic.

She let it ring.

Let it stop.

Then his voice filled the quiet from voicemail. Calm. Steady. Familiar.

“Alexandra. Just checking in. Marcus found some information on Thorne. Call me when you can.”

She deleted it without listening twice.

She needed space to think before he pulled her back into his control.

Hours later, her laptop glowed on the coffee table while the city moved outside her windows.

She researched with the same ruthless focus she used in boardrooms.

Options. Timelines. Risks.

Her body. Her choice.

She believed that. Fiercely.

But belief didn’t make the decision simple.

She thought of her mother — brilliant, warm, gone too soon. She had always wanted grandchildren.

She thought of Dominic — how his eyes had broken when he talked about losing his mother. How he loved like fear was a second heartbeat.

She thought of herself.

Her company. Her independence. The fragile balance she had fought to build.

Could she raise a child alone?

Could she tie herself to Dominic forever without losing herself again?

Her thoughts snagged on something colder.

Genetics.

Her mother’s research files still lived in a digital folder she had never deleted.

Hereditary cardiac condition. Fifty percent transmission rate.

If Alex carried the gene, the baby might too.

And she had spent twenty years avoiding the test that would tell her for sure.

Now avoidance felt like cowardice.

She opened Dr. Sarah Chen’s scheduling page and booked the earliest appointment.

Tomorrow. 2 p.m.

She used her mother’s maiden name.

Alexandra Monroe.

Just until she knew what she was facing.

Across the city, Dominic stood barefoot in his penthouse living room long after midnight, lights off, city glow painting the windows silver.

He hadn’t heard from Alex in three days.

She always replied. Even if it was a single-word text.

His security team had confirmed she was home each night. No unusual movement. No threats.

That should have reassured him.

It didn’t.

Marcus found him staring out at the skyline. “You’re spiraling.”

“I’m thinking.”

“You’re obsessing.”

Dominic didn’t argue.

“What are you going to do?” Marcus asked.

“Wait.”

“For what?”

“For her to decide whether she still trusts me enough to call.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Dominic’s silence said everything.

The next afternoon, Alex sat on the edge of the exam table in Dr. Sarah Chen’s office, hands clasped tight.

Sarah closed the door behind them. “Okay. What’s going on?”

Alex swallowed. “I’m pregnant.”

Sarah blinked. “Wow. Okay. Do you know who the father is?”

“Yes.”

A beat. “Is this… good news?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Sarah pulled up a stool. “How far along?”

“Three weeks. Maybe four.”

“And you want testing?”

Alex nodded. “Full genetic screening. Cardiac panel. Everything.”

Sarah’s eyes searched hers. “You’ve refused that test for years.”

“I don’t have that luxury anymore.”

Sarah hesitated. “If we run this through the standard system, results could be accessible to anyone with the right hospital connections.”

“Use my mother’s name,” Alex said. “Please.”

Sarah exhaled slowly. “Okay. But Alex… if he’s as powerful as you say, he might already know.”

A chill ran down her spine.

She left the clinic feeling like the ground beneath her life had shifted.

And Dominic was standing outside her building when she got home.

Her steps stopped.

“How did you get past security?” she asked coldly.

“I own the building,” he said.

Of course he did.

“What do you want?”

His gaze was sharp, worried, raw. "Why are you using a fake name to book Obstetrics appointments?"

He knew. He'd been monitoring her medical records the entire time.

The world narrowed to a pinpoint.

He knew.

“How long have you been monitoring me?”

“Since the threat,” he said. “I had to make sure you were safe.”

“You had to make sure I wasn’t living without your supervision,” she snapped.

“Alex, you’re pregnant.”

The word hung between them.

“I just found out yesterday.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t have time to breathe, Dominic!”

He stepped closer. “You were going to handle this alone.”

“It’s my body!”

“It’s my child too!”

Silence cracked like glass.

“Are you… considering ending it?” he asked quietly.

She couldn’t answer. She didn’t know.

His voice broke. “Don’t shut me out.”

“You lost the right to lead this conversation when you started spying on me again.”

“I was trying to protect you!”

“I don’t need protection!” she shouted. “I need trust. I need to make my own choices without you moving chess pieces around me!”

His expression crumpled.

“I can’t lose you,” he said hoarsely. “I can’t lose someone else to that condition.”

“Then let me live my life. Even if it terrifies you.”

They stood there, breathing hard, three years of history crackling between them.

Finally, he nodded. “I’ll stay out of your medical decisions. No interference.”

“And no surveillance.”

A pause. “Fine.”

“I need time.”

“I’ll give it to you,” he said. “But I’m not disappearing. That baby is half mine.”

She closed her eyes.

“Okay,” she whispered.

He stepped back, then stopped at the door.

“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “I hope you keep it. But I’ll stand by whatever you decide.”

He left.

Alex stood alone in the silence. "Her hand drifted to her stomach, almost without her permission. And for the first time, the fear wasn't just about her heart. It was about two.

Her phone buzzed.

Dr. Chen: Results are in. Call me when you can.

Alex stared at the message, then at the

positive pregnancy tests still sitting on her bathroom counter.

Whatever came next, she wouldn't face it alone anymore.

She was already responsible for two.