CHAPTER 6.

Sabrina’s POV.

I woke up to the sound of rain hitting the hotel window. My head throbbed, a dull ache that pulsed in time with my heartbeat.

For a split second, I forgot.

Then, the memory of the previous night crashed over me. The whiskey. The tears. The desperate need to feel something other than pain.

And Cole.

I froze, turning my head slowly. The space beside me was empty, the sheets cold.

I sat up, clutching the duvet to my chest, my heart racing. What have I done?

Cole was sitting in the armchair across the room, fully dressed, watching me. He didn’t look triumphant. He looked worried.

“You're awake," he said softly.

I scrambled out of bed, grabbing my clothes from the floor, my hands shaking so hard I could barely button my shirt. Shame, hot and suffocating, flooded my veins.

“This... this was a mistake," I stammered, refusing to meet his eyes. "You shouldn't have let this happen, Cole. You knew I wasn't in my right mind."

He stood up, but he didn't come closer. "I didn't take advantage of you, Sabrina. You know that."

“I was drunk! I was grieving!"

“And you were honest," he countered, his voice steady. "For the first time in ten years, you let yourself be held by someone who actually sees you."

“Stop it!" I snapped, the tears burning my eyes again. "Don't romanticize this. I used you. I felt empty, and I used you to fill a void Leon left. That isn't love, Cole. That’s pathetic."

He didn't flinch at my cruelty. He just looked at me with a sadness that broke my heart. "Is that what you think you are? Pathetic?"

“I don't know who I am anymore," I whispered. "But I know I can't be what you want. I’m broken, Cole. I have nothing left to give."

I grabbed my bag, rushing toward the door.

“Sabrina, wait—"

“Don't," I said, my hand on the handle. "Please. If you care about me, don't follow me. Just let me go."

I didn't wait for his answer. I fled into the hallway, leaving the only man who had ever truly treated me with kindness behind.

*

SIX WEEKS LATER.

I stood in the guest bathroom of the house that used to be my home.

Technically, I wasn't supposed to be here alone. The lawyers had agreed to a final walkthrough so I could identify any personal assets before the divorce was finalized today. Leon wasn't supposed to be here.

But his car was in the driveway.

I gripped the marble countertop, trying to steady my breathing. The wave of dizziness had hit me the moment I walked up the stairs.

I splashed cold water on my face, staring at my reflection. Pale skin. Dark circles. And this nausea... this relentless, rolling nausea that had plagued me for days.

I knew the signs. I knew them too well.

No. It’s impossible.

My hands trembled as I reached into my purse. I had bought the test on the way here, a paranoid compulsion I couldn't shake.

I took the test. I set it on the sink. I waited.

Three minutes felt like three lifetimes.

When I looked down, the floor seemed to tilt.

Two pink lines.

I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle the scream building in my throat. I slid down the wall, collapsing onto the cold tiles.

Pregnant.

Not by the husband who had discarded me. But by the man I had pushed away.

One night. It had only been one night.

Panic, sharp and icy, pierced through me. My history... my body couldn't hold a baby. I had lost six. I would lose this one too. And Cole... if he knew, he would feel obligated. He would trap himself in a life of pity and tragedy just to save me.

I couldn't do that to him.

My phone buzzed in my hand. Tara

I answered, my voice barely a whisper. "Tara..."

"Hey, are you done at the house? Do you need me to pick you up?"

"I'm pregnant," I blurted out.

Silence. Then, a sharp gasp. "Sabrina... is it...?"

"It's Cole's." Tears streamed down my face. "What am I going to do? I’m going to lose it, Tara. I always lose them. I can't drag him into this nightmare."

"You have to tell him," Tara urged.

"No! He’ll just stay out of duty. I’m signing the papers today, and then I’m disappearing. I won't be a burden."

I heard heavy footsteps in the hallway, closer than they should be.

“I have to go. They’re coming. I'm at the house, Tara. I'm signing the papers today.”

I didn't have time to properly hang up. I heard Tara's panicked, "Sabrina, wait!" just as I frantically shoved the phone, still active, and the test strip into my pocket, but my hands were clumsy.

The plastic stick clattered to the floor just as the door swung open.

It wasn't just Leon. It was his mother.

She looked at me, huddled on the floor, and then her eyes darted to the white stick by my foot.

She lunged for it before I could move.

"Mother, what is—" Leon stepped in behind her, looking annoyed.

His mother held the test up to the light, her face twisting into a sneer. "Well, well. Look at this."

She tossed the stick at Leon. He caught it, his eyes widening as he registered the result.

The silence was deafening.

"You're pregnant," Leon said, his voice dangerously low. "We haven't slept together in months. Since before the last miscarriage."

"It's not yours," I whispered, pulling myself up using the sink.

Leon let out a sharp, cruel laugh. "I knew it. You play the victim, the grieving mother, but you're just a whore. Who is it? Some random guy you picked up to comfort you?"

"Leon, stop," I warned, backing away.

"You are such a shame, Sabrina!" his mother spat. "You couldn't carry my son's heir, but you spread your legs for a stranger the moment you left the hospital? You are disgusting."

"It wasn't like that!"

"I should ruin you," Leon stepped closer, his face twisted with malice. "I should make sure you don't get a dime of alimony. You’re carrying a bastard child in my house—"

"Don't you dare call this child a bastard," I said, my voice shaking. "This child was made with more love in one night than you gave me in seven years."

"Love?" Leon scoffed. "Please. You’re going to lose it anyway. Have you forgotten, Sabrina. Why bother pretending?"

The cruelty of his words hit me like a physical blow. My knees buckled.

But before I hit the floor, the bedroom door slammed open against the wall with a deafening bang.

"That is enough!"

The voice was thunderous.

We all turned. Cole stood in the doorway, his chest heaving, his eyes dark with a rage I had never seen before. He looked like he was ready to burn the house down with us inside.

Leon took a step back, intimidated. "Cole? What the hell are you doing here?"

Cole ignored him. He walked straight to me, stepping between Leon and me like a human shield. He didn't look at the test. He looked at me.

“Tara called me," he said, his voice dropping to a gentle rumble. "She overheard what was going on.”

"Cole, I..." I sobbed.

"She's pregnant," Leon sneered, trying to regain control. "With some bastard. Probably doesn't even know who the father is."

Cole turned slowly to face Leon. The menace in his eyes made Leon go silent.

"You will be careful with your next words, Leon," Cole said, his voice deadly calm. "Because that is my fiancée you are speaking to. And that is my child she is carrying."

My breath hitched. Fiancée?

"Yours?" Leon’s jaw dropped. "You... and her?"

"Me and me," Cole confirmed. "Always."

He turned back to me, scooping me up into his arms as if I weighed nothing.

"We're leaving, Sabrina. You're done here."

"But... the papers," I whispered, burying my face in his shirt, smelling his scent—safety.

"My lawyers will handle the papers," he said firmly, carrying me past a stunned Leon and his mother. "We have more important things to do. Like getting you home, and planning our wedding."

I rested my head against his shoulder as he carried me out of that house for the last time. I didn't know if the baby would survive. I didn't know what the future held.