On the night Elena Carter discovers she is carrying her husband’s child, she believes her dreams have finally come true. For three years, she has endured Damien Rothschild’s coldness, cherished every fleeting moment of tenderness, and held on to the hope that one day he might love her back. But instead of joy, her secret gift is met with cruelty. A single letter, accusing Elena and her late mother of orchestrating the accident that nearly killed Damien’s parents, shatters everything. Betrayed and blinded by rage, Damien casts her aside, accusing her of lies, greed, and manipulation. Worse, he threatens to destroy her brother’s future unless she signs the divorce papers. Heartbroken but resolute, Elena walks away, pregnant, abandoned, and determined to protect her child from the man she once loved more than life itself. Five years later, Elena has rebuilt her life. She is stronger, successful, and devoted to raising her twins in secret. But Damien Rothschild is a man who never forgets. He never lets go. When he learns that she carried his children, nothing will stop him from claiming back what he lost. Now Elena must face the man who broke her, the father of her children, and the billionaire whose love is as dangerous as his power. Will she let him back into her life, or will she protect her heart and her family from him forever?
view moreElena’s POV
The pregnancy test had been trembling in my hands when the phone rang. I didn’t even need to answer to know who it was.
“Elena?” Elijah’s voice burst through the line, vibrant and excited, the way only my little brother could sound. “Congratulations, sis, you’re pregnant. Just over a month!”
My lips parted, and suddenly the whole world tilted. Pregnant. I pressed a hand over my flat stomach as though I could already feel the life stirring inside me. My chest filled with a joy so fierce it burned.
On the very day of our third wedding anniversary.
A sign. It had to be.
“Are you sure?” My voice trembled.
“As sure as science can be,” Elijah laughed softly. “Don’t you dare stress. You’re carrying the heir to the Rothschilds, Elena. Be careful, alright?”
The heir. My child. Damien’s child.
My heart fluttered in disbelief. After three years of quietly loving him, of being patient with his indifference, of clutching onto every sliver of kindness he spared me, I finally carried a piece of him that would never leave me.
“Thank you, Elijah.” My voice cracked, thick with emotion. “This is the best day of my life.”
The call ended, and I sat still for a long moment, staring at the phone as if it might tell me what to do next. But I already knew.
Tonight, I would tell Damien.
I would give him the one thing no one, not even Isabella, could ever take away from me. Our child.
The dining room table was set with more care than ever before. White lilies in the crystal vase he’d bought me on our first anniversary. His favourite dishes arranged on porcelain plates that gleamed beneath the chandelier’s light. I had even put on the pale silk dress he once said suited me, not knowing the offhand remark had meant the world to me.
Hours passed.
Ten o’clock. Eleven. Midnight.
My smile wavered, my hope thinning with each glance at the clock. I told myself he must be busy. That a man running the country’s most powerful empire didn’t measure time the way I did. Yet by one in the morning, fear began to gnaw at my heart.
I was rising to call him again when the door suddenly swung open.
“Damien!” Relief flooded me. “You’re home. I was so worried, ”
My words cut off as he strode inside. His eyes, usually sharp and cool, were like shards of ice tonight. He reeked of scotch and fury.
Before I could touch him, his hand came down against my cheek.
The crack echoed through the silence.
I staggered, clutching my face, disbelief turning the air to stone. He had never laid a hand on me before.
“Damien…” My voice broke. “What, what are you doing?”
His answer was a sheet of paper hurled at my chest.
I caught it with trembling fingers.
Mr. Rothschild,
“Please accept my deepest apologies for the crime I committed…”
The words blurred before me as I read about a hired driver confessing, claiming my late mother and I had orchestrated the accident that killed Damien’s parents, all to secure this marriage. Money transfers, instructions to hit them, threats against Isabella. It read:
“Two years ago, in a desperate attempt to pay for my wife’s medical treatment, I accepted money from your wife, Kate Heiden, and her mother, Sophia Winters. Under their instructions, I struck your parents with my car. At the time, blinded by fear and desperation, I obeyed without understanding their true motive, to sever your relationship with Miss Claire and secure Kate’s position as your wife.
Later, to further drive Miss Claire away from you, they coerced me into attempting her abduction, threatening to withhold the promised money if I refused. I complied, not out of malice, but because I believed it was the only way to keep my wife alive.
Since then, remorse has consumed me. I enclose the $10,000 I received from Kate, along with the transfer messages as proof. I know these gestures cannot undo the suffering I have caused, but I pray they may serve as a step toward truth and justice.
Please find it in your heart, if not to forgive me, then at least to understand the desperate man I was, and the guilt that has never left me.
With deepest regret.”
My hands shook violently. “This is a lie! Damien, I swear on my mother’s grave, this isn’t true.”
His laughter was bitter. “Enough. Do you think I’m a fool? All these years, you played innocent while hiding this from me. You and that scheming mother of yours trapped me into this sham of a marriage.”
“Damien, please listen, ”
“No!” His voice thundered. “If it weren’t for my parents forcing me, I would have married Isabella. You knew I loved her. You stole that from me.”
The room tilted, nausea clawing at my throat. He was cutting me open with every word, but I forced my voice steady. “I didn’t steal anything. I loved you, Damien. I have loved you since we were children. Isabella only ever wanted your money. You know that.”
“And what about you?” His eyes flashed with contempt. “Wasn’t it money your family chased? My parents gave your mother a job out of charity, but it was never enough, was it? You wanted everything. Admit it.”
Tears spilled hot down my cheeks. “No. I only wanted you.”
“You?” Damien scoffed. “Elena, don’t delude yourself. I never loved you. Not once. The only reason I touched you was to blow off steam. That’s all you ever were to me… a tool.”
My breath caught. A tool. After everything he’d promised, after saying he wanted a child with me?
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
For a heartbeat, silence crashed between us. His jaw clenched, his hands tightening into fists.
“Pregnant.” His voice dripped with venom. “Is this part of the plan too? Another trick to keep me chained? Do you really think an unknown baby will change anything?”
The word unknown sliced through me.
“It’s your child, Damien!” My voice cracked, raw with anguish.
He stepped closer, towering, merciless. “No. It’s nothing but proof of your deceit. You disgust me, Elena. Sign the divorce papers now, or Elijah loses his job at my hospital. And if you resist, I’ll make sure the world knows what your mother did.”
My knees weakened. “You wouldn’t, ”
“Try me.” His lips curled. “Sign them. Or watch everything crumble around you.”
The man I loved, the man I had once dreamed would protect me, turned his back without another glance. His footsteps faded into the night, leaving only the echo of my sobs.
The lilies on the table drooped, the candles flickered out.
And the secret inside me pressed faintly against my womb, reminding me of the life I might now have to protect alone.
Elena’s POVThe morning light streamed across the polished marble floor of the penthouse as I stood before the mahogany desk. The papers lay there, neat and crisp, waiting for my signature like a sentence that had already been decided.I stared at them for a long while. Three years of marriage reduced to a stack of legal documents. Three years of my heart, of dreams I’d stitched together in silence, now ready to be torn apart with a few strokes of ink.My hand didn’t shake as I signed.The pen glided smoothly, the finality of my name sealing everything. I pressed the papers together, smoothed them down, and placed them at the centre of the desk.It was done.I glanced around the living room one last time. The glass walls looked out over the city, glittering beneath the rising sun. The plush leather couch where Damien had fallen asleep after endless nights at the office. The dining table where I had once set candlelit dinners he never came home to. The bedroom upstairs where I had whis
Damien’s POVThe sound of her body hitting the floor haunted me all night.It replayed in my mind like a merciless echo, the panic in her eyes, the way her brother screamed her name, the chaos of guards pulling him away while Elena crumpled to the ground.I had walked away.I told myself it wasn’t my concern, that she had only fainted from the stress she’d brought upon herself. That was the lie I repeated as I drowned in glass after glass of scotch, but still her face, pale, fragile, beautiful, burned behind my eyes.When I finally returned to the hospital, Isabella clung to me like a victim. Her tears wet my shirt as she whispered about the trauma she’d endured, how Elijah almost hit her.I nodded, said the right words, and instructed my assistant to escort her for a check-up. My voice was calm, my body steady. But inside, I was restless.The truth was, I didn’t give a damn about Isabella’s tears. Not that night. Not when Elena lay unconscious, her life flickering in and out like a c
Elena’s POVThe first thing I felt when I opened my eyes again was Elijah’s hand holding mine, his thumb brushing softly across my knuckles.“Elena.” His voice was weary, cracked from hours of worry. “You scared me half to death.”I blinked up at him, the pale light of dawn cutting across his tired face. “The baby?”“They’re safe,” he said quickly, his eyes glistening with relief. “Still fighting. You’re still fighting.”A trembling breath escaped me. “Thank God.”But disappointment pricked sharp as needles when I glanced around. The chair beside the bed was empty, the room silent except for the steady beep of the monitor. He wasn’t here.Damien hadn’t come.The ache of it settled into my bones. I could forgive his anger. I could forgive his blindness. But his absence now, when our child’s life hung by a thread, was the wound that cut too deep to ever heal.“Elena…” Elijah hesitated. “Why don’t you just tell him? He’d have to face the truth if he knew you were carrying his baby. He co
Elena’s POVThe night had been endless. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as the hours crawled by, the sting of Damien’s words replaying in my mind like a cruel echo. “I never loved you. Not even for a moment.”The only warmth I had was the faint flutter of hope inside me, the life that refused to be erased by his hatred.My phone buzzed. Elijah’s name lit up the screen.“Hello?” My voice was faint.“Elena? You sound terrible.” My brother’s tone shifted instantly from cheerful to alarmed. “Come to the hospital. Now. You need to be checked. I don’t like the way you sound.”I wanted to protest, but exhaustion weighed me down. And truthfully, fear gnawed at me. What if something had already gone wrong with the baby?An hour later, I sat in the sterile chill of the examination room while Elijah studied the results. His expression was grave when he finally looked up.“You’re at risk of a miscarriage,” he said quietly. “You need complete rest. Stress isn’t just bad, it’s dangerous for yo
Elena’s POVThe pregnancy test had been trembling in my hands when the phone rang. I didn’t even need to answer to know who it was.“Elena?” Elijah’s voice burst through the line, vibrant and excited, the way only my little brother could sound. “Congratulations, sis, you’re pregnant. Just over a month!”My lips parted, and suddenly the whole world tilted. Pregnant. I pressed a hand over my flat stomach as though I could already feel the life stirring inside me. My chest filled with a joy so fierce it burned.On the very day of our third wedding anniversary.A sign. It had to be.“Are you sure?” My voice trembled.“As sure as science can be,” Elijah laughed softly. “Don’t you dare stress. You’re carrying the heir to the Rothschilds, Elena. Be careful, alright?”The heir. My child. Damien’s child.My heart fluttered in disbelief. After three years of quietly loving him, of being patient with his indifference, of clutching onto every sliver of kindness he spared me, I finally carried a p
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