LOGINThe clock in the corner of the living room ticked steadily, marking the quiet passage of time. It was well past two o'clock in the morning.The entire Vane estate was wrapped in deep, heavy darkness. Beatrice Vane had long gone back to her estate, still fuming from the cold, dismissive way Thea had treated her earlier in the evening. But Serena did not leave, she had placed her things in the guest room. Serena sat quietly on the edge of the velvet sofa in the pitch-black living room. She wore a soft silk robe over her clothes, her legs crossed, her dark eyes fixed on the tall glass windows that overlooked the front driveway. A cold glass of water sat untouched on the coffee table beside her.She had been sitting in the dark for over two hours, waiting."He has to come home," Serena whispered to herself, her voice tiny in the empty room. "He can't stay at the office all night. Auntie Beatrice was right... he is stressed, he is drowning in work, and his marriage is a mess. He will come
Elias took a long, heavy gulp of the whiskey, the burning liquid hitting his throat without making him flinch. He set the heavy glass down on the table with a dull thud."She froze, Liam," Elias murmured, staring blankly at the dark wood of the table. His words were slightly slower than usual, heavy with an emotion he rarely ever showed to another human being. "I looked at her, I asked her if she wanted to start a real family with me... and she froze completely."Liam let out a slow, tired breath. "Elias, I told you in your office earlier, she was probably just caught off guard—""No," Elias interrupted, shaking his head sharply. His jaw tightened as he gripped his glass tightly. "You weren't standing there, Liam. You didn't see the expression on her face. She looked at me like I was a stranger asking her for something unreasonable. She looked terrified.""She is dealing with a massive legal war!" Liam argued back, trying to talk sense into his friend. "Her mother's name is literally
The air in the living room was thick with tension as Thea stepped past the archway.Beatrice Vane sat on the velvet sofa, holding a porcelain cup with perfect posture. Beside her sat Serena, dressed in a sleek designer outfit, her blonde hair falling smoothly over her shoulders. Two heavy leather suitcases sat near the coffee table, clearly indicating that Serena was not just dropping by for a brief visit.When Thea entered, Beatrice did not look surprised. She set her teacup down on the saucer with a soft, deliberate click and leaned back against the plush cushions."Ah, Thea," Beatrice said, her voice smooth and dripping with artificial warmth. "You are back early. I was just helping Serena settle in. I hope you don't mind that she will be staying here for a while. It is just a harmless visit between old friends, after all."Serena looked up at Thea, offering a soft, gentle smile that did not reach her eyes. "Hello, Thea. I hope my presence isn't an inconvenience. Auntie Beatrice in
THEA’s POV I blinked, slightly surprised, but I couldn't understand why Thomas was standing beside my window looking like he was expecting an explosion.It was no secret to anyone on the estate staff that Beatrice and I did not get along. Ever since I had entered the Vane family, Beatrice had treated me like an unwelcome intruder. She viewed me as a low-class nobody who had tricked her way into her son's life. Whenever we were in the same room, the atmosphere was icy cold. She loved to drop quiet, poisonous insults, sneer at my background, and make passive-aggressive remarks about my lack of social standing.However, Beatrice was also a woman obsessed with high-society manners. She cared deeply about appearances. No matter how much she hated me, she always kept her tone low, her insults refined, and her anger wrapped in expensive silk. Our arguments were always quiet, tense verbal battles. They never got rowdy. They never turned into loud shouting matches.So why were the security g
ELIAS’s POV Liam's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He set his coffee cup down, his joking mood instantly vanishing. "Wait, what? What do you mean you're not having a baby? I thought that was the whole plan for today. You literally spent the last three hours talking my ear off about how excited you were to ask her. Did you chicken out?" "No. I didn't chicken out," I sighed, leaning back in my chair and staring up at the ceiling. "I asked her. I told her I wanted us to take the next step." "And?" Liam prompted, leaning in with genuine curiosity now. "And nothing," I muttered bitterly. "She just looked at me in shock. She went completely silent. You should have seen her face, Liam. She looked like I had just told her the building was on fire. She asked me if I was serious, like the idea of having my child was completely unbelievable to her." Liam frowned, scratching his chin. "Okay, but what did she actually say?" "She said we have too much going on," I explained, feeling t
ELIAS’s POV “A baby?"The words hung in the heavy silence of my office. Her voice was barely above a whisper, filled with a mixture of shock and something else I could not quite figure out.I stood there, my heart pounding hard against my chest. I had played this moment over and over in my head since Liam mentioned it to me. In my imagination, she would smile. Her eyes would light up with that beautiful spark I loved so much, and she would throw her arms around my neck. I had imagined us laughing, holding each other, finally taking that massive step toward a real, permanent future together.But right now, reality was completely different.Thea just stared at me. Her beautiful eyes were wide, completely frozen. She just looked at me as if I had suddenly grown a second head or spoken to her in a completely foreign language.My stomach twisted into a tight, painful knot. The silence was deafening. It stretched on and on, wrapping around my throat and making it hard to breathe.She does
THEA’S POV Elias leaned in until I could feel the ghost of his breath against my lips. He was waiting for me to flinch. "You think you’ve grown claws, Thea," He murmured, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous vibration. "But you’re still in my house. You’re still wearing the ring I bought you. An
THEA’s POV Elias was still leaning over me, his face so close I could see the dark blue flecks in his eyes.I looked at him, and for a split second, I didn't see my husband. I saw a jailer. In my last life, I would have cried. I would have begged him not to say such scary things. But that Thea die
THEA’s POV The morning news was a bloodbath. I sat at the long, marble breakfast table, sipping my coffee and watching the television mounted on the wall. The headline scrolling across the bottom made the bitter caffeine taste like nectar: "STERLING ARCHITECTURE DROPS 40% AS MAJOR INVESTORS PULL
THEA’s POV In my first life, that voice would have made me jump. My father had a way of making me feel like I was five years old and failing a test. I used to spend my allowance buying him expensive watches just to get a "thank you" that never came. "Thea!" My mother’s voice joined in, high-pit







