Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ambelyn's control snapped hearing this from her mouth. There was a lot that che could tolerate, but she won't let any shameless, two faced bitch slander her son. "Don't you dare call him that."

"Why not?" Veronica's laugh was like broken glass. "It's what he is, isn't it? The product of his mother's shameful past. At least my Marcus is legitimate."

"Enough!" Ambelyn turned back to Thomas, her hands shaking. 

"Don't cross this line, Thomas. Whatever you think of me, whatever anger you hold—don't take it out on an innocent child. Don't take it out on your son."

Thomas's expression didn't change, but something flickered in his eyes, something that seemed cruel and calculating.

"My son?" He stood slowly, moving around the desk with deliberate slowness to trigger Amberlyn. "Are you sure about that, Ambelyn? Because I remember very clearly that when we married, there was one non-negotiable requirement."

The room seemed to tilt around her. "Thomas, don't—"

"Purity," he continued, his voice gaining strength with each word. "Virginity. I Thomas would marry an untouched Amberlyn Moreau. It was explicitly stated in the marriage contract. The Blackwood heir would marry an untouched woman. A deal that you were made aware of, every year since you turned 12 so you can't claim, you were not aware. A virgin. That was the deal."

"I know what the deal was," she whispered.

"Do you?" He was close now, close enough that she could smell his expensive cologne mixed with Veronica's jasmine perfume. 

"Because when I discovered on our wedding night that my bride had already been... used...by someone else, days before our wedding night. I began to wonder what else she might have lied about."

The accusation hung in the air like poison. Ambelyn felt the familiar shame wash over her, but underneath it was something new—a growing rage that had been building for six years.

"Iniko is your son," she said through gritted teeth. "Whatever you think of me, he is innocent. He is your blood. He is yours, how can you be this cruel to him."

"Is he?" Thomas's smile was cruel and mocking as he got closer to her, forcing her to move backwards. 

"How can I be sure? After all, if you were willing to spread your legs for one man before marriage, who's to say there weren't others?"

The slap came  without her thinking about it, his cheek turning red from her impact and her hand stinging from the shock. Everyone in that room was shocked to see what just happened especially Amberlyn.

For a moment, the only sound was the ragged rhythm of her breathing.

Thomas's hand moved to his reddening cheek, his eyes blazing with fury at the disrespect that he just got from her. 

But beneath the anger, she saw something else—surprise. In five years of marriage, she had never once raised her hand to him.

"How dare you," he breathed.

"How dare I?" The words exploded from her with years of pent-up frustration. "How dare you question the parentage of a child who has done nothing wrong to you? How dare you punish an innocent boy for something that happened before he was even born?"

Veronica had gone very still, watching the exchange with the fascination of someone witnessing a car accident.

"That 'something' was a betrayal of everything our families agreed upon," Thomas snarled. "Your father promised me a pure bride. Instead, I got his damaged goods."

"Then divorce me!" The words tore from her throat immediately, her patience finally snapping completely. "If I'm such damaged goods, if you find me so repulsive, then end this farce of a marriage and let me go!"

For a moment, Thomas looked genuinely taken aback. In all their years together, she had never once suggested divorce. She had been the dutiful wife, the silent sufferer, the woman who endured every humiliation with downcast eyes and pursed lips.

But something had changed in that moment. Maybe it was the image of Iniko lying pale and weak in his hospital bed. Maybe it was the memory of Niklaus's hands in her hair, the way he had made her feel alive in a way she'd never experienced before or since. Maybe it was simply that she had finally reached the limit of what one human being could endure.

"You want to know why I wasn't a virgin on our wedding night?" she asked, her voice steady now, deadly calm. "Because unlike you, I actually felt something. Passion. Desire. Something real and raw and honest. Something I've never felt with you in five years of marriage."

Thomas's face had gone white with rage. "You little—"

"Sign the papers, Thomas." Her voice cut through his rising fury like ice. 

"Sign them, or I walk out that door right now and take both children with me. See how your precious family name survives the scandal of a very public divorce."

The threat hung between them heavy. They both knew she meant it. They both knew she finally had nothing left to lose.

"Fine," he said, his voice filled with fury at being undermined and threatened in his office by a small rat that was supposed to bep squashed under his foot.

 "But don't mistake this for weakness, Ambelyn. This changes nothing between us."

She watched his familiar signature scribbled across the bottom of the hospital forms, feeling both relieved and residual anger from the games she was forced to play.

When he finished, he didn't hand the papers to her, instead, he dropped them on the desk, forcing her to reach across and collect them herself.

Ambelyn snatched the forms, clutching them against her chest like a lifeline.

 These papers represented hope—Iniko's chance at a normal, healthy life. She turned toward the door, desperate to escape the suffocating atmosphere of manipulation and cruelty.

"Oh, Ambelyn," Veronica's voice stopped her just as her hand touched the door handle. "Don't forget—you need to check on Marcus as well. His surgery ended earlier today and would be discharged in an hour and the poor darling will be wondering where his stepmother is."

Ambelyn didn't trust herself to speak. Instead, she yanked open the door and stalked into the hallway, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor. 

The fury that had sustained her through the confrontation was already beginning to ebb, replaced by a bone-deep exhaustion that threatened to buckle her knees. 

But she couldn't afford to collapse now. Iniko was waiting. The surgery was finally within reach.

Lost in her thoughts, Ambelyn rounded the corner toward the elevator bank too quickly.

 She collided with something solid—someone solid—and would have stumbled backward if not for the strong hands that caught her arms, steadying her.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was—"

The words died in her throat as she looked up into a face she had never forgotten, despite six years of trying. Storm-gray eyes met hers with the same intensity that had haunted her dreams and nightmares alike. The sharp cheekbones were more pronounced now, the jaw more defined, but there was no mistaking those features.

Niklaus Thorne.

Time seemed to stop as another memory forced itself up to the light, to the front of her mind again.