Chapter Four

OLIVIA'S POV 

Twelve weeks pregnant. The nausea had gotten worse, forcing me to keep crackers in every room. I'd started wearing looser clothes, claiming stress eating. Victoria knew the truth, but she'd kept my secret.

"Olivia, can we talk?"

Emma stood in the kitchen doorway, perfectly put together as always.

"What about?" I asked, pushing away toast I couldn't eat.

"I wanted to discuss the transition. When your contract ends." She sat across from me. "Since Damien and I will be co-parenting the new baby, it makes sense for me to step into a more permanent role with Ethan too. Catherine was my sister. I'm from a blood family."

"Ethan doesn't know you."

"He will. I'm moving into the guest house next month. The surrogate is ten weeks along now. Everything's progressing beautifully."

Ten weeks. While I was twelve weeks pregnant with Damien's actual child.

"Does Damien know you're moving in?"

"It was his idea. He wants me close for the pregnancy." Emma tilted her head. "Unless you have objections? Though it's only your home for a few more months."

My stomach churned. "No objections."

"Good. Oh, and Victoria mentioned you're looking at apartments in Portland? That's far. Are you sure you can manage on a nurse's salary? With your student loans?"

My blood ran cold. "How did you know about my loans?"

"Victoria and I have gotten close. We worry about you." Emma's smile was sharp. "It would be awkward if you tried to leverage your position here for more money. Some people might see your relationship with Ethan as manipulation."

She left, her perfume lingering like a threat.

I texted Marcus immediately: " How soon can I move to Portland?”

" Still April? Or sooner?" 

“Sooner. Much sooner.”

Victoria appeared moments later. "Was that Emma?"

"She knows about Portland. About my loans. Everything."

"That's impossible. I only mentioned you were relocating." Victoria sat heavily. "Unless she's been going through your things."

"Why would she?"

"Because Emma wants what Catherine had. She's always wanted it." Victoria's voice dropped. "Before Catherine married Damien, Emma dated him first. Did you know that?"

The room tilted. "What?"

"Briefly, in college. Emma introduced them, and Damien fell for Catherine instead. Emma never got over it." Victoria leaned forward. "Now Catherine's gone, and Emma sees an opportunity. She's moving in, positioning herself as Ethan's mother figure, at Damien's side for everything. You need to tell him about the baby."

"So he can resent me for ruining his plans? He wants Catherine's baby. Not mine."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. He made it clear that night meant nothing. I'm just an employee."

The front door opened. Damien's voice carried from the foyer. "Emma? Are you still here?"

Victoria stood. "You have more power than you realize."

She left me alone with my secret.

*******************

That night, I found Damien in the kitchen at two AM, laptop open.

"Reviewing surrogate contracts," he said without looking up. "The custody arrangements are complicated because I'm married to you."

"I could sign something. Waiving parental rights."

He looked at me. "You'd do that?"

"It's not my baby. Why would I claim rights to it?"

Something flickered across his face. "Right. Of course."

Silence stretched between us. "Do you ever regret it?" I asked. "The contract marriage?"

"I don't know. Ethan has improved. But I didn't expect it to be this complicated. I thought it would be simple. Professional." He closed the laptop. "I didn't account for the human element."

"You mean Ethan getting attached?"

"I mean all of it. Ethan. My mother. You." He paused. "You're not what I expected. You're supposed to be here for the paycheck, but you actually care. It makes it harder."

"Harder to let me go?"

"Harder to maintain appropriate boundaries." He stood. "I should sleep. Big day tomorrow. Emma and I are touring the surrogate's apartment."

"Of course. The surrogate." Bitterness crept into my voice.

"Olivia—"

"It's fine. Your life, your choices. I'm just the hired help."

"That's not fair."

"What's not fair is pretending this is anything other than what it is. A business arrangement." I moved toward the door. "I'll leave and you can build your perfect family with Catherine's baby and Emma playing mother."

"Emma isn't playing mother. She's helping with the surrogacy."

"She's moving into the guest house. Inserting herself into every aspect of this family. And you're letting her because she looks like Catherine."

His face hardened. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I've watched you for eighteen months. You're trying to resurrect your dead wife using frozen eggs and her sister's face. But it won't work. Catherine is gone."

"You think I don't know that?" His voice rose. "You think I wake up every morning not knowing she's gone? That I don't see her everywhere in this house?"

"Then why are you trying to bring her back?"

"Because I have nothing else! My son won't speak. My company is all I have left. And the one night I let my guard down, I betrayed everything Catherine and I had."

The air left my lungs. "You mean that night with me."

"I mean I slept with someone I don't love while drunk on my dead wife's anniversary. What kind of man does that?"

Each word was a knife. "The kind who's human. Who's grieving. Who's allowed to move forward."

"I don't want to move forward. I want my wife back. I want my real life back." He grabbed his laptop. "This conversation is over."

"Damien, wait—"

"I said it's over."

He left.

I stood alone, one hand pressed to my stomach where his child was growing. A child conceived on the worst night of his life.

My phone buzzed. Marcus:  " Found a clinic in Portland. They're hiring. Want me to send your resume?" 

" Send it. I need to leave as soon as possible.”

“What about your contract?”

“I'll figure something out." 

Behind me, a soft sound. Ethan stood in the doorway in his pajamas.

"Were you fighting with Dad?"

"Just talking. Go back to bed."

"You're leaving early, aren't you? I heard you."

I knelt in front of him. "Ethan…"

"Everyone leaves. Mom died. The nannies quit. Now you're going early too." His eyes were dry. "I'm not stupid. I know I'm the reason everyone goes away."

"That's not true. Your mom didn't choose to leave. And I'm not leaving because of you."

"Then why?"

Because I'm pregnant with your father's baby and he wishes I didn't exist. Because I fell in love with a man who's in love with a ghost.

"Because sometimes grown-ups make things complicated," I said instead.

"Will you come visit?"

The question broke me. "We'll see."

"That means no." He turned away. "It's okay. I'm used to it."

He went upstairs, leaving me kneeling on the kitchen floor.

My phone lit up. Victoria: *Come to my room. We need to talk.*

I found her waiting with tea and a determined expression.

"What if you didn't leave?" she said. "What if you told Damien about the baby? You have leverage. His actual biological child."

"He doesn't want this baby."

"He doesn't know about it. Once he does—"

"Once he does, he'll feel trapped. He'll resent me for ruining his plans. The baby will grow up knowing their father wishes they'd never been born." I shook my head. "I grew up in foster care, unwanted. I won't put my baby through that."

"So you're just going to disappear?"

"I'm going to give this child a chance at a happy life. Away from a father who can't love them because they're not Catherine's."

Victoria was quiet. "If you truly believe that's best, I won't stop you. But you're stronger than you think. You deserve better than to run."

"Maybe. But my baby deserves a mother who puts them first. Right now, that means leaving."