LOGINLeo’s POVI hadn’t spoken to Catherine since Thursday.Since the moment she said the words that shifted everything in my life without even asking permission to do so.‘I’m pregnant.’Even now, sitting in the back of the limo, heading towards my father's mansion. I couldn’t decide if I believed her or if I was just being dragged into another layer of something I didn’t understand yet. But it was all there, she had meticulously showed me all her positive tests when I demanded proof a few days ago.The city blurred past the tinted windows.Everything outside looked normal. People walking. Cars moving. Life continuing like it wasn’t actively collapsing in on me.Catherine sat beside me, composed, almost… satisfied. Calm in a way that made my skin crawl. She had been like that the entire ride. Quietly content.I didn’t understand how she could be.Because I wasn’t.I felt like something inside me had been locked into place permanently.No more shifting. No more escape routes.Just closure
Ryker’s POVThe night air clung to me as I left Vanessa behind.Her words still echoed in my head, looping like a scratched record I couldn’t fix no matter how many times I replayed it.You keep choosing someone who doesn’t keep choosing you back.I shoved my hands into my pockets and kept walking.The campus felt too quiet for a place that used to feel alive. Maybe it was because most students had already left for break, or maybe it was because I was just noticing silence differently now.Vanessa should’ve come with me.I hated that she didn&
Leo’s POVThe house was empty there was no sound of Catherine moving around. No footsteps following mine. No quiet reminders that she was there.I couldn’t even remember where she said she was going.And honestly?I was glad.For the last month, Catherine had practically become attached to me.Everywhere I went, she was there.Every meeting, every event, every place I had to be, she somehow found a reason to come along.It was suffocating.I knew she was trying to fix things between us, but the harder she tried, the more I felt myself pulling away.Especially because every time I looked at her, I thought about Ryker.I hadn’t seen him.I hadn’t texted him.I hadn’t called him.Because I didn’t know how I was supposed to see his face and then come back here and lie beside Catherine like everything was normal.Like I wasn’t thinking about someone else.Like my heart wasn’t somewhere else.The worst part was that Catherine had become more physical too.At night, she would try to touch me
Catherine’s POVI lay comfortably on the bed, staring at the ceiling.My body ached in places I didn’t even know could ache. My back hurt, my head was pounding, and I felt like I hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in weeks.I shifted slightly.Then I froze.I needed to use the bathroom.With a small sigh, I pushed myself up from the bed and walked towards the bathroom.The apartment was dark. Leo was still asleep, his back turned towards me.I looked at him for a second.Even now, after everything, he still looked peaceful.It almost made me angry.How could someone look so calm and yet be so stubborn? I turned away and entered the bathroom.My eyes landed on the small bag sitting beside the counter.My heart tightened.I had lost count of how many pregnancy tests I had secretly taken every week.Sometimes more than once.For four weeks, I had watched that tiny little stick like it held the answer to my entire future.And every time, nothing.Nothing.I had started wondering if maybe
Ryker’s POVYou would think that after one month, everything would have started to fix itself.That the misunderstandings would clear up. That the tension would finally fade away. That the silence would stop feeling like a heavy weight pressing against my chest every single day.But it didn’t.If anything, everything felt even more confusing.Milestone was almost completely empty now. Most of the students had gone home after finals, leaving behind quiet hallways and classrooms that used to be filled with noise and endless conversations.Even my roommates were gone.Chris had gone back home. Oliver had left a few days after exams ended. Ronaldo had also left, although he made me promise to call him every day.I hadn’t seen Leo since our conversation.Not once.Not a message. Not a call.Nothing.I tried not to think about it too much.I tried to convince myself that he was busy, that maybe things with Catherine were complicated, that maybe he was trying to figure things out.But every
Catherine's POVI should have followed my first instinct.I should have mentioned Padrino from the very beginning.The moment Leo started acting like he suddenly had a choice, like he could just throw away months of plans and expectations because of some stupid obsession, I should have reminded him exactly who he was dealing with.But maybe it was better this way.Because now, the fear in his eyes was real.Leo could be stubborn. He could be arrogant. He could be impossible.But he wasn't stupid.He knew what happened when someone crossed Padrino.The last time Leo tried to challenge him by refusing to give that speech, he disappeared for weeks.And when he finally came back, he had an injury and a story about some accident.I remember how worried I was when I couldn't reach him and how I asked so many questions. Questions that I never got answers to, and I stopped pestering not because I didn't care.But because I eventually understood the rules.There were things people like us were
Ryker’s POVI took in a huge gulp the second we stepped inside.The place was ridiculous.Everywhere I looked, there was gold. Gold trimming the walls, gold running along the ceiling, gold wrapped around pillars that were probably already expensive before someone decided they needed more drama. Cha
Leonardo’s POV“Do you understand how this puts my family in the public eye?”My father’s voice cut sharply through the back of the limo, each word laced with the kind of cold anger that made people shrink without even seeing his f
(A FEW DAYS LATER)Ryker’s POV“Don’t mess this up,” Oliver said, narrowing his eyes at me as he bounced the ball lightly on his side of the table.“Just serve,” I replied, twirling th
Ryker’s POVI couldn’t take it anymore.The quiet chuckles kept slipping through the room like they had a life of their own. Every time I tried to focus on the board, another sound followed, another whisper, another stifled laugh that didn’t need to be loud to be heard. It was in the air, in the wa







