CHAPTER THREE: Show Me

Plastic crinkled.

The sound was small. But in Adrian Knight’s 50th floor office, with his fiancée three inches from my chest, it was a bomb going off.

“What,” Adrian said again. His voice had gone soft. The kind of soft that came right before executions. “Was. That.”

Valeria’s red nail was still pressed against my sternum. Right over my bra. Right over the pregnancy test.

Her smile was pure poison. “I think your _no one_ is wearing something that crinkles, darling. How… interesting for a cleaner.”

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. My brain was screaming _run run run_ but my feet were cemented to his $20k rug.

“I—” My voice cracked.

“Show me.” Adrian didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. The command hit like a slap.

Two pink lines. In my bra. In front of his fiancée. In front of the man who was threatening to have me arrested two minutes ago.

If he saw it, I was done. He’d either deny it and destroy me, or claim it and destroy me. There was no version where Beth Williams won.

“It’s nothing,” I whispered. I crossed my arms over my chest. Big mistake. The movement made the test crinkle again. Louder.

Valeria gasped like she was in a soap opera. “Oh my god. Were you _recording_ us?” She whipped toward Adrian. “Adrian, she could have been streaming this to TMZ! To your competitors!”

Adrian’s eyes never left me. They weren’t on my face anymore. They were locked on my chest. On my arms. On what I was hiding.

“I’m not recording anything,” I said, but my voice was shaking too hard to be convincing. “Please, I can explain—”

“Then explain.” He took one step forward. Then another. He was in my space now. Sandalwood and sin and danger. “Empty your pockets, Beth. Now.”

I only had one pocket. And it was empty. The test wasn’t in there.

It was in my bra.

Valeria made a disgusted sound. “She’s probably got a flash drive taped to her… god, I don’t even want to think about it. Security!”

“No!” The word tore out of me. If security came, they’d pat me down. They’d find it. In front of everyone.

Adrian held up a hand. Susan, who’d appeared in the doorway with two guards, froze.

He wasn’t looking at Susan. He was looking at me. At the way my arms were crossed. At the way my whole body was trembling.

“You’re hiding something,” he said. Not a question. “And you’re terrified of me finding it.”

_Yes._

“Last chance, Beth.” His voice dropped to a whisper only I could hear. “Whatever it is, I will find out. But if you give it to me now, I might be merciful.”

Merciful. Adrian Knight didn’t know the meaning of the word.

Valeria stepped back, arms crossed, enjoying the show. “This is ridiculous. Adrian, just have her—”

“Quiet.” He didn’t even look at her. That one word shut Valeria up.

My heart was going to explode. I could feel every beat in my throat. In my ears. In my stomach.

_In my stomach._

And then it happened.

A wave of nausea, hot and violent, rolled through me. Morning sickness. At 11:47 A.M. Because my body had decided today was the day to betray me completely.

I slapped a hand over my mouth and bolted. Not for the door. For his private bathroom. The same one from the security footage.

I barely made it. I dropped to my knees in front of his marble toilet and threw up. Nothing but bile and terror.

I heard footsteps. Then the bathroom door clicking shut.

I wasn’t alone.

“Get out,” I gasped between heaves. “Please, just—”

“Are you pregnant?”

The question was quiet. Deadly.

I froze. My hands were gripping his toilet. My forehead was pressed to the cool seat. And Adrian Knight was standing in his bathroom doorway, watching me.

I could lie. Again. Say it was food poisoning. Say I was sick.

But he’d already seen the footage. Heard the crinkle. Watched me throw up.

Valeria’s voice came through the door. “Adrian? What’s going on? Is she dying in there?”

He ignored her. His eyes were on me. Cold. Calculating.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Slowly, I reached into my bra. My fingers were shaking so bad I almost couldn’t get it.

The pregnancy test slid out. I held it in my palm.

Two pink lines. Screaming at us both.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to.

I held it up.

Adrian went completely still. Like someone had hit pause on him. His face didn’t change. No shock. No anger. Nothing.

That was worse.

For three seconds, the only sound was Valeria knocking on the door. “Adrian! Answer me!”

Then he moved.

He crossed the bathroom in two steps. Grabbed my wrist. Not hard enough to bruise. But hard enough that I couldn’t drop the test. Hard enough that I couldn’t run.

He stared at the two pink lines.

Then he stared at me.

“Say it,” he said. His voice was empty. Scraped out. “Say the words, Beth.”

My lips were numb. But I made them move.

“I’m pregnant.”

His grip tightened. Not pain. Just… possession.

“Say the rest.”

The door handle rattled. Valeria was trying to get in.

I looked Adrian Knight in the eye. The father of my baby. The man who fired me. The man who wanted me arrested.

“It’s yours.”

The bathroom door burst open.

Valeria stood there. Saw the test in my hand. Saw Adrian’s hand on my wrist. Saw my face, tear-streaked and terrified.

Her scream was so high it made my ears ring.

“SECURITY!”

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