LOGINRONAN'S POVI know he's going to come for me. I just don't know when.Ever since Elara called me and told me she had taken the pill, I knew the Beta would come for me. It was inevitable. I was the one who gave her the abortion pills, and there was no way in hell he wouldn't have figured that out. Knowing how restricted Elara had been, he would know that I was the only person who could have gotten those pills for her. That meant he would figure out that I had been sneaking into the estate, meeting her in secret, giving her the means to destroy Kael's child.So now he was going to come for me. To prove a point. To kill me. Or to just beat me to a pulp. I didn't know which one it would be, but I knew it was coming. And I was waiting for him.I had been looking for a way to get to him ever since he attacked me in the hospital. I had tried to find evidence, something that would expose him to Kael, something that would get him arres
ELARA'S POVWhen my eyes slowly opened, everything was white. The light was too much, blinding and harsh, and I immediately closed them again, the brightness searing into my brain like a physical pain. I decided to use my other senses to figure out where I was, to piece together the fragments of reality that were slowly coming back to me.I could hear voices. Distant, muffled, overlapping. Someone was yelling, but I couldn't make out the words, couldn't tell who they belonged to. Everything was overwhelming, the noise, the light, the ache in my body that I couldn't quite place. I slipped back into my mind, letting the darkness pull me under again.When I opened my eyes again, I didn't know how much time had passed. It could have been seconds, or hours, or days. I had no way of knowing. But everything was a bit clearer now. I turned my head slowly and saw that there were tubes and wires inserted into my arms, monitors beeping softly beside me. I was in a h
ELARA'S POVI couldn't bring myself to abort the baby. Every night I lay in bed, my hand reaching for the pills on the nightstand, my fingers brushing against the container like it was the only hope I had left. I wanted to take them. I dreaded taking them. I loved the baby growing inside me, this tiny life that had done nothing wrong, this innocent thing that had no say in any of this. But I hated the man who had put it there. I hated everything the baby represented—a life I never wanted, a future I couldn't see, a chain binding me to a man I was trying to destroy. I loved my life, the parts of it that were mine, the parts I had fought so hard to build. But I hated the life the baby would be born into, the life it would have to endure, the life I would have to endure alongside it.The contradictions were endless, and they were eating me alive.For days, I went through the motions. I woke up, I let Kael take care of me, I ate the food he brought, I smiled when he expected me to smile
ELARA'S POVI drove home with the Beta's car close behind me, his headlights a constant presence in my rearview mirror that I couldn't escape no matter how fast I drove or how many turns I took. The sun was high in the sky, the afternoon light harsh and unforgiving, and I wish I could see his face clearly through his windshield— I'm sure he would have looked calm, patient, utterly certain that he had won. He followed me all the way to the estate gates, and then, without a signal or a wave, he turned off and disappeared down a side road, leaving me alone to face the house I didn't want to enter.I parked the car and walked inside like a ghost, my feet heavy, my heart heavier. The hallways were quiet, the servants going about their afternoon duties, and I made it to my room without seeing anyone. I closed the door behind me, locked it, and then I fell onto the bed and cried. Not the quiet kind. The ugly kind. The kind that tore through your chest and left you empty and gasping. I cried
ELARA'S POVThe next morning, I woke up to Kael already in my room, sitting on the edge of the bed with a tray of breakfast in his hands and a soft smile on his face. He had been watching me sleep, I realized, his eyes warm and patient, and I felt something twist in my chest that I didn't want to name. "Good morning," he said, setting the tray down on my lap. "I brought you breakfast. You need to eat, for the baby."I forced a smile and took the fork he was offering me. He watched me take the first bite, his expression full of a tenderness that made my stomach turn. He was everywhere. All the time. He helped me bathe, helped me dress, brought me food, checked on me every few hours like I was something fragile that might shatter if he looked away. I had no moment to myself, no space to breathe, no time to think.But I found it anyway.In the bathroom, when I told him I needed privacy. In the few minutes between meals, when I pretended to be resting. I used those moments to research, to
RONAN'S POV “Are you sure it's not mine”I sat in the dark of my apartment long after the call ended, the phone still in my hand, her voice still echoing in my head. She had said it so quickly, so desperately, like the words had been waiting to escape her mouth for hours. "I'm pregnant, Ronan, and I need to get rid of this baby." And the question that had come out of my mouth before I could stop it—"Are you sure it's not mine?"—had been playing on a loop in my mind ever since.The question had been stupid. Pointless. The worst possible thing I could have asked in that moment. She was bleeding, she was terrified, she was calling me because she had nowhere else to go, and I had asked her if the child could be mine. Like that was the most important thing. Like the paternity of the baby mattered more than what she was going through.But I couldn't take it back. And I couldn't stop thinking about it.When she said it wasn't mine, the relief
ANOTHER BLOODY TUESDAY ELARA'S POVTuesday arrives like every other Tuesday.I'm up before everyone else, moving through the quiet house while the boys and my husband still sleep. The lists are already waiting for me on the kitchen counter—kitchen supplies for the chefs, household items f
Elara's povI wake up and for a moment, I am without thoughts.The sunlight is soft through the curtains. My body is rested. My mind is quiet.Then it all came rushing back at me, yesterday and it's accompanied complicated emotions, the twists and turns of my life.The text on his phone, a reminder
ELARA'S POVI walk to my room. Close the door. Lean against it for one breath.Then I pull the cord.The maid arrives within minutes. Breathless. A little excited."Madam? You sent for me?""I'm going on a date tonight. With my husband."Her face lights up. "Oh my god, yes! It's been so long with e
ELARA'S POVI sat on the floor for a long time.His words keep circling in my head. “That doesn't change anything. How I feel about you. Not saying a word won't stop me from wanting you”.I press my palms against my eyes. Breathe. My body was raging with needs, my nipples were hard and I was sca







