Chapter 2: The Cruelest Words

Bella pov

"Whatever it is can wait." He turned away from me, dismissing me like I was a servant interrupting an important meeting. "James will escort you back."

"I'm pregnant."

The words fell into the room Everything stopped as Jade's face went white. Caleb froze, his back still to me, shoulders rigid beneath his tailored jacket.

Then he turned, slowly, his grey eyes meeting mine with an expression I'd never seen before. Something dark and terrible moved behind them."What did you say?"

I forced myself to stand straighter, to look him in the eye even as my world crumbled. "I'm pregnant, I think 2 months. I've been trying to tell you for weeks, but you're never"

Caleb laughed.

It was a cold, cruel sound that had nothing to do with humor, a sound that would haunt my nightmares for years to come. He laughed, and kept laughing, until Jade joined in nervously, and I stood there in my wedding dress, my hand still pressed to my stomach, wondering how I'd ever thought this man could love me.

"You really thought," he said, his voice dripping with contempt as his laughter died, "that you could trap me with that?"

The word "trap" hung in the air between us. I watched Caleb's face twist into something ugly, something I'd never seen before, and felt my heart turn to stone in my chest.

"Trap you?" My voice came out small, broken. "Caleb, I would never"

"Save it." He stalked toward me, and I instinctively backed up until my spine hit the doorframe. He stopped inches away, towering over me, his grey eyes colder than I'd ever seen them. "How long have you been planning this? Since the wedding was arranged? Since you moved into my house?"

"I didn't plan anything!" Tears spilled down my cheeks, hot and humiliating. "I just found out few weeks ago, I swear. I wanted to wait until tonight to tell you because I thought"

"You thought a baby would lock me down." His laugh was razor-sharp. "You thought I'd suddenly fall in love with you, that we'd play happy family. God, you're pathetic."

Each word was a knife between my ribs. I pressed my hand harder against my stomach, protective, desperate. "It's your child, Caleb. Our child."

"Is it?" Jade's voice cut through the room. She'd moved to stand beside Caleb, her arm sliding through his with casual ownership. "How do we know it's even his, Bella? You've always been so desperate for attention, for love. Who knows what you've been doing behind his back?"

The accusation was so absurd, so vile, that for a moment I couldn't breathe. "What? I've never—Caleb, you know I haven't"

"I don't know anything about you." He pulled away from me, putting distance between us like I was diseased. "You've been living in my house for a few months, and you're a stranger. A quiet, manipulative stranger who apparently thinks she can baby-trap a billionaire."

"Mother warned me about this," Jade said softly, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "She told me you'd try something like this when things didn't go your way."

My mother, of course. "What did he tell you?"

"The truth." Caleb moved to his desk, poured himself a drink with steady hands while mine shook uncontrollably. "That you've always been obsessed with money, with status. That you saw this marriage as your ticket out of mediocrity, she said you'd do anything to secure your position, including fabricating a pregnancy."

"Fabricating?" The room spun. "I have doctor's appointments, ultrasound pictures, I can show you"

"Pictures can be faked." Jade examined her manicured nails, bored with my desperation. "Anyone can find pregnancy photos online, Bella, did you really think it would be that easy?"

"Easy?" I turned on her, something wild and furious rising in my chest. "You're sleeping with my husband on our wedding night, and you're calling me a liar?"

"I came here to discuss a business deal." Jade's eyes glittered with malice. "Caleb and I have known each other for years, we have chemistry. What do you have? A marriage certificate signed under duress and a convenient pregnancy claim?"

I looked at Caleb, begging him with my eyes to see the truth, to remember that I'd never asked him for anything, never demanded his time or attention or love. "You can't believe her. Caleb, please. I'm telling the truth about the baby. We can do a paternity test, we can go to my doctor together."

"Get rid of it." His voice was flat, emotionless, final. "Whatever it is, whoever's it is, get rid of it. Today."

The world stopped. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else. "What?"

"You heard me." He downed his drink in one swallow, set the glass down with a sharp click. "I want it gone. If you're actually pregnant, which I doubt, I want you to terminate it immediately. I'll pay for the procedure, give you a generous settlement, and we can dissolve this marriage quietly."

"You want me to kill our baby." The words felt foreign in my mouth, impossible.

"I want you to stop this charade." He finally looked at me, really looked at me, and there was nothing in his eyes but hatred. "You're not keeping this child, Bella. If you refuse, I'll make your life a living hell. I'll destroy what's left of you. I'll make sure no one in this city ever employs you. I'll bury you so deep you'll wish you'd never been born."

My knees buckled. I caught myself on the doorframe, my wedding dress pooling around me like a shroud. "You don't mean that."

"Try me." He turned his back on me again, dismissing me completely. "You have until tomorrow morning to make your decision. After that, I'll assume you've chosen the hard way."

"Caleb"

"Get out of my office."

The command echoed in the silence. I stood there, my hand still pressed to my stomach, waiting for him to turn around, to take it back, to show me any hint of the man I'd foolishly hoped he could be but he didn't move.

"I think you should leave," Jade said quietly, her eyes gleaming with victory. "This is clearly too much for you to process right now. Maybe some time alone will help you see the reason."

"Reason?" I laughed, a broken sound that turned into a sob. "You're asking me to see reason while you're standing there in my husband's office, your dress still wrinkled from sitting in his lap?"

"That's enough." Caleb's voice cracked like a whip. "James!"

The office door opened immediately, as if James had been waiting just outside. His face was carefully blank, but I saw the pity in his eyes as they met mine.

"Escort Mrs. Black to her rooms," Caleb ordered without turning around. "Make sure she stays there until I send for her."

"Yes, sir." James stepped forward, his hand hovering near my elbow but not quite touching. "Ma'am?"

I looked at Caleb's back one more time, at the rigid set of his shoulders, the way his hands gripped the edge of his desk. I wanted to scream at him, to make him look at me, to force him to see what he was doing.

Instead, I straightened my spine, lifted my chin, and wiped the tears from my face with trembling fingers.

"I don't need an escort." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "I know the way to my cage."