Chapter one.

Elysia’s hand trembled slightly as she stared at the pregnancy test in her hand. Her breathing hitched the moment she saw it.

Two red lines stared back at her.

Positive.

She shuddered, exhaling a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding since she’d picked the thing up from the bathroom counter.

She couldn’t believe she was pregnant.

Pregnant from just that one time.

She let out a small laugh before leaning fully against the bathroom wall and sliding down until she was sitting on the floor.

This could change everything.

Maybe Declan would finally accept her. Maybe he’d finally love her. Maybe they could finally build a family.

They’d been married for five years, yet It was a marriage of convenience. In public, they kept up appearances. But in private, she was nothing more than a wife on paper.

They didn’t even share a room

Always being politely informed by the servants that Mr. Windsor had asked her not to wait for him—that he was busy.

She already knew what that meant

She knew he was with that woman. The one he loved. The one he had been forced to abandon by his parents just to marry her.

She had never once complained. Many times, she had shamelessly made the first move to initiate intimacy, only to be brutally turned down.

A knock came at the door.

“Mrs. Windsor,” Mrs. Whitmore’s voice called softly. “Dinner is ready.”

Elysia snapped from her thoughts. She held onto the wall for support as she dragged herself up from the bathroom floor. She stepped out of the bathroom and walked to the bedroom door.

When she opened it, Mrs. Whitmore was standing there, a gentle look on her face as usual.

“Oh dear, have you been crying?” she asked, concern flickering across her features immediately.

Elysia shook her head. She could sometimes hear the pity in the woman’s voice.

“I’ll be out in a minute or two,” Elysia tried to smile.

She didn’t want Mrs. Whitmore to worry. She knew that if the woman worried, it would reach Declan’s ears. And she didn’t want him thinking she was trying to seek attention by acting pitiful.

Mrs. Whitmore nodded and turned to leave, but then stopped.

“Young Master Declan is already waiting for you,” she said before finally walking away.

Elysia felt a small surge of hope bubble in her. For the first time since they’d married, he was going to have dinner with her.

Maybe she could use this opportunity to break the news to him.

She closed the door behind her and rushed into the bathroom to splash some water on her face. She didn’t want Declan to notice the same thing Mrs. Whitmore had.

Ten minutes later, she walked down the stairs already changed into her nightgown.

As she approached the dining table, already filled with different kinds of dishes, she saw him.

Declan was already there

Tall and imposing, he sat in a gray turtleneck beneath a black suit, eating as if the world didn’t exist beyond him. Even like this, he looked unfairly composed—like he didn’t have to try.

Sharp features, carved and precise. Thick brows resting over those heavy-lidded eyes that always looked half-lost in thought, half-bored with everything around him. Long lashes lowered lazily whenever he blinked. Tousled hair fell slightly over his eyes, like he hadn’t bothered to fix it. Full lips, calm as he ate.

He glanced up at her as she sat down opposite him, like she was a presence he was already used to.

Then he looked away again, continuing to eat as if nothing had shifted at all.

The silence felt awkward. This wasn’t how she had imagined having dinner with him would be.

Declan kept his eyes on his phone as he ate, barely saying a word. It wasn’t that he didn’t acknowledge her. In fact, the reason he was having dinner with her tonight was because he wanted to discuss something important with her.

She cleared her throat.

“Declan?” she called softly, her voice so small and quiet it almost sounded like she was afraid to say his name.

Declan finally looked up from his phone, his gaze settling on her without much expression.

“Yes?” he answered calmly, setting his cutlery down.

“What would you do if I was pregnant?” she asked softly, her fingers tightening slightly around the fork in her hand.

He stared at her for a second before a frown slowly formed on his face.

“Pregnant? What do you mean by that? Are you pregnant?” he asked.

The tone of his voice made Elysia’s chest tighten painfully. He already sounded like he hated the idea of it.

She shook her head quickly, glancing at him for only a second before lowering her gaze to her plate.

“No… I’m not,” she said quietly.

“Good… because you and I already knew what this was from the start.” He picked up his fork again like the conversation meant nothing.

Elysia stayed quiet, her fingers curling tightly beneath the table.

Of course she knew. 

A marriage of convenience. A loveless arrangement built on signatures and appearances.

And yet hearing him say it so plainly still made something inside her ache.

“Victoria is moving in.”

Declan said it like it meant nothing.

Elysia went still.

“What?” She asked, her voice low, eyes searching his face.

Mrs. Whitmore, who had just come in with dessert, slowed in the doorway.

Declan looked at Elysia, eyes calm and unreadable.

“She’s pregnant.”

“What do you mean she’s pregnant?” Elysia asked, her voice sharper than she intended.

“I mean she’s carrying my child.” He stood.

Hurt and unable to hold it in, she stood as well. The chair behind her scraped and fell back. She hadn’t meant it, but she didn’t care anymore.

“Declan, I’m your wife, and another woman is pregnant for you?”

He scoffed, and it hit her like a blow. Elysia stumbled back a step before steadying herself.

“Victoria is not another woman,” Declan said, his voice rising slightly.

“And don’t act like you don’t know what this is… you’re only my wife on paper.”

Elysia stumbled again, hurt flashing across her face.

He hadn’t lied, but hearing it said to her face made it worse. As if he had just called her the other woman… the homewrecker..

She looked at him for a long moment, like she was trying to see something that wasn’t there.

“So i am nothing to you then?” she asked quietly.

Elysia’s lips trembled slightly as she tried to hold it in, her fingers curling at her sides.

Declan didn’t answer immediately. His expression stayed unchanged.

“You already know what this is.”

He stood for a moment, then grabbed his car keys from the dining table.

Elysia’s vision blurred with tears. She wiped them with the back of her hand as she watched him walk toward the front door. That was it. The reason he had returned and stayed for dinner tonight—to tell her he was bringing the woman he loved home because she was carrying his child.

“What happened between us was a mistake,” he said, stopping at the door. “I hope you can forget about it. I wouldn’t want Victoria to misunderstand.”

Her chest tightened with disbelief, and for a moment she almost laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. Her husband sleeping with her… a mistake.

The door shut behind him. The sound lingered in the room longer than it should have.

Elysia stood there for a moment, unmoving, as if waiting for him to come back and correct it— to say it wasn’t real. 

But he didn’t.

She heard the sound of a car engine, and then he was simply gone.

Her fingers trembled as she slowly lowered herself into the chair he had just left. The dining room suddenly felt suffocating 

Elysia’s fingers loosened from the table.

And then, without warning, the memory of that night came back.