Chapter 2: The Secret Between Us

"Tell me whose child Victoria is carrying, Adrian, or I will find out myself.”

My husband’s face hardened, and for the first time since I married him, I saw something in his eyes that looked dangerously close to fear.

He reached for my phone, but I pulled it against my chest, refusing to let him take it without an explanation.

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” he warned.

“Then explain it to me.”

Adrian stared at me for several seconds before releasing a bitter laugh. “Since when did you become so interested in my private affairs?”

“Since someone sent me a photograph of you outside a clinic with your mistress and warned me to protect my unborn child.”

The words escaped before I could stop them.

Silence fell over the dining room.

Adrian’s expression changed so quickly that I almost missed it. His eyes dropped to my stomach, then returned to my face as though he was trying to decide whether I was telling the truth.

“Unborn child?” he repeated.

I pressed my lips together, instantly regretting my mistake.

“Are you pregnant, Elena?”

His voice was quiet, but there was no tenderness in it, only disbelief and something I could not identify.

I had imagined this moment so many times. In those dreams, he would smile, pull me into his arms, and promise that we would face everything together. I had even imagined him placing his hand over my stomach and asking whether I was feeling well.

Instead, he stood across from me as though my pregnancy were an accusation.

“Yes,” I answered, forcing myself to meet his eyes. “I’m almost six weeks pregnant.”

He turned away and dragged a hand through his hair.

“Does Victoria know?”

The question struck harder than a slap.

“You haven’t even asked whether the baby is healthy.”

He looked back at me. “Answer my question.”

“I don’t know what Victoria knows, Adrian. I only know that someone told me she already knows about the pregnancy.”

His jaw tightened, and he pulled out his phone.

“Stay here.”

He walked toward the windows and made a call, lowering his voice when someone answered. I could not hear every word, but I caught Victoria’s name, followed by a question about the clinic.

Then his voice became sharp.

“You told me nobody knew about this. How did Elena find out?”

My heart began to pound.

Nobody knew about what?

Before I could move closer, Adrian ended the call and returned to the table.

“We’re going to the hospital tomorrow,” he announced.

“Why?”

“To confirm the pregnancy and make sure everything is fine.”

For one foolish second, hope rose inside me. Perhaps the shock had simply overwhelmed him, and perhaps he was beginning to understand that this baby was real.

Then he added, “Until we know what we’re dealing with, you will not discuss this with anyone. Not your friends, not my family, and certainly not the person who sent that message.”

I stared at him. “You make it sound like the baby is a problem.”

“I am trying to protect this family.”

“What family?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my efforts to remain calm. “You spent our anniversary telling another woman that you wanted to leave me. You let her wear your clothes while I waited downstairs, and now you’re ordering me to keep quiet about our child.”

His expression darkened.

“You were listening outside the bedroom?”

“Yes.”

“And you thought confronting me in front of a photograph would change anything?”

I felt tears gathering in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

“No, Adrian. I thought becoming your wife might mean something to you.”

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Then he reached into his pocket, removed his wedding ring, and placed it on the table beside my untouched anniversary cake.

My breath caught.

“If this marriage makes you so unhappy,” he said coldly, “perhaps we should discuss ending it.”

I looked at the ring, remembering how carefully I had chosen mine, hoping that one day the vows we exchanged would become more than words written into a contract.

“Is that what you want?” I whispered.

Adrian hesitated.

It was only a second, but I noticed it.

Before he could answer, his phone rang again. Victoria’s name appeared on the screen, and he immediately turned away to answer.

“I told you I would handle it,” he said impatiently.

A woman’s frightened voice came through the speaker, loud enough for me to hear.

“Adrian, you need to come here now. Someone has been asking questions about the baby.”

He went completely still.

Then Victoria said something that made the blood drain from his face.

“Elena must never discover who the child’s father really is.”

I gripped the edge of the table.

Adrian slowly turned toward me, his eyes fixed on my face.

Neither of us spoke, but I knew from his expression that the secret was far more dangerous than I had imagined.

And whatever Victoria was hiding, my husband had known about it long before I became pregnant.