CHAPTER TEN_ Claire’s POV

I didn’t know where to go.

My hands rested uselessly on the steering wheel as I sat idly in the driveway.

I didn’t even start the engine.

The truth was that the Dhark mansion was the only place where I knew who I was. For years, I had spent all my waking hours in the mansion; like some glorified housewife. It was the only place where my name meant something.

Outside of it, I was completely lost.

Who was I, if I wasn’t Lucian’s wife?

I caught stated at my reflection in the rearview mirror. I looked too calm for a woman whose world had just collapsed.

I stayed there longer than I should have, then eventually drove back — not because I wanted to, but because there was nowhere else to go.

When I finally drove back to the mansion, the gates opened smoothly, the same way they always had.

As if nothing had changed.

Camilla rushed toward me the moment I stepped inside. Her face was pale and her hands were twisting together nervously.

“Mrs. Dhark,” she said quickly, almost breathlessly. “Please… do not turn on the television.”

That was all it took to raise my curiosity.

I walked past her and picked up the remote.

“Mrs. Dhark—”

She tried stopping me, but it was too late.

The screen lit up.

A familiar news anchor appeared. I could see Lucian’s name scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

BREAKING NEWS: DHARK HEIR CONFIRMED.

My breath seized in my throat.

“…sources confirm that Eva Sterling is expecting a child with billionaire CEO, Lucian Dhark. Insiders describe the businessman as fiercely private and protective of his unborn child…”

“Unborn child”

“Legacy”

“Heir”

Those were the words they kept repeating.

Then they finally said my name. Once.

“…amid reports of a separation with his estranged wife, Claire Moreau…”

Estranged.

Like I had already been erased. Like Lucian and I had not been married for five years!

They didn’t just announce a pregnancy.

They rewrote my marriage.

My hands started to shake.

I gripped the back of a chair, trying desperately hard to breathe, counting seconds just to keep standing upright.

Lucian wasn’t home.

I didn’t hear a single word from him. No calls, no texts.

I watched the news across multiple channels. My phone exploded with notifications.

My name trended alongside words I didn’t want to read.

“Infertile”

“Replacement”

By afternoon, the paparazzi arrived at the gates, with cameras flashing like my home was a red carpet. Or a crime scene.

And still, there was no word from Lucian.

That hurt more than the pregnancy.

By evening, something inside me became dangerously still.

The pain didn’t disappear. It just sharpened, turning into something hard and cold.

I realized then, that staying silent would do me no good.

Because my marriage wasn’t ending privately.

It was ending on a stage.

I woke up to my phone vibrating endlessly on the night stand.

Message after message. Notification after notification.

The headlines multiplied until it was impossible for me to keep up.

One article caught my attention.

DHARK HEIR CONFIRMED: CEO RELEASES STATEMENT

Against my own judgment, I opened the article with shaking fingers.

Lucian’s statement was short and corporate.

He spoke of responsibility.

Of protecting an innocent child.

Of requesting privacy during a difficult transition.

Then I saw a sentence that almost sent me into shock.

“Mr. Dhark asks for understanding for all parties involved, including his wife, Claire Moreau, from whom he is currently separated.”

Separated.

Not abandoned.

Not betrayed.

Not blindsided.

Something painful settled in my chest_ a feeling I was slowly getting used to.

Lucian hadn’t just failed to defend me, he had made me disappear.

As I scrolled further, another headline appeared.

EVA STERLING SPEAKS OUT: ‘THIS IS ABOUT MY CHILD’

I clicked before I could stop myself.

Eva sat under soft lighting, dressed simply, her hand resting protectively over her stomach.

“This isn’t how I wanted this chapter to begin,” she spoke softly. “I only care about protecting my child.”

“I’m asking for compassion — for everyone involved.”

‘Everyone involved.’

She didn’t attack me.

In fact, she didn’t even mention me.

She sounded calm and maternal.

And the world loved her for it.

The comments beneath the video praised her grace and composure.

I set the phone down, trying to steady my trembling hands.

Lucian still wasn’t home.

He protected the company.

He protected the child.

He protected Eva.

But he did not protect me.

I walked through the mansion slowly. I could hear my footsteps echoing in the hallway.

Camilla approached me then. She seemed tense.

“They asked me to prepare the east wing, Mrs. Dhark.” She said.

Something inside me went very still.

That’s when I noticed the staff were already moving furniture, rearranging the house.

Eva didn’t need to move in yet.

The space had already been made for her.

I stood there, surrounded by walls that no longer felt like home, and I finally understood the truth:

By the time Eva crossed the threshold,

I would already be a guest in my own marriage.