LOGINEvelyn’s POV
My entire body felt numb. I could not help but look at Damien’s hand holding that woman's waist. The way he bent his head to talk softly to her made my heart hurt even more. She looked fragile beside him. Important. Precious. At the same time, I stood a few steps back feeling like my heart was getting ripped apart slowly. Then the woman lifted her head. Even with the mask, I saw those eyes right away. A proud grin slowly showed up on her lips when she saw me standing there. Damien finally turned around. His face shifted right after he saw me. “Evelyn!” I stepped back before he could get closer. The ultrasound sheets in the lady's hands faded in my sight. My breath got uneven as one scary truth sank deep inside my chest. Pregnant. His mistress was pregnant. Suddenly, everything made sense. Why did Damien go from the feast so fast? Why did his mind keep wandering off to other places all night long? While I cried alone over our collapsing marriage. My man was going with other lady to her check-up for baby. Hurt shot through my chest so hard that I nearly lost my balance one more time. “Evelyn, hear me first,” Damien said fast as he walked to me. A broken laugh escaped my lips. “What exactly am I supposed to hear now?” His jaw tightened. “It’s complicated.” I slowly shook my head. “No,” my voice shook a lot. “In fact, it’s really easy.” My eyes went to the lady next to him then back to Damien again. "You fooled on me," I said soft. "Now she’s having your kid." Silence filled the hallway. Damien seemed like he wanted to say something. But, the woman suddenly took his arm softly before he could talk. “Damien” she said softly “I don’t feel good” Concern instantly appeared across his face. That one moment broke every weak part still in me. Because his first instinct was still her. Not Never me. I chuckled sadly as tears made it hard to see. Then, I turned and walked off before one of them could halt me. “Evelyn!” I did not pay attention to Damien saying my name behind me. Staring at him any longer would totally break me. As soon as I got back to my hospital room, my legs just gave up. I went down on the ground next to the bed while I held my mouth tight to keep from crying out loud. Each breath felt hurtful. God, Why did it hurt this much? I loved that man for three years. Three entire years. At the same time, a different woman was now holding his kid. A child I could never give him. My shaking hands hugged around me tighter. All at once, every mean word from the Sinclair family played back in my mind. Maybe they was right all the time. I really failed as a wife? My phone suddenly vibrated beside me Fear quickly crept ͏in my chest after I saw the strange number again. But, my fingers gently opened the message. A P*F file appeared on the screen. Underneath it was a short sentence. [Looks like you finally know the truth.] My breathing turned shaky. I opened the file with trembling fingers. Pregnancy Certificate. Patient Name: Chloe Bennett. Father of the Child: Damien Sinclair. For a few moments, I just looked at the screen with no thought while my brain grew blank. Another message appeared. Then another. Photos flooded my phone one after another. Chlo͏e is in Damien’s bed, smiling proudly at the camera. Damien gives her a soft kiss on her forehead. One pic showed his hand on her belly in a possessive way. My chest felt like it was being crushed alive. More texts followed immediately afterward. He sat next to me all night after you went. He said he couldn’t leave me since I’m having his baby. [Really, it’s shameful seeing you cling to a guy who is already with me.] A shattered sound escaped my throat. I quickly tossed my phone on the bed like it was hot. Shame went through all parts of my body. Tears made it hard to see again and my breath was quick. Right then, the hospital room door opened. Damien walked inside carrying a small cake box. The second he saw my wet face, his look changed right away. “Evelyn.” I turned my gaze fast. Looking at him now just made me feel ill. Damien walked up to the bed and put the cake box gently on a table close by. “I got your best cake,” he said soft. “You didn’t have no food today.” My eyes slowly fell on the box. Strawberry shortcake, my best treat. In the past, small acts like this could bring me joy for days. Now it only felt insulting. How can he act like he cares after he left a woman with child? “I’m not hungry.” Damien sat beside me carefully. “You still need to eat.” A soft laugh escaped me suddenly. The sound startled even myself. Damien frowned slightly. “What’s funny?” I slowly lifted my head toward him. “You were with her just now, weren’t you?” His expression instantly hardened. “Evelyn—” “She’s pregnant.” Silence filled the room again. A bitter smile appeared across my lips. “You held her like she mattered.” Damien closed his eyes briefly before answering quietly. “She does matter.” Everything inside me shattered completely. I stared at him in disbelief. Then my gaze slowly shifted toward the cake box beside him. Anger exploded violently inside my chest. Before Damien could react, I grabbed the cake and threw it across the room. CRASH! The box slammed against the wall before falling onto the floor. Cream splattered everywhere instantly. The room turned deathly quiet. Damien looked stunned. Meanwhile, my entire body shook uncontrollably from rage and heartbreak. “I hate you.” Those words came out broken. Raw and Painful. Damien immediately stood up. “Evelyn, calm down first.” “Don’t tell me to calm down!” I screamed. Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe anymore. “Your mistress is pregnant and you’re telling me to calm down?” Damien suddenly grabbed my shoulders tightly. “You think I wanted this to happen?” I froze briefly. “What?” Frustration flashed clearly across his face now. “She got pregnant by accident.” A hollow laugh escaped my lips. Accident? Was that supposed to make me feel better? “You make her sound like some unfortunate mistake.” Damien’s grip tightened slightly. “I never meant to hurt you.” “But you did!” My voice echoed loudly through the hospital room. “You destroyed everything!” Silence followed immediately afterward. For one brief second, guilt appeared inside Damien’s eyes. Real guilt. Unfortunately, it changed absolutely nothing. Because no matter how guilty he felt, another woman was still carrying his child. Finally, I shoved his hands away from me. “Get out.” His jaw tightened instantly. “Evelyn—” “I said get out!” Several long seconds passed. Damien continued staring at me intensely like he wanted to say something else. Eventually, he clenched his jaw before turning around coldly. Then he walked toward the door. I thought he would leave. Unfortunately, before Damien could step outside, his phone suddenly rang again. The name flashing across the screen made my entire body go cold. Chloe Calling.Evelyn's POV “I cherish my wedlock,” We had a meal at the tiny table by the window instead of in a formal dining room.Sebastian had lit two lights and even if the act was easy, something about it made the night feel nice. I gazed at him over the table.“When was the last time we had dinner like this?”"Before a hospital attack." My grin left me for a bit.Sebastian stretched over the table and grabbed my hand. “I’m sorry”“No.” I squeezed his fingers.“I s͏aid no Project Eve tonight.” “You’re right.”I smiled again. “So tell me something else.”"What do you want to ask?" I paused for a bit."Where do you think we will be in five years? Sebastian seemed shocked by the task."“Five years?” “Yes.”He leaned back in his chair. “Still married.”I rolled my eyes. “That’s your entire answer?”“And annoying you every day.” I laughed.“Anything else?” He looked
Evelyn’s POV “I don’t wanna chat about Project Eve tonight.” I glanced at Sebastian across the kitchen counter, seeing him stop with a knife in his hand while he cut the veggies for dinner. After all the stuff we found out that day, it felt odd to be in our kitchen and stressed about something so normal like what we would eat. Sebastian gently put down the knife and stared at me. “Then we won’t talk about it.” “Just like that?” "Just like that." He went back to chopping the veggies, and I looked at him for a few seconds before walking to the fridge. The home seemed very still tonight, nearly calm even with the swarm of doubts outside our doors. Daniel said he would reach us if he learned something more about Eve. Up until then, there was nothing we could do but wait. For once I wished to wait without fear. “What are you making?” I asked. “Dinner.”
Sebastian's POV “The earliest reference to Eve is from twenty-eight years ago. Evelyn, you were born after that.”Silence filled the room. I looked at Evelyn.She stared at the screen, slowly realizing what that meant. “Then Eve wasn’t me.”Daniel shook his head. “No.”The answer was simple, but it carried enormous consequences. Project Eve had existed before Evelyn was even born.I stood and walked toward the screen. “Search for the connection between Eve and Evelyn’s father.”Daniel began typing again. Several minutes passed before another file appeared.It contained a genetic research report. At the top was the same designation.EVE.But beneath it was a line that made my blood run cold. GENETIC RELATIONSHIP: DIRECT MATERNAL LINE.Evelyn stopped breathing. “My mother?”Daniel looked at her. “We don’t know if that means your biological mother.”“But it says maternal line.” “Yes.”I looked at Evelyn’s face and saw the questio
Sebastian’s POV“Lydia.” The name stayed in the air after Evelyn said it, and I could see a look of puzzled in her eyes like she thought the name would mean more than it really did.She looked at the old note in her hands, her fingers shaking a bit while I tried to see why one name made such a strong feeling. “Evelyn, look at me.”She took her time to look up at me. “Who's Lydia?”"I don't know,” her answer came quickly but the doubt in her voice showed me that she was battling with something hidden deep in her mind.I moved near and took the note from her hands before it could drop. "You said you recall her.""I thought of the name," she fixed softly. "But I don't know who she is."I looked at the last line on the page again. “What if Lydia is Eve?”Evelyn looked at me. “So, Project Eve was not about me.”That chance changed everything. In less than an hour, Daniel was sitting in front of us in the stu
Evelyn’s POVI wanted to believe him, so I shut my eyes and allowed him to hold me until exhaustion took over.However, in the middle of the night, I woke up with an abrupt gasp.The same white room reappeared.This time the picture was more vivid. I saw myself lying in the bed with my hands gripping the sheets tightly. I looked younger; possibly just a child and there was a woman standing beside me with tears in her eyes.“Evelyn, you have to remember.”My body wouldn’t move in spite of all my efforts. The woman moved towards me. I still couldn’t make out her face but somehow her tone cut me deep.“Don’t allow them to rob you of your identity.”I woke up shivering in fear.Sebastian immediately got up from the bed beside me.“What happened?” he asked me.I placed a hand on my chest trying to catch my breath.“I saw her again.”He turned on the bedside lamp and handed me a
Evelyn's POV"What did my dad mean when he said I shouldn't let Project Eve make me think back?"I looked at the screen of Sebastian's computer, not able to take my eyes off the last line of my dad's tape. His voice was quiet, but the worry underneath it was hard to miss. What he had done to keep me safe showed that he was hiding a lot more than just what happened with Project Genesis.Sebastian sat next to me, his hand laid softly on mine.“I don't know Evelyn yet but we are going to find out.”“What if I don't like the answer?”“Then we'll face it together.”I looked at him, looking for any hint that he was hiding something. After all we had faced together, I knew Sebastian would not choose to lie to me again. But the idea that my own dad had changed my memories made me feel like the ground under my feet was slowly vanishing.“What if he took something away from me?”Sebastian tightened his grip on my
Evelyn's POV I stared at Sebastian for a moment without moving. The rain was coming down hard on the empty road at night. The black Rolls-Royce parked beside me looked weird. Sebastian Sinclair sat inside calm as always. His black suit looked perfect. He was sitting up straight. His sharp eyes w
Evelyn’s POVThe room went quiet after Sebastian said something. I saw the Sinclair family looking uncomfortable. Some guests were whispering to each other.Sebastian was still standing there with a glass of whiskey in his hand. His face was calm. His eyes seemed really sharp.Damien’s aunt let out
Evelyn’s POVMy hands trembled violently as I stared at the photo on my phone screen. It was that necklace. The crescent moon diamond necklace Damien gave me on our second wedding anniversary.I still remembered the way he fastened it around my neck himself while telling me I was the only woman who
Evelyn’s POV I do not remember how I got home that night. The only things I remembered were the rain, Damien’s voice calling my name from behind, and the numbness spreading through my chest during the entire drive. The moment I arrived at the Sinclair mansion, I locked myself inside my room. A r







