Chapter 2

Sarah

Sarah Sterling stood on the sidewalk outside the clinic with the late-morning sun warming her face, and for a moment she forgot how to breathe.

Her fingers trembled around the folded medical report in her hand. She had read the words at least ten times already, each pass making them feel less real, not more.

Positive.

Approximately two weeks.

Two weeks.

It didn’t sound like much. Barely anything at all. But to Sarah, it felt enormous—heavy with three years of quiet disappointment, of careful hope, of learning how to smile through questions she didn’t know how to answer.

She pressed a hand to her stomach, half expecting to feel something different. There was nothing. No flutter. No ache. Just her heartbeat, loud in her ears.

“I’m pregnant,” she whispered, the words cracking as they left her mouth.

She let out a shaky laugh, blinking rapidly as tears gathered. She hadn’t cried in the doctor’s office. She hadn’t cried when the nurse smiled at her with that knowing, gentle look. She’d held it together until now.

Three years.

Three years of trying without ever letting herself sound desperate. Julian had never pressured her—never once made her feel like she was failing him—but that didn’t stop the guilt from settling in her chest anyway. The quiet fear that she wasn’t enough. That she was taking something from him she couldn’t give back.

A man like Julian Sterling deserved an heir. A legacy. A family.

And for a long time, Sarah had felt like a fraud standing beside him, smiling politely at dinners while family whispered about their childlessness

She wiped her cheeks quickly and headed for her car, the excitement buzzing beneath her skin. Julian would be happy. He had to be. Whatever distance had crept into their marriage lately—his late nights at work, the distracted way he listened sometimes, the way his phone never seemed far from his hand—this would change things.

This would bring him back to her.

She slid into the driver’s seat and sat there for a second, just breathing, imagining his reaction. The rare softness in his eyes. The way his hand would rest on her lower back, protective and manly. Maybe he would laugh. Maybe he would just hold her like he used to do.

She smiled to herself as she pulled out of the parking lot.

She decided she’d tell him tonight. Wait until he came home from work. Make it special. Maybe cook his favorite meal. Light candles. She reached for her phone at a red light and called him, unable to resist hearing his voice.

It rang.

Once. Twice.

Then went unanswered.

Her smile faltered, just slightly. He was probably in a meeting. He’d mentioned something about a big deal earlier in the week. She tried again when she got closer to home. This time, it went straight to voicemail.

Sarah stared at the road ahead, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel. An uneasy thought nudged at the back of her mind.

On impulse, she flicked on her indicator and turned the car around.

She had never been to Julian’s office before. He liked keeping his work and personal life separate. He’d said it kindly, without malice, but she’d always understood the unspoken part: she didn’t belong there.

Still… today felt different.

She parked across the street from the sleek glass building that bore his company’s name in understated lettering. As she stepped out of the car, her eyes caught on a small gift shop wedged between a café and a florist.

In the window sat a white ceramic mug, bold black letters stamped across the front.

World’s Best Dad.

Sarah’s breath caught. She laughed softly under her breath, the sound half disbelief, half wonder. It felt like a sign, silly as that was.

She went inside and bought the mug without hesitating. When the cashier told her the price, Sarah handed over the cash and waved off the change, her hands still shaking too much to wait for it.

Clutching the bag to her chest, she crossed the street and entered the building.

The lobby was all marble and steel, polished to a shine that reflected her back at her in fragments. For a second, she hesitated, suddenly acutely aware of herself. Of her simple dress. Of the fact that she didn’t quite fit.

Who would have thought, she mused, that the daughter of a maid would become the wife of a man like Julian Sterling?

A man with power that filled rooms without him needing to raise his voice. A man she loved with her whole heart.

She approached the reception desk. The woman behind it didn’t look up from her phone.

“Excuse me,” Sarah said politely. “I’m here to see Julian Sterling.”

“I’m sorry,” the receptionist replied flatly, eyes still on the screen. “He’s in a closed-door meeting.”

Sarah waited for something more—an offer to take her name, a polite smile—but it didn’t come.

“It’s important,” she said, her fingers tightening around the gift bag. “I’m his wife.”

That finally earned her attention.

The receptionist looked up slowly, her gaze sweeping over Sarah from head to toe before she let out a small, humorless laugh.

“Nice try,” she said. “Mr. Sterling is already inside with his wife.”

Sarah’s breath hitched. “What?”

The woman slid a tablet across the desk toward her. The digital visitor log glowed softly.

At the top of the list was a name written in neat black letters.

Genevieve Sterling.

Sarah stared at it, her mind struggling to catch up.

“That’s—” Her voice came out hoarse. “That’s not possible.”

The receptionist’s expression hardened. “I’d advise you to leave before I call security.”

For a moment, the world tilted. Genevieve. Julian’s ex-fiancée. The woman who had left him five years ago to chase a glittering modeling career. The woman whose shadow had lingered long after she was gone.

This had to be a mistake.

The receptionist turned away, already reaching for her phone.

A loud clatter sounded from somewhere behind the desk—someone dropping a stack of folders. The woman cursed under her breath and bent to retrieve them.

Sarah didn’t think. She moved.

Her heels were silent against the tiled floor as she slipped past, her heart pounding so hard it hurt. She followed the hallway instinctively, drawn forward by a sense of dread she couldn’t shake.

She stopped just outside Julian’s office.

The door was slightly ajar.

A woman’s voice drifted out, smooth and familiar.

“You’re still as good as I remember.”

Julian laughed.

It was a real laugh. Warm. Unrestrained.

“There’s still plenty more where that came from,” he replied.

Silence followed.

Sarah’s hand lifted, trembling, ready to push the door open.

Then the woman spoke again.

“Dom said you and Sarah were trying to have a baby.”

Julian answered too quickly. Too cold.

“You heard wrong.”

Her blood ran cold.

“Dominic’s crazy,” he continued. “You shouldn’t listen to shit like that.”

A soft, luring laugh followed.

“Then you should probably tell him that,” Genevieve said lightly. “Because I can’t exactly be the one to explain that you got a vasectomy for me, can I?”

The gift bag slipped from Sarah’s fingers.

The mug shattered against the floor, the sound sharp and loud in the quiet hallway.

The office door swung open.

And Sarah found herself staring straight into the face of the woman who had just destroyed her world.