All Chapters of PREGNANT and REJECTED by the BILLIONAIRE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 12: Fractured Trust, Healing Moments.(Lyra's POV)The silence in the car was loud and so unsteady.Finn was busy humming some soft tune in the back seat, his little fingers playing with the toy dinosaur he’d been clutching since the museum. But Rhys and I sat in the front, too close for comfort and too far apart for the truth. My stomach churned with something unknown. My chest was tight. I didn’t know whether I wanted to cry, scream, or just disappear altogether, I just felt like my world was tearing apart again.Finally, Rhys cleared his throat. “You deserve to know everything, Lyra. No more secrets.”I turned to face him slightly, arms crossed tightly across my chest. “Then talk. I’m listening.”He glanced in the rearview mirror, watching Finn, then turned his gaze back to the road. “After you gave birth… I remember looking at you, and you just looked… broken. Empty. Like you didn’t even want him.”I snapped my head toward him. “What?!”“Wait…hear me out,” he said quickly,

(Lyra's POV)The days that followed Ciara's dramatic exit from the mansion were oddly quiet, but not peacefully. It was the kind of silence that made you feel like something was brewing just beneath the surface. A storm gathering gradually.Ciara hadn’t returned since that day, and although neither Rhys nor I mentioned her again, the air in the mansion was heavier, as if we were both waiting for the next shoe to drop. Finn, blissfully unaware, continued to wrap himself around me like a second skin, following me everywhere, his chatter filling the empty halls with warmth. He was the only thing keeping me grounded and happy.But Rhys? He’d grown distant again.Not cold, just… preoccupied with something I can't really pinpoint.Each morning, He'd leave for work earlier, barely kissing Finn's forehead. Each evening, he comes home later than the last. He avoided eye contact, and when our eyes did meet, they held an emotion I couldn’t quite place. Regret? Confusion? Fear?Or maybe guilt.O

Rhys' POVI always thought I had control. Control over my emotions, control over my thoughts, control over my damn heart, it was all a lie and fallacy. But lately, being around Lyra has felt like standing in the middle of a wildfire and trying to breathe. It’s hot, consuming, and suffocating. I was trying. God knows I was trying. Acting cold, distant, pushing her away with snide remarks or silence. But none of it was working, ever since I saw her again, she has really clouded all my thoughts.She was still there. In my house. In my kitchen. And in my body and soul, I see her everywhere, I don't know if it is hallucinations, but I can't just get her off my Head.And worst of all, in my heart.I woke up earlier than usual, hoping to get to the office before she came down with her usual cheerful “Good morning, Rhys,” as if she hadn't shattered me before or if I hadn't broken her before. I figured avoiding her would help. Maybe I'd find some sense of balance at work.I headed down to gra

(Lyra's POV)I know you’re in there. Open up. It’s important.Her voice was like poison filled with honey. Smooth, deliberate, dripping with menace, pure hatred. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until Rhys moved.He started toward the door, but I grabbed his arm.“Don't,” I whispered. “Let her rot out there.”He paused, staring at me like he was caught in a trap. His muscles were tense, coiled, like he was ready to fight or flee.But she knocked again. This time louder. More desperate.Lyra, please. I need to talk to you. Woman to woman.I scoffed. “Woman to? Oh, that’s rich. She wants to play the victim now?”Rhys looked at the door, then back at me. “You don’t have to talk to her. I’ll tell her to leave.”But something in me twisted. A cold, burning thing that said: No. She doesn’t get to barge into my life, into my home, without seeing the mess she made. I stepped past him and yanked the door open.Ciara stood there in a tight red dress that barely covered her thighs.

RHYS POVThe silence in my head had become a scream. I couldn’t remember the last time I had slept peacefully or taken a breath without feeling like the world was caving in on me. Since the incident, that night everything turned upside down, my mind hadn't been the same. Something about it left a crack deep in me, and through that crack, all the fear, guilt, and uncertainty spilled like a storm, everything was crashing apart right in front of me, my empire maybe, the woman I love, family everything, all because of one damn bitch who doesn't want to give up.Lyra had been distant. And not just the kind of distance where someone needed space, this was the kind of quiet that felt like goodbye. I knew it. I could see it in her eyes when she looked at Finn and forced a smile. Likewise, I could feel it in her touch when she helped him with his schoolwork and ruffled his curls. I had already lost her once… I couldn’t go through that again.Worse, she and Finn were bonding so deeply it terrif