บททั้งหมดของ Pregnant By My Ex-Boyfriend's Father: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

I spent three days in Sarah's apartment, barely moving from the couch.Three days of staring at the ceiling. Of making lists of pros and cons that didn't actually help. Of holding my phone and staring at Alexander's number without calling.Three days of feeling like my entire life was suspended in amber, waiting for me to make a decision that would change everything.Sarah brought me food I couldn't eat. Made me tea I couldn't drink. Sat with me in comfortable silence when words felt impossible.Marcus came over Tuesday night. Sarah had called him—breaking my confidence but probably saving my sanity."You're pregnant," he said, sitting on the coffee table in front of me. Not a question. A statement of fact that his lawyer brain needed to process."Yes.""With Alexander Sterling's baby.""Yes.""The CEO. The billionaire. James's father.""Are you going to keep listing facts or are you going to say something helpful

Monday morning came too quickly.I stood outside Sterling Corporation headquarters, staring up at the glass tower and trying to convince myself I could do this.A week off had helped. I'd seen Dr. Roberts twice more. Started taking prenatal vitamins. Researched pregnancy obsessively on the internet. Slowly accepted that in seven and a half months, I'd be someone's mother.But I hadn't been back to the office. Hadn't faced my colleagues or James or the reality of being pregnant while working at Sterling Corporation."You can do this," I muttered to myself. "You're just going to work. Like a normal person. Who happens to be pregnant with her boss's baby. Completely normal."Several people walking past gave me strange looks.Right. Talking to myself in public. Great start.I took a deep breath and walked through the revolving doors.The lobby felt different somehow. Or maybe I was different. Everything felt heightened—the sound of

I woke up to my phone exploding.Literally hundreds of notifications. Texts. Calls. Emails. Social media mentions from accounts I'd forgotten I had.My first instinct was to throw the phone across the room. My second was to check what was happening.I shouldn't have looked.The tabloid headline was plastered across my screen, Sarah having texted me a screenshot at 6 AM:"STERLING SCANDAL: Billionaire CEO Impregnates Son's Ex-Girlfriend"Below it, a photo. Me and Alexander leaving the building yesterday—taken from some distance but clear enough. Him with his hand on my lower back, me looking up at him. It looked intimate. Romantic. Damning."Sources inside Sterling Corporation confirm that Alexander Sterling, 45, is expecting a child with former employee Bella Martinez, 24, who until recently was in a relationship with Sterling's son, James Sterling, 26."I scrolled down with shaking hands.More photos. Me entering

I didn't sleep that night.Instead, I lay in bed making mental lists of pros and cons, scenarios and outcomes, every possible angle of Alexander's proposal.Marry him: Legal protection. Financial security. The baby would have his name. The media might back off. I'd have access to the best healthcare, the best resources, the best everything.Don't marry him: Independence. The ability to walk away if things got too complicated. No pretending to be something we weren't. No living a lie.By morning, I was exhausted and no closer to a decision.Alexander was already in the kitchen when I emerged. He looked as tired as I felt."Coffee?" he offered."Please."We moved around each other in practiced silence. Two weeks of living together had created a rhythm—he made coffee, I made toast, we existed in the same space without colliding."Did you sleep?" he asked."No. You?""No."He handed me my cup—cream, no s

The engagement announcement hit the news at exactly 9 AM.I was in Alexander's home office when his phone started ringing. First Victoria. Then Marcus. Then half a dozen board members.But the call we'd been dreading most came at 9:47.Catherine Sterling.Alexander's jaw tightened as he looked at the caller ID. "I have to take this.""Should I leave?""No." His hand found mine. "Stay. She needs to understand we're a united front."He answered on speaker. "Mother.""Alexander James Sterling." Catherine's voice was ice. "Would you care to explain why I learned about your engagement from TMZ?""I was going to call you this afternoon—""This afternoon? AFTER the whole world knows?" Her voice rose. "An engagement announcement without informing your own mother first? Who raised you?""Mother, please—""And to HER? That... that girl who destroyed my grandson's relationship? Who's probably carryi