All Chapters of The Fallen Alpha’s Pregnancy : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

"The most dangerous thing you can do to a man who thinks he owns you is to start building a room he doesn't know exists."I am sitting in the dark of the study, the hum of the cooling fans a constant, nerve-fraying companion. My fingers fly across the keys, my pulse a rhythmic thrum against my skin. I am not looking at the logs. I am looking at the ghost.The door creaks. I don't jump. I don't hide the screen. I just keep typing."You’re still awake," Liam says, his voice cutting through the silence like a dull blade. He walks into the room, his movements stiff, his hand still cradling his side where the bullet grazed him. "I thought we said no more late nights at the terminal.""We said a lot of things, didn't we?" I keep my eyes on the data. "I couldn't sleep. The silence in this house is too loud."He stops behind me. I can feel the heat radiating from him. "You’re still looking for a way out. I can see it in your posture. You’re coiled, Aiden. Ready to strike.""I’m just working,"

"If you want to kill a man, don't use a gun—just force him to wear a mask and watch as he forgets which face is actually his."My hands are shaking so violently that I can barely press the contact lens into my eye. The mirror shows a stranger. My hair is dyed a harsh, clinical black, my jawline softened by medical-grade adhesive, and my eyes—these eyes—are a piercing, artificial blue. I look like a corporate drone, a nothing, a body to fill a seat. That is exactly the point."Are you finished in there?" Marcus barks from the hallway, his voice impatient. "The car is waiting. If you aren't out in sixty seconds, I’m leaving you to the wolves."I open the door, my breath hitching as he looks me up and down. His gaze lingers, skeptical, then he nods, a grim line tightening his mouth. "Good enough. Don't speak unless you’re spoken to. Keep your head down. If someone asks for identification, show them the fake, then look like you’re terrified of your own shadow. It’s a good look for you.""

"Freedom is a bitter pill to swallow when you realize you had to let a monster feed it to you just to keep breathing."The car is a cage of black leather and recycled air. We haven't spoken since we cleared the perimeter of the headquarters, since Liam shoved me into the passenger seat and tore onto the highway with the tires screaming. He is driving with one hand, his knuckles white against the wheel, his eyes fixed on the road like he is hunting a ghost."You didn't have to do that," I break the silence, my voice sounding small even to my own ears."Do what?" he snaps, not looking at me. "Save your life? Keep you from walking into a boardroom of sharks with nothing but a fake badge and a death wish?""I didn't ask for your help," I say, the resentment rising in my throat like bile. "I had a plan. I was going to expose them.""You were going to commit suicide," he corrects, his voice a low, gravelly snarl. "And you were going to take my son with you.""Don't call him that," I whisper

"The most exhausting part of a war is pretending you aren't trying to tear each other's throats out while the champagne is being poured."The ballroom is a gauntlet of forced smiles and predatory whispers. I am encased in a suit that feels like armor, standing beside Liam while the elite of the city orbit us like sharks sensing a leak in the boat. My skin crawls with every touch, every insincere greeting, every glance that lingers a second too long on my face, searching for the crack in the facade."Stop clenching your jaw," Liam murmurs, his lips barely moving as he reaches for a flute of sparkling water. "They can smell the blood in the water, Aiden. Keep it together.""They aren't looking at my jaw," I hiss, my gaze fixed on a group of board members near the fountain. "They’re looking at the fact that I’m supposed to be a vegetable. Every time I take a step without stumbling, I’m giving them another reason to question the narrative.""Then stumble," he says, his hand sliding to the

"The moment you realize your entire life is just a series of rooms someone else built for you is the moment you start looking for a door that leads to nowhere at all."I am standing in the center of the lab, the sterile smell of copper and ozone thick in the air, watching Liam pace back and forth like a caged predator. The hum of the servers is constant, a low, maddening vibration that seems to rattle my very teeth. He stops, his face gaunt, his eyes hollowed out by the weight of everything he just confessed."We stay here," he says, his voice vibrating with a desperate, frantic energy. "We have the encryption keys, we have the access, we can rebuild the firewall from here. If we leave, we lose every advantage we have.""I don't care about the advantages," I say, my voice steady, feeling a strange, hollow sense of peace washing over me. "I’m done with the architecture, Liam. I’m done with the blueprints. I’m done with being a version of someone else.""You don't understand," he snaps,