All Chapters of Pregnant For My Best Friend's Rival : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Jason's POVThe ballroom of the O'Connor estate was indeed a cathedral of wealth and power that I didn't need anyone to tell me why they were without a doubt the wealthiest family in the United States.I stood near the back of the room, my eyes scanning the crowd. The elite of Chicago mingled and gossiped, their laughter hollow, their smiles practiced. I recognized faces I'd known my whole life like the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, the Astors. All of them here to pay homage to the O'Connor Empire.And all of them watching me.I felt the weight of the evening pressing down on my shoulders. Matteo Enzogrande was somewhere in this crowd, assessing me, weighing my worth. My mother was watching from the sidelines, her expectations a constant, suffocating presence.I was still in my thoughts when Eleanor O'Connor took the stage, and the room immediately fell silent. Eleanor was a vision of aristocratic grace in her dove-gray gown. She commanded the stage with an authority that came from

Brenda's POV I watched as the elite of Chicago rushed forward to congratulate her. The Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, the Astors, all of them wanting to bask in her reflected glory. They kissed her cheeks, they clasped her hands, they told her how wonderful she was, how lucky Mikel was, how perfect they looked together.Perfect. They looked perfect.And I stood in the shadows, invisible, and forgotten.I watched Jason across the ballroom, his face pale, his eyes fixed on Katherine. He looked like a man who had just watched the love of his life marry someone else.I watched Katherine laugh, her head thrown back, her joy unrestrained. I watched Mikel kiss her hand, his eyes never leaving her face. I watched the Enzograndes approach, offering their congratulations, their admiration.Everyone loved Katherine.Everyone admired Katherine.And I was nothing.I felt the tears burning behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I would not cry. I would not give Katherine the satisfaction

Brenda's POVI stayed at the ball.I smiled until my cheeks ached. I clapped until my palms stung. I played the part of the gracious guest, the supportive fiancée, the woman who had nothing to hide. I accepted champagne flutes I didn't want, made conversation I didn't mean, laughed at jokes that weren't funny.I was perfect. I was always perfect.But inside, I was a storm.Every forced smile felt like a knife twisting in my chest. Every congratulatory word I offered to Katherine's admirers tasted like ash on my tongue. I watched her float through the ballroom like she'd been born for this life, like she'd always belonged in this world of wealth and power.Katherine. Always Katherine.Always the nice one. The good one. The one everyone loved.And I hated her.I hated her with a fury so deep and so ancient that it felt like part of my DNA. A fury that had been building for years, decades, a lifetime of always coming in second. A fury that had its roots in a single day—the day my mother

Katherine's POVThe hospital corridors felt different today as though it wasn't the same hospital I had visited countless times.As I walked through the familiar halls, I noticed the way people looked at me—nurses glancing up from their stations, patients turning their heads, visitors whispering behind their hands. It was as if I'd become someone else overnight, a stranger wearing my face.I realized, with a jolt, that they'd seen the ball. They'd watched the announcement on television. They knew I was Katherine O'Connor now, the wife of the heir to the O'Connor Empire.The woman who had once been a desperate waitress, dancing at a club to pay her grandmother's medical bills, was now a princess in their eyes.It felt surreal. It felt like a dream I was afraid to wake from.But what none of them knew was that there was a flip side to everything they might have seen last night. What none of them knew was that in six months, it all comes to an end and then, I'll be Katherine Wayne again.

Jason's POVThe whiskey had become my only companion.For three days, I'd been drowning in it—numbing the pain of my mother's words, the sting of my failure, the unbearable image of Katherine in Mikel's arms. The bottle was empty now, but the rage was still there, burning hotter than ever.I needed to see her. I needed to make her understand.I'd heard through my contacts that Katherine had gone back to her old apartment—the one she'd shared with her grandmother before the O'Connors had swept her away. She was there to pick up some of her grandmother's remaining belongings, a mundane errand that felt like an invitation.An invitation I couldn't resist.I drove through the streets of Chicago, my hands gripping the steering wheel, my vision blurred with alcohol and fury. The city lights blurred past, but I barely saw them. All I could see was her face. All I could feel was the desperate, clawing need to make her see that she belonged with me.I parked outside the old apartment building—