Chapter 3

It wasn't until the elevator doors closed completely that I looked down.

The test results were crumpled from how tightly I had been gripping them.

But the words were still clear.

Six weeks.

Just hours ago, when the doctor congratulated me, I had stared at that number for a long time.

I had been so full of hope.

Among purebloods, conception was difficult, even though the children born from two purebloods carried far greater power.

After Lucian and I married, the family never said it outright, but every time we met, someone would find a way to ask about my health.

I knew they were all pressuring me.

But back then, I didn't mind.

I loved Lucian.

If we could really have a child together, I wanted that too.

Now the memory made me feel cold all over.

I folded the test results carefully and put them back in my bag.

But the laughter from that office kept echoing in my mind.

I had never heard Lucian speak in such a gentle voice.

In all our years of marriage, I never knew he could be that warm and natural with someone else.

When Celeste spoke, he responded.

When she teased him about how long he planned to keep lying to me, he showed no impatience and didn't go cold.

He simply told her that once I gave him an heir, he would divorce me.

As if they had discussed it before.

As if they had already decided the ending of my marriage for me.

I reached the parking garage and got into the car, but I didn't start the engine.

The moment the door closed, the world went silent.

I rested my hands on the steering wheel and caught sight of the wound on my arm.

It had been healing for a while, but the burn scar from the silver bullet was still there.

The night I took that bullet for Lucian, the pain kept me awake all night.

He never came to see me. I even told myself that was because he genuinely didn't know how to care for another person.

I had made so many excuses for him.

When he stood me up, it was because he didn't understand how to meet my expectations.

When he left me alone at a gala, it was because he didn't realize how humiliating it was.

When I stood in front of him bleeding and he told me not to make a mess, that was because he was born without the normal range of emotional responses.

Every time it hurt, I took out that same line, "He has an emotional disorder," and repeated it to myself.

I said it so many times that even the pain stopped feeling like much.

But it had all been a lie.

Lucian needed me to bear his heir, yet he couldn't even be bothered to fake a little kindness in front of me. Instead, he had invented such an outrageous lie.

And I, the fool, had believed every word and endured everything for years.

I almost wanted to laugh.

But my throat was so tight I couldn't make a sound.

He married me and watched me stumble through learning how to accommodate him.

Watched me swallow every humiliation, every grievance, over and over.

And Celeste, his blood servant and closest confidante, had even comforted me now and then.

I thought back to the look in her eyes when she said those things.

Pity. Sympathy. And something I could only now recognize for what it was: mockery and contempt.

The thought sent my stomach lurching.

I shoved the car door open and doubled over, dry heaving, but nothing came up.

I steadied myself against the door for a moment, then let my hand drift slowly to my stomach.

My stomach was still flat.

I couldn't feel the baby yet.

He had married me, lied to me for five years, all for this child. All so I would give him an heir.

I straightened up. The deadline cut through my panic.

Lucian and I were both pureblood vampires.

Once a vampire child developed past a certain stage in the womb, both parents would begin to sense a natural blood connection.

That bond typically appeared around the two-month mark.

The purer the bloodline, the stronger the connection.

The doctor had even warned me about it that morning.

"In another week or two, the father should be able to feel it too."

The bond could not reach across unlimited distance. A father normally had to be in the same territory when it first awakened. Once Gideon's people moved me beyond the capital, old Everhart concealment wards could mute it from farther away—but those wards could not erase a bond Lucian had already recognized. If I was still anywhere near him when it formed, hiding later would be useless.

I looked at the date on my phone, and a chill crept down my spine.

The baby was already six weeks along.

I was running out of time.

If I filed for divorce, it would never be fast enough.

Divorce papers, negotiations between our families, the division of assets: any one of them could drag past the two-week window.

And Lucian would never let me take the child.

I was certain of that.

He had married me for this heir.

Once he sensed the blood connection, he wouldn't even need me to confirm the pregnancy. He would know.

And by then, leaving would be even harder.

I got back in the car and closed the door.

My hand still rested on my stomach.

Just hours ago at the hospital, I had been imagining us raising this child together.

Now all I wanted was for the baby to be safe.

As for his father, I closed my eyes.

The churning bitterness in my chest slowly settled.

I couldn't hand my child over to a man who saw me as nothing but a vessel, who lied to me without a second thought.

After a long hesitation, I finally dialed Gideon.

The phone rang twice before he picked up.

"Vivienne?"

The moment I heard his voice, my nose stung.

It had been so long since I'd let him see any emotion like this.

After the wedding, no matter how bad things got, I always put on a brave face when I visited home.

Because it was my own decision to go through with this marriage.

Gideon had warned me that Lucian was difficult, and I had laughed it off.

So every time I was hurt afterward, going back to complain felt shameful.

Silence on the other end.

Gideon asked, "What happened?"

I watched the people coming and going beyond the windshield.

"Dad, I want to leave Lucian."

He was quiet for a moment, then asked, "What happened, Vivienne?"

"He's been lying to me from the start."

Gideon didn't press further. He just sighed and said he would find a way to bring me home.

But I didn't agree right away.

"There's something else."

This time, I was silent even longer.

"I'm pregnant."

The other end of the line went completely silent.

I gripped the phone tighter.

"But Lucian can't find out about the pregnancy."

Gideon must have heard something in my voice.

"What do you mean?"

I gave him the short version of what happened that day.

I had overheard, by accident, that he married me for an heir.

Once the child was born, he planned to divorce me.

The breathing on the other end grew heavier.

Gideon said nothing for a long time.

I knew he was angry.

But I had no energy left to be angry alongside him.

"Dad, in less than two weeks, he could sense the baby."

"I have to leave before then."

"Then come home first."

Gideon said it almost immediately.

I lowered my head, my hand settling gently on my stomach.

"Coming home isn't enough."

At most, Gideon could shelter me for a while, but Lucian would come looking sooner or later.

The families would negotiate.

The Elder Council would get involved.

And a pureblood heir would be reason enough for everyone to tell me to endure, to keep the marriage going.

My child would become a bargaining chip, trapping me in place.

That was exactly what Lucian wanted.

I had already been the fool in this marriage once.

I wasn't going to gamble a second time.

"Dad."

When I spoke again, my voice was steady.

"I need your help."

Gideon seemed to sense what was coming. He didn't answer right away.

"Just filing for divorce isn't enough," I said.

"I need Vivienne Ravenscroft to die in front of everyone."

It was the only way I could take my baby and get out of Lucian's world in one piece.