Chapter 7

Pregnant.

The word drove into Ainsley's heart like a blade.

Every drop of blood in her body froze. Her fingertips trembled violently beyond her control.

The next moment, Sabrina's coy, expectant voice drifted down from above. "Elijah, we're having a baby. Will you marry me? I want to be your wife—officially. I want our baby to be born with your name."

Marriage.

Legitimacy.

The things Ainsley had spent years at Elijah's side never receiving—Sabrina could claim with a single sentence.

And her child. Her baby never even got the chance to open its eyes and see the world before they took that life away.

Elijah's voice came back, impossibly tender. "Okay."

"I'll marry you."

Ainsley's nails dug into the crumbling plaster of the wall until her fingertips were raw and bloody.

Shattered memories crashed through her mind, tearing apart whatever sanity she had left.

She remembered who she used to be.

She remembered pressing her palm to her flat stomach, imagining her baby's face a thousand times over, dreaming of a quiet life—the three of them, a family.

She remembered the day Elijah showed no mercy, pushing her child into the abyss with his own hands, grinding every hope she had to dust.

Her baby was frozen forever in a cold and distant past. Unmourned. Unmissed. Utterly forgotten.

And the man who killed her child was now looking forward to the arrival of her enemy's baby, promising Sabrina a grand wedding.

Scalding tears struck Ainsley's temples one after another.

She bit down on her lip so hard the skin split, not daring to let a single sob escape.

She did not sleep that night.

When the first pale light crept in, a servant's flat, mechanical voice broke the silence outside her door.

"Ainsley, Ms. Chambers wants you in the master bedroom."

Ainsley's body went rigid. She slowly opened her bloodshot eyes.

She dragged her broken body off the plank bed, inch by inch, and stumbled her way to the second-floor master suite.

The door was slightly ajar. Warm, cloying fragrance seeped out—Sabrina's signature perfume, thick enough to turn her stomach.

Ainsley raised her hand and pushed the door open.

Sabrina was propped against the pillows of the king-sized bed, her long hair draped loosely over her shoulders, complexion glowing, eyes bright with satisfaction. There wasn't a trace of the delicacy a pregnant woman should have shown.

The sight of Ainsley—haggard, wrecked, barely standing—only deepened the smile on her lips.

She raised a hand, and the door clicked shut behind them. Just the two of them now, alone in that enormous room.

Without Elijah present, Sabrina dropped every pretense. "Ainsley, you heard what Elijah said last night, didn't you? About marrying me?"

Ainsley lowered her gaze. Her thin frame trembled. She said nothing.

Her silence tasted like surrender to Sabrina.

Sabrina laughed softly, her hand drifting to rest on her flat stomach, a glint of mockery in her eyes. "The truth is, I'm not pregnant at all."

Ainsley's head snapped up. She stared at the woman on the bed in disbelief.

Not pregnant?

Everything she told Elijah last night—it was all a lie?

Watching Ainsley's reaction, Sabrina's pleasure sharpened.

She leaned in closer, lowering her voice to a taunting whisper. "I lied to Elijah on purpose. I wanted to watch you suffer."

"But here's the real question, Ainsley. What do you think happens if I suddenly 'lose' this baby that doesn't even exist—and pin all the blame on you? How do you think Elijah will deal with you then?"

The words shattered what was left of Ainsley's composure.

It was all a trap. Every piece of it—carefully laid by Sabrina to make sure Ainsley could never claw her way back.

A night's worth of despair and hatred erupted at once. Ainsley's head shot up, her bloodshot eyes burning crimson, her voice tearing from her throat. "You're lying! I'm going to tell Elijah! I'm going to tell him you were never pregnant—that you've been deceiving him this entire time!"

Fear didn't matter anymore. She had to make Elijah see Sabrina for what she truly was.

She spun around and lunged for the door.

But the instant she moved, Sabrina's expression transformed. The smug confidence vanished, replaced by a mask of ashen, convincing agony.

She doubled over, both hands clutching her stomach, cold sweat beading across her forehead.

Then came the wail—shrill, piercing, desperate. "It hurts... my stomach hurts so bad... my baby... I'm losing my baby..."

The next second, the bedroom door burst open.

Elijah's tall frame filled the doorway, his eyes wild with alarm.

"Sabrina! What happened?"

He rushed to the bed and gathered her trembling, convulsing body into his arms with painstaking care.

"Elijah... it hurts..." Sabrina's tear-filled eyes gazed up at him, her voice frail and broken as she collapsed against his chest. "Ainsley came in... she said she was jealous that I'm carrying your child, jealous that you're going to marry me... she shoved me... Our baby... we're going to lose our baby..."

Ainsley's blood turned to ice. She shook her head frantically. "It wasn't me! Elijah, I never touched her! She's not even pregnant—she's lying to you!"

"Don't believe her! She just told me herself—she was never pregnant! She's setting me up!"

Elijah's head whipped toward her. Nothing but towering, white-hot rage filled his eyes.

The next second.

A sharp, resounding slap cracked across Ainsley's face.

The force sent her staggering backward. She slammed into the cold wall behind her.

Her head snapped to the side, vision going black, ears ringing with a high-pitched whine.

The slap did nothing to extinguish Elijah's fury. He fixed her with a look of lethal contempt. "Ainsley, you really are beyond redemption."

"Sabrina is carrying a child, and you still had the cruelty to lay your hands on her. You're vicious beyond saving."

It had never occurred to him that Ainsley could be this twisted, this obsessive—that she wouldn't even spare an unborn life.

This was his only child.

"I didn't..." Ainsley slid up against the wall, slowly raising her head. Tears poured down her face, blurring the man in front of her into a shapeless shadow. "Elijah, believe me just this once. It really wasn't me... She's the one who lied to you..."

"Enough!"

Elijah's voice cut through her like a blade. He turned toward the door and barked, "Guards!"

Two bodyguards in black entered immediately, heads bowed.

"Lock her in the basement. Without my direct order, she gets no water and no food. Let her reflect on what she's done."