Chapter 1 Are You Pregnant Too?

Elena

"Congratulations, Mrs. Voss. You're pregnant."

The words hung in the air like a melody I'd waited my entire life to hear.

Dr. Patterson's warm smile blurred at the edges as tears welled in my eyes, and I pressed a hand flat against my stomach, half expecting to feel something different already, some new warmth under my palm.

"Sorry. You say I… I'm pregnant?” My voice shook.

Dr. Patterson nodded with a smile.

Tears rolled down my face.

For three years, we've been trying. I'd almost given up hope.

Dr. Patterson reached across her desk and squeezed my hand. "You're going to be a wonderful mother, Elena."

A mother. The word echoed in my mind.

I thought of my own mother, who had passed when I was fourteen, and how she would have wept with joy.

Damien would be so happy. This has always been our dream.

Dr. Patterson handed me a folder of prenatal vitamins and appointment schedules. "I'll have the nurse schedule your next visit for two weeks from now."

I walked out in a daze, my feet barely touching the ground. The hospital corridor stretched before me, but all I could see was Damien's face when I would tell him. He would pull me into his arms, bury his face in my hair, and whisper that everything was going to be perfect.

I typed a text, my fingers were shaking.

“Damien, I have the most wonderful news. Can you please call me as soon as you see this? I love you.”

I sent it and stared at the screen.

No reply

Damien Voss did not interrupt his empire for anything less than a fire.

He was the CEO of Voss Group, a name people said with reverence, a name I'd loved long before it came with boardrooms, back when he was just a boy in a secondhand jacket who walked me home from the library.

I told myself he was in a meeting.

I was still smiling down at my phone when a new text landed from a number I didn't recognize. No name. Just an image that was already loading.

I opened it.

A photograph filled my screen.

My smile froze.

It was Damien.

Asleep in a hotel room I didn't recognize. The sheets tangled around his body, his hair disheveled, his jacket discarded on a chair. But it wasn't his sleeping face that made my blood run cold. It was his neck. Fresh kiss marks, dark and unmistakable, decorated his skin like some grotesque claim.

My beautiful, faithful husband. The man I'd loved since I was eighteen!

The phone slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor.

A passing nurse asked if I was okay, but her voice sounded distant. I bent down mechanically, retrieved the phone, and stared at the image again. Maybe it was Photoshopped. Maybe someone was playing a cruel trick. Damien wouldn't… he couldn't… betray me like this.

I immediately called the unknown number. It rang once and was hung up.

I tried again. Same result.

My pulse hammered, and I felt dizzy. The miracle of this morning suddenly felt like a cruel joke.

Just then, someone called my name.

"Elena?"

I looked up. A young woman approached me, beautiful with honey-brown hair, wide blue eyes, and a smile so sweet it could charm the birds from the trees. She wore a university sweatshirt and carried books.

"Sophie. Hi." I managed, forcing a smile.

Sophie Lang was a scholarship student Damien's company had been funding for two years. She'd lost both parents and worked her way through school. I’d welcomed her into our lives and treated her like the sister I'd never had.

Her eyes went to the OB-GYN sign above the door, and her expression brightened. "Wait, are you pregnant too? Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you!”

Too? My brows raised slightly.

"I… yes. I just found out.”

"Elena, that's amazing!" She squealed and threw her arms around me. I forced myself to return the embrace.

As she pulled away, my eyes caught her wrist. A delicate gold bracelet glinted in the harsh lighting.

My heart stopped. I’d seen it in Damien’s coat pocket a few days ago and assumed it was an anniversary gift for me.

Sophie followed my gaze and lifted her wrist with an easy smile. "Do you like it? It was a gift from my boyfriend. He said it reminded him of my eyes."

My eyes. The bracelet was gold with tiny sapphires set in the clasp.

"I... it's beautiful," I managed. "Your boyfriend must really care about you."

Sophie's cheeks flushed pink. "He does." She glanced at her phone and gasped. "Oh no, I'm late for my lecture. I'll call you later, Elena, we need to talk about baby names!"

She hurried away. I fought the feeling of unease settling in. It's probably just a common design, I told myself. Jewelry stores sold hundreds of the same pieces.

Don't be paranoid, I told myself firmly.

I hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address of Voss Group. The ride was a blur of Manhattan streets. 

In three years of marriage, I had never once been to Damien's office. I'd given up my career to build our home instead, folded myself into a life that revolved around his, and believed it was a fair trade.

But today, I needed to see him with my own eyes.

The Voss Group building dominated the skyline. The lobby was all marble and glass, designed to make ordinary people feel small. Men and women in expensive suits rushed past me.

A massive security desk dominated the center, and a stern-faced guard looked me up and down.

"Can I help you?" He asked flatly.

"I'm here to see Damien Voss," I said, gripping my hospital folder.

"Name?"

"Elena Voss."

His brows raised. "One moment." He picked up a phone and murmured something. I shifted my weight, suddenly aware of how plain I looked.

Then a familiar voice called. "Mrs. Voss?"

Lucas Bennett, Damien's executive assistant, crossed the lobby toward me. One of the only people from that world I actually liked.

"Lucas." I said, relief flooding through me. "I know this is unannounced. I needed to see Damien. Is he available?"

Lucas's smile faltered for a moment. "He's still in the boardroom. Let me take you up, you can wait in his office."

"Thank you."

He led me through a security gate and into a private elevator. The elevator rose in silence, and I studied Lucas's reflection. He was watching me carefully, concern flickering in his eyes.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked as the elevator doors opened.

"No, thank you."

Lucas escorted me down a long corridor to Damien's corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows. The furniture was dark wood and leather, masculine and imposing.

"Please make yourself comfortable," Lucas said. "The meeting shouldn't take much longer."

He left, and I was alone.

I sat in the chair across from Damien's desk instead of behind it, because part of me still didn't feel like I belonged on that side.

The office smelled like him, expensive cologne and the subtle musk of power. I closed my eyes and tried to remember the good things, all I could see was that photograph.

I pulled out my phone and stared at it again. It was still there, Damien's sleeping face, kiss marks along his collarbone. Who had sent this? Who was cruel enough to destroy my happiness on the very day I'd learned I was going to be a mother?

My phone buzzed, but it was just an app update.

I set the phone down and looked around. Everything was immaculate, carefully curated. I'd never realized how little of myself was in this space. No photographs of us, no reminders he had a wife at home. Just documents, and awards.

His phone was on the desk, right next to my hospital folder.

I didn't mean to look. But the screen lit up with an incoming call. The caller ID displayed a name I didn't recognize, but before I could look away, the call was declined.

A text notification appeared immediately after.

From: Sophie

I'm pregnant.

The words seemed to pulse on the screen, burning into my retinas.

I couldn't breathe. My vision swam, and I gripped the edge of the desk to steady myself.

"What are you doing?"

The cold voice cut through my shock like a blade.

I spun around and there he was.

Damien.

Standing in the doorway, watching me with an expression I couldn't read at all.