Chapter 1 0001
Lexi's POV
Two pink lines.
I sat on the cold bathroom floor of my tiny Dallas apartment at seven in the morning and stared at the pregnancy test shaking in my hands. Two pink lines stared right back at me, clear as day.
A laugh burst out of me and then turned straight into a sob, and I clapped my hand over my mouth while the tears kept pouring down my face. I was pregnant. Chase Holloway's baby was growing inside me.
For a second I forgot all about the peeling paint and the unpaid electric bill. All I could think about was Chase and the way he held me after our secret wedding in Las Vegas two years ago and promised that one day nobody would ever have to hide us again. I pressed the test against my chest and whispered, "You're going to be a daddy," even though he wasn't there to hear it.
Today was going to change everything.
We met at a college bowl game in Vegas. He was already a star quarterback, and I was a trailer-park girl from outside Dallas working two jobs just to pay for school. We weren't supposed to fall in love, but we did it anyway.
At two in the morning after his team won, Chase took me to a little wedding chapel off the Strip. He wore jeans and a black hoodie, and I wore a white dress I bought from a twenty-four-hour store. There were no guests, no flowers, and no photographer. We just signed the papers, put on two cheap rings, and Chase kissed me until I couldn't breathe.
"One day, Lexi," he whispered against my forehead, "I'll give you a wedding that makes this one look like a joke."
I believed him completely.
Then his father found out. Ronald Holloway was a Hall of Fame quarterback whose word could make or break his son's career, and he took one look at me and decided I wasn't good enough.
"A wife from a trailer park will scare off every team in the draft," he told Chase.
Chase fought him at first, but by draft day he had stopped fighting. We kept our marriage secret through his last semester, through the Dallas Stallions picking him, and through two pro seasons. He moved into a mansion while I stayed in my little apartment, and he swore the whole time that it was only temporary.
Chase was signing the biggest contract in football history today for three hundred million dollars, and I was sure that after today we could finally stop hiding.
By ten thirty I was walking into Stallions headquarters with the pregnancy test tucked in my handbag. I wore my best blue dress, the one Chase bought me for our second anniversary even though he missed the actual day and promised we would celebrate properly once things settled down. Things never settled down.
I slipped in through the side entrance past a receptionist who had learned not to ask questions, and I found Chase's office door standing half open.
Chase stood by his desk in a tailored navy suit. His agent sat on the couch with a contract folder across his knees, and Ronald stood at the window checking his watch. All three men turned toward me when I walked in. Chase's face softened when he saw me, and my heart lifted right away.
"Lexi? What are you doing here?" He crossed the room and brushed his hand against my waist before glancing at his father. "You should've called."
"I wanted to surprise you," I said, and I pulled out the test with a grin so big it hurt my face. "I have something to tell you."
I set the test in his palm. For one beautiful second he didn't understand what he was looking at. Then his eyes locked on the two pink lines and the color drained right out of his face. I waited for him to light up and pull me into his arms and ask if I was sure, but instead his fingers closed tight around the plastic.
"What's this?" he asked.
My smile slipped. "A pregnancy test."
"I can see that."
"I'm pregnant, Chase. We're having a baby." I reached for his free hand, but Ronald turned from the window and looked at the test like I had dropped something dirty on his expensive carpet.
"Unbelievable," Ronald muttered, and then he turned to his son. "Handle this."
Chase grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the hallway, slamming the office door behind us.
"Chase, you're hurting me," I said, but he let go without apologizing and checked the empty corridor like someone might be listening.
"You can't do this to me today."
"Do what? Get pregnant?"
His nostrils flared. "Today is the biggest day of my career. Every sports network in the country is watching me. Do you understand what that means?"
"Of course I do." I pressed my hand to my stomach. "That's why I came. You stood in that chapel in a black hoodie and promised nobody would ever have to hide us again. I thought today was the day. I thought we could finally tell everyone and start our family without sneaking around."
He scoffed. "Our family?"
That hit harder than a slap. "You're my husband."
His eyes hardened. "Not publicly."
"We've been married for two years."
"And nobody knows!"
His voice cracked through the hallway before he caught himself and dropped it low again. I flinched anyway. He stepped closer and spoke in a calm voice that scared me more than if he had yelled.
"Get rid of it. Or I'll tell the world it isn't mine."
The floor dropped out from under me. I waited for him to say he panicked or that he didn't mean it, but he just stared at me without blinking.
"You're joking," I said.
"Today of all days, Lexi? Do you know what this could cost me?"
"What about our baby?" I finally managed to ask.
"Don't call it that."
My hand flew to my mouth. Ronald stepped out behind us adjusting his cuff links and didn't even look at me.
"Chase. The press is waiting."
Chase straightened his jacket. For one stupid second I thought he would look back at me, but he just walked away. Through the glass doors at the end of the corridor I watched him walk into the press room while the straps of my handbag bit into my palms. The applause started before he even reached the stage.
I slipped into the back of the packed room and hid between two camera operators. I still couldn't believe Chase had just ordered me to end our child and then walked out to pose for the cameras.
Chase sat down and someone set the contract in front of him. Ronald stood proudly behind his son's chair. Chase picked up the pen, and my fingers curled over my belly while I begged him silently to sign it and get through today so he could come find me afterward and tell me he was only scared.
He signed. The room erupted and Chase beamed for the photographers. That smile used to belong to me.
He leaned toward the microphone and said, "Before we wrap up, I have one more announcement."
The room went quiet and my pulse hammered in my chest. He glanced toward the stage entrance and his grin stretched even wider.
"I'm proud to announce my engagement to Madison Sterling."
The doors opened and Madison walked onstage in a white designer dress with a diamond flashing on her finger. She was the heiress to the biggest sports network in America and exactly the kind of woman Ronald had always wanted beside his son. She threw her arms around Chase's neck and kissed him while the cameras went wild.
My husband had just signed a three-hundred-million-dollar contract and kissed another woman in front of the whole world. A sob climbed up my throat, but I swallowed it down and stood there watching everything I thought was mine fall apart.
