The Billionaire’s Reckoning

Scarlett’s POV “Congratulations! You’re one month pregnant!” Those words hit me like a freight train. I just sat there staring at the report on the doctor’s table, my hands trembling, my mind completely blank. “Doctor, are you sure these are my results?” I had to ask. I needed to hear it again. He smiled warmly and nodded. “Mrs. Whitfield, you really are pregnant.” Something loosened in my chest. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was the thing that would finally turn our marriage around. With shaky fingers, I pulled out my phone and called Cole. He picked up on the fifth ring. “What is it?” His voice was flat. Unbothered. I swallowed hard. “We need to talk. In person.” He said something low under his breath that I couldn’t quite catch. “Fine. Meet me at home. I have something to tell you too.” Those words followed me the entire cab ride home. I have something to tell you too. What could it be? My stomach twisted the whole way there. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong. I stepped out of the cab in front of the massive gates and stood there for a second, just staring up at the house. His house. It had never really felt like mine, no matter how long I’d lived in it. I walked inside slowly, clutching the front of my dress like it could hold me together. I was heading toward the stairs when I heard his voice drifting out from his study. He was on a call. “She means absolutely nothing to me. She’s just a lowly girl who had to fill in for Brielle.” I stopped walking. “I’ll divorce her without a second thought. She’s a burden. She was never worth my time or my love.” The air left my lungs. He was talking about me. I knew it without a shadow of a doubt. I was the burden. I was the one not worth his time. I stood there, frozen in the hallway, as memories I had spent two years trying to bury came flooding back. I had liked Cole since college. He was two years ahead of me and he never once looked my way, but I watched him from a distance and told myself that was enough. Then one afternoon, everything changed. I had pulled his grandfather out of the lake when the old man had slipped and fallen in. The old man had grabbed my hands afterward, eyes full of tears, and promised me he would repay me. He said he wanted me to marry his eldest grandson. I never expected it to actually happen. But it did. Except it wasn’t supposed to be me. Brielle had gotten there first. She had somehow convinced the old man that she was the one who had saved him, and being the weak, quiet girl I was back then, I said nothing. She got engaged to Cole and I watched from the sidelines like I always did. Then on the wedding day, something terrible happened. Brielle got hurt and couldn’t go through with the ceremony. And just like that, they needed a replacement. They chose me. I let out a quiet breath and reached out to steady myself against the wall. My knees had gone soft beneath me and before I could catch myself, my hand caught the door of the study and it swung inward. “What are you doing standing there?” Cole’s voice cut through the air sharp and cold. I looked up at him. The disgust on his face was so open, so unguarded, that it knocked the breath out of me all over again. He looked at me the way you look at something you stepped in by accident. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. It was the only thing I could find. He waved his hand like my apology was a fly he was swatting away. That was when I noticed the brown envelope in his grip. My heart dropped straight to the floor. “Cole, I wanted to tell you something—” “It can wait.” He cut me off and held the envelope out, then let it drop. It landed at my feet. “Divorce papers. Sign them and get out.” The room went completely silent. I blinked. Once. Twice. I bit down on my lip just to feel something real, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. “What are you talking about?” My voice came out broken and unsteady. He let out a short, cold laugh. “Stop being dramatic, Scarlett. Everyone knows why you agreed to this marriage. Don’t make this into something it isn’t. There’s a check for one million dollars in your room. Take it and go.” “You think I married you for money?” My voice cracked. “Is that really what you think?” “What else?” He folded his arms. “The moment I mentioned money you said yes. You let me into your bed. Did you actually think that made you worthy of being my wife?” Each word landed like a slap. Two years. Two years of swallowing my pride, of being treated like a guest in my own home, of smiling through the cold looks from his family. Two years of loving a man who apparently saw me as nothing more than a transaction. “All I ever wanted was to be a good wife to you.” My voice rose before I could stop it. “I never once demanded your love. I just stayed. I stayed through everything. And this is what I get?” His jaw tightened. “Don’t raise your voice at me. I told you from day one that my heart belonged to someone else. To Brielle. You knew what you were walking into.” “You stole her place,” he said, his voice dropping low and dangerous. “So don’t stand there looking at me like I owe you something.” That one cut the deepest. “Stole?” I whispered. “I stepped in because you had no one else. I saved your wedding day. I—” Then it hit me all at once and the air rushed out of my chest. “Is Brielle back?” Something shifted in his expression. “Were you hoping she wouldn’t make it?” He tilted his head. “She’s back. And she’s taking her rightful place as Mrs. Whitfield. I don’t need you anymore, Scarlett. You were always temporary.” My whole body shook. He was really doing this. He was standing right in front of me and throwing me away without even flinching. “So two years meant nothing to you?” My voice was barely above a whisper now. “You’d still hand me those papers even if I told you I was carrying your child?” The words fell out before I could pull them back. The entire room shifted. Cole went very still. “What did you just say?” His voice came out low. Dangerous. And I knew right then that I had made a terrible mistake.