Chapter7
828 Words
Aurora Vale
I can’t sleep.
The silence in the penthouse is suffocating, despite the floor-to-ceiling windows and the distant hum of the city below. Manhattan sparkles like a jewel box left open too long—but none of that light touches me tonight.
My body is a battlefield. My skin, too tight. My thoughts, too loud.
The nausea comes in waves now. Not just in the morning. I used to be able to fake a headache, blame stress, sip ginger tea like I was fine.
Not anymore.
My fingers slide to my stomach, flat and silent under the silk camisole. You wouldn’t know. Not yet.
But I do.
God, I do.
I’ve memorized the test results. I’ve counted the days. I’ve stared at the ceiling for hours trying to imagine telling him.
Kai.
And every time I imagine it, I see his face go blank. Not shocked. Not angry. Just cold. Calculating. Like he’d be working out what it would cost him to raise his enemy’s grandchild.
I haven’t decided if I’d lie to him. Or tell the truth and let it ruin everything.
Maybe I’m just selfish. Maybe I don’t want to give him that piece of me.
Not when he already owns so many.
The door creaks behind me.
I don’t flinch.
Only one person would use her key this late.
“Lizzy,” I say softly.
“You’re up.” She steps in, barefoot, robe loosely tied, curls still damp from a shower. Her eyes settle on me, immediately narrowing. “You look like hell.”
“Love you too.”
“You didn’t answer my texts.”
“I turned off my phone.”
“You never turn off your phone.”
I don’t respond. I just stare at the skyline like the answers are out there, shimmering on some rooftop I’ll never reach.
Lizzy crosses the room and sinks onto the couch beside me. She doesn't ask. She already knows.
Her gaze drops to my stomach, then up to my face. “How long?”
“Almost two months.”
She lets out a breath. Not angry. Just… bracing herself.
“You sure it’s his?”
I shoot her a glare.
“Sorry,” she mutters. “That came out wrong. I just… Aurora, this isn’t a ‘maybe’ situation. This is—”
“A baby,” I whisper.
She falls quiet.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admit.
“That might be a first.”
I almost smile. Almost.
“I can’t tell him,” I say.
“Why not?”
“Because he’ll think I did it on purpose. That I’m playing some long con to trap the Cross empire into blood ties.”
“Are you?”
I turn sharply. “No!”
“I didn’t say I believed it,” Lizzy says gently. “I just know what this world does to women like us. Especially women who fight back.”
I breathe out, shaky. “If I tell him now, it ruins the contract. It changes the balance. He’ll never trust me again.”
She gives me a long look. “Do you trust him?”
“…No.”
The word lands heavier than I expect.
Because it’s not a lie. Not exactly.
But it’s not the whole truth either.
I don’t trust Kai Cross.
But I trust the way he looked at me last night. Like he saw something I didn’t even mean to show. Like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to protect it… or destroy it.
“I don’t want to need him,” I murmur.
“You’re not alone, Rory.”
“You don’t understand. This baby… it’s mine. It’s the one thing in this whole twisted plan that feels real.”
She nods, watching me closely.
“I don’t want it to become a pawn,” I add, voice cracking. “Not in my revenge. Not in his father’s game. Not in our fake fairytale.”
Lizzy leans forward, resting her hand over mine.
“You have a right to keep it yours,” she says. “But you’re not going to be able to hide this forever.”
“I know.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“Survive.”
“Until?”
“Until I can figure out what kind of mother I want to be… and what kind of father I’m willing to let him become.”
The silence stretches again. For once, Lizzy doesn’t fill it.
We just sit there, two girls with too many secrets, too much history, and a future neither of us asked for.
But I know this:
No matter what happens with Kai…
No matter what the press says…
No matter how many nights I wake up sick or scared or so in love with something I haven’t even held yet—
This baby is mine.
And I will never let anyone use it as a weapon.
Not even me.
- Writer
