MARRY FIRST, LOVE NEVER

CHAPTER.THREE: SECRETS AND SINS

**Sophia's POV**

I didn't sleep that night.

The pregnancy test results sat on my nightstand, mocking me. Six weeks pregnant. The timeline matched perfectly with the procedure Grace had orchestrated. A baby conceived in the worst possible way, growing inside me while its father plotted my destruction.

At dawn, I threw up for the first time. Morning sickness, though calling it that felt like a joke. I was sick all the time now. Sick with fear. Sick with the knowledge that my life had become a trap with no exit.

I flushed the test results down the toilet. I watched the paper dissolve. If only my problems could disappear that easily.

A knock on my bedroom door made me jump.

"Mrs. Knight?" A woman's voice. "I'm Dr. Park. Grace Knight sent me."

I opened the door. A young woman in a white coat stood in the hallway. Kind eyes. Professional smile. The type of person you'd trust with your secrets.

"I don't need a doctor," I said.

"Grace insists. Prenatal vitamins, blood work, ultrasound scheduling." Dr. Park stepped inside without invitation. "It's standard procedure for all Knight family pregnancies."

"How did she know so fast?"

"She had your blood drawn at the hospital when Alexander woke up. Just a precaution, she said." The doctor set down her medical bag. "May I examine you?"

"No." I backed away. "Alexander doesn't know. He can't know."

Dr. Park's expression shifted. "He threatened you, didn't he? After the results?"

I didn't answer. I didn't need to.

"Listen carefully." She moved closer, voice dropping. "Grace is planning something. I don't know what, but she's been making calls to fertility specialists, lawyers, and trust fund managers. Whatever she's doing involves you and that baby." She pulled a business card from her pocket. "If you need help, real help, not Grace's version, call me. Anytime."

The card read: *Dr. Ryan Park, Independent Obstetrics.*

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

"Because I've seen what the Knight family does to people who can't fight back." She packed her bag. "And because Grace isn't the saint she pretends to be."

She left before I could ask more questions.

Alexander didn't speak to me for three days.

He left early each morning. Returned late each night. I heard him sometimes, pacing his study at 2 AM. Talking on the phone in rapid Mandarin that I couldn't follow. Throwing things that shattered.

Grace called daily with instructions.

"Attend this charity gala."

"Meet with the family lawyer."

"Smile for the paparazzi."

I was a puppet. She pulled the strings.

On the fourth day, Emma showed up at the penthouse. Her face was bruised. Split lip. Black eye swelling shut.

"What happened?" I pulled her inside.

"Marcus Knight." She spat blood into a tissue. "Found me at my new apartment. Said I needed to remember who controls my freedom. Then he hit me until I promised to stay quiet about what I saw."

My hands shook. "What did you see?"

"Documents. On his computer at Knight Industries. Before I was arrested." She winced, touching her ribs. "Plans for the plane crash. Payments to the mechanic who sabotaged Alexander's jet. Emails about the embezzlement frame." She grabbed my arm. "Soph, Marcus tried to kill his own brother. And he's getting away with it."

"Does Alexander know?"

"I tried to tell him. He wouldn't listen. Said I was lying to save myself." Tears cut through the blood on her face. "He's investigating everyone except the one person who actually wants him dead."

The door to Alexander's study opened.

He stood in the doorway, perfectly composed. Expensive suit. Cold eyes. But something flickered when he saw Emma's injuries.

"Who did that?" he asked quietly.

"Like you care," Emma shot back.

"Who? Did. That."

"Marcus." She lifted her chin despite the pain. "Your brother. Your would-be killer. But you're too paranoid to see what's right in front of you."

Alexander's jaw tightened. He pulled out his phone, made a call. "Oliver? I need security on Emma Chen. 24/7. Armed guards. Safe house if necessary." He paused. "Because Marcus just became my primary suspect."

He hung up. I looked at Emma.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Two words. But they cost him something. I saw it in the way his hands flexed. The way his throat worked.

Emma's anger crumbled. "You believe me?"

"I believe Marcus is capable of murder. I've known that since we were children." He moved to the bar, poured water with steady hands. "Drink this. Tell me everything. Every detail. Every document you saw."

She talked for an hour.

Alexander listened without interrupting. Took notes. Asked precise questions. His mind worked like a machine, processing information, building cases, planning revenge.

When Emma finished, he made three more calls. Lawyers. Investigators. Someone he called "the cleaner" who apparently handled problems that needed to disappear.

"You'll stay here tonight," he told Emma. "Guest room. Guards outside the door."

"I don't need…"

"You do." His voice was steel. "Marcus doesn't forgive loose ends. Ask my pilot. Oh wait, you can't. Because Marcus killed him in that crash."

Emma went pale.

After she settled in the guest room, Alexander finally looked at me.

"Your sister is brave," he said. "Stupid, but brave."

"She's trying to help you."

"I know." He poured himself whiskey. "Which is why I need to ask you something. And I need the truth."

My heart stopped.

"Did you know?" he continued. "Before the marriage. Did you know Marcus was involved?"

"No."

"Did Grace?"

I hesitated. "I don't know. Maybe. She's your mother."

"She's a Knight." He drained his glass. "We don't operate on love. We operate on strategy. And right now, I can't figure out her strategy with you."

"I'm just a pawn."

"No pawn is worth five million dollars." He studied me. "What else did she promise you? What else are you hiding?"

The pregnancy sat like a bomb in my chest.

I should tell him. Right now. Before he found out another way. Before Grace used it against both of us.

But his threat echoed in my mind.

*If you ever carry my child, I'll make sure neither of you survives.*

"Nothing," I lied. "She promised to save Emma. That's all."

He didn't believe me. I saw it in his eyes.

But he let it go.

"Get some sleep," he said. "Tomorrow we're visiting my grandfather's lawyer. There are inheritance clauses I need clarified."

He left before I could ask what that meant.

The lawyer's office was old money Manhattan. Dark wood. Leather chairs. Oil paintings of dead white men who'd built empires on other people's suffering.

Grace was already there. Perfect hair. Perfect suit. A perfect smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Alexander. Sophia. Right on time." She gestured to the seats. "Mr. Blackwood has been explaining grandfather's will to me. Fascinating conditions."

Mr. Blackwood was ninety if he was a day. But his mind was sharp as broken glass.

"Alexander inherits full control of Knight Industries upon three conditions," he read from dusty documents. "First, he must be married. Second, said marriage must last a minimum of one year. Third..." He paused. "An heir must be produced within that year. A legitimate Knight heir."

The room tilted.

"An heir?" Alexander's voice was ice. "That wasn't mentioned before."

"Your grandfather added it in a codicil. Six months before his death. If no heir is produced, control of the company splits between you and Marcus equally."

Grace's smile widened.

She'd known. All along, she'd known.

That's why the procedure. Why the forced conception. Why she'd trapped both of us.

"Convenient timing," Alexander said softly. Dangerous. "Mother, did you know about this clause when you arranged my marriage?"

"Of course not, darling." Her lie was smooth as silk. "I'm as surprised as you are."

"Liar."

The word hung in the air like a gunshot.

Grace's mask slipped. Just for a second. But I saw the real her underneath. Cold. Calculating. Ruthless in ways that made Alexander look soft.

"Mr. Blackwood, how long do we have?" Alexander asked.

"The year started on the day of your marriage. You have ten months remaining." The lawyer closed the file. "After that, without an heir, Marcus becomes co-CEO."

Ten months.

I was six weeks pregnant. Due in about seven and a half months.

Grace had timed it perfectly.

We left the office in silence. Alexander's car was waiting. Grace headed toward her own vehicle.

"Don't," Alexander called to her. "Don't pretend we're family. Don't pretend you did this for me."

Grace turned. "Everything I do is for this family."

"You sold me. While I was in a coma." His voice shook. Not with fear. With rage. "You created a child without my consent. You used my body like it was property."

"I saved your empire!"

"No. You saved your control over it." He stepped closer. "Because if Marcus gets half, you get nothing. This was never about me. It was about you keeping power through me."

Grace's facade cracked completely. "You were dying! The doctors gave you weeks! I did what was necessary!"

"You raped me!" The words exploded out of him. "You had them extracted…" He couldn't finish. Turned away, hands shaking.

I'd never seen him break before.

Grace recovered quickly. Smoothed her suit. "If Sophia is pregnant, it changes nothing. The heir will secure your position. You'll thank me eventually."

"If?" Alexander spun back. "You had her blood drawn. You know the results. Stop playing games."

Grace's eyes slid to me. "Sophia, dear, are you pregnant?"

The question was a trap. If I said yes, Alexander would know I'd lied to him. If I said no, Grace would expose the truth anyway.

"I…"

"She's not." Alexander cut me off. "The test was negative. My mother is fishing for reactions because she can't accept that her plan failed."

He was lying to me.

Protecting me.

Why?

Grace's smile was poison. "If you say so, darling. But I'll be watching. Both of you." She climbed into her car. "Ten months. Tick tock."

The Mercedes pulled away.

Alexander grabbed my arm. Not rough. Not gentle. Desperate.

"Tell me the truth," he whispered. "Right now. Are you carrying my child?"

I looked into his grey eyes. I saw fear there. Real, human fear.

"Yes," I breathed. "I'm pregnant."

His hand dropped like I'd burned him.

"How long have you known?"

"Since the night you got the results. Grace sent them to both of us."

"And you didn't tell me because…" Understanding dawned. "Because I threatened to kill you both."

I nodded.

He turned away. I walked three steps. Stopped.

"I need you to understand something." His voice was hollow. "I don't want children. I don't want a family. I don't want..." He turned back. "But my grandfather's will doesn't care what I want. And Marcus will use that baby to destroy us both if he finds out."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we have two choices." His eyes were dead. "Keep the pregnancy secret until after the year is up, then divorce and you disappear with the child. Or..." He stopped.

"Or what?"

"Or we end it. Now. Before it becomes leverage."

The suggestion hit like a physical blow.

"You want me to abort our child?"

"I want you to survive," he corrected. "Because if Marcus discovers you're pregnant, he won't try to kill me. He'll try to kill you. Take away my heir, my marriage, my company. Three birds, one stone."

He wasn't wrong.

But he also wasn't right.

"I'm not ending this pregnancy," I said quietly. "Not for you. Not for Grace. Not for Marcus. This is my choice. The only choice anyone has given me in two months."

Alexander's jaw clenched. "Then we keep it a secret. No doctors except Dr. Park. No one in the family knows. Not Emma, not Grace, not the board. We have seven and a half months to prepare."

"Prepare for what?"

"War." He pulled out his phone. "Because when that baby is born, everyone will want a piece. And I don't share what's mine."

The possessiveness in his voice should have scared me.

Instead, it felt like the first safe thing I'd heard in weeks.

His phone buzzed. A message. He read it and went still.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He showed me the screen.

An anonymous text. One line.

*I know about the baby. And soon, everyone else will too.*

Below it, a photo.

Me and Dr. Park in my bedroom. The pregnancy test in my hand. Taken through the window.

Someone had been watching.