The Replacement Wife

Chap 6

After Elena discharge, they met in a neutral cafe by the river, all glass and pale wood, and public enough to avoid any dramatic scenes, yet private enough to speak freely. Elena arrived first, her coat buttoned high, standing tall despite the faint pallor she hadn’t managed to hide. Her doctor’s warning echoed in her mind, but she brushed it aside.

Mara showed up five minutes later. No sunglasses, no second-guesses. She scanned the room once, then walked straight to the table.

For a brief moment, they simply stared at each other. This was not what Elena had pictured it out. Mara seemed much less than the villain she had prepared herself to confront.

“I heard you’re pregnant,” Mara stated.

“I am”

“I’m sorry about the bleeding.”

Elena studied her. “If you are saying that to weaken me, don’t.”

“I’m not,” Mara replied. “I needed you alive and standing. Otherwise Vivian wins.”

Elena gestured to the chair. Mara took a seat.

“I didn’t know,” Elena blurted out. “About the embryo. About him.”

“I know,” Mara said. “If you had, this would’ve ended differently.”

“Would it?”

“Yes.”

Elena inhaled slowly. “Then tell me the truth. Not the version you filed, but the real one.”

Mara folded her hands on the table.

“Seven years ago, I was offered a contract,” she began. "I was to carry a pregnancy, then disappear. No claim, no contact. I didn’t know whose embryo it was until after the birth.”

Elena’s felt her stomach knot.

“Vivian Cross,” Mara continued, “doesn’t like surprises. She wanted a backup heir. A contingency plan.”

“A spare,” Elena echoed.

“Yes.”

“And Adrian?” Elena asked.

“He knew there was a child,” Mara said. “He just didn’t know the child was yours.”

That was almost worse.

Elena closed her eyes briefly, then opened them. “They’re going to try to take both our children,” she said.

Mara nodded in agreement. “They already are.”

“Why did you name me as respondent?” Elena pointed out.

“I had to,” Mara replied. “If I didn’t, Vivian would act faster. This way, she has to go through you first.”

Elena exhaled. “You used me,” she said, a hint of betrayal in her voice.

“Yes,” Mara admitted simply. “But not against you.”

Elena looked at the river beyond the glass, watching the slow, unstoppable current. “They think we’ll destroy each other,” she remarked.

“That’s the pattern,” Mara confirmed.

Elena turned back to her. “What do you want?”

Mara hesitated for a second before answering. “For Leo to be untouchable,” she finally said. “For him to grow up without someone deciding whether he’s burden.”

Elena nodded. “And if that costs me my marriage?”

Mara met her gaze. “It already has.”

That hurt, but it felt true.

Elena straightened her posture. “Then here are my terms.”

Mara listened.

“You don’t file another motion without my knowledge,” Elena stated firmly. “No more blindsiding me. And when this goes public because it will, you tell the truth. All of it.”

“And you?” Mara asked, curious.

“I stop playing defense,” Elena replied. “And I give you something Vivian can’t buy.”

Mara’s brow furrowed in confusing. “Which is?”

“Elena Cross,” she said quietly, “as a hostile witness.”

Mara stared at her, then slowly smiled.

“That,” Mara said, “changes everything.”

Meanwhile, across town, Vivian stood in her study, listening to her assistant relay updates. The two women had met.

Vivian’s fingers tightened around her glass. “Then,” she said calmly, “it’s time to remind them what happens when people forget who set the rules.”