Chapter 2: The Denial
1199 Words
Sienna’s lips felt numb around the word.
Pregnant, Alexander Kane didn’t flinch.
Didn’t blink. Didn’t even glance at her stomach like other men might have.
He simply looked at her like she’d dropped a dirty napkin on his expensive shoes.
“Miss Reed,” he said slowly, voice as cold as the marble floors under her feet, “If this is an attempt at extortion”
“It’s not!” Sienna snapped, the words spilling out before she could swallow her pride. “I’m not lying! I wouldn’t, I didn’t even know who you were until”
“Until you saw a checkbook,” Alexander cut in, voice like sharpened glass. He stepped closer, towering over her until she could see the icy flecks in his storm-grey eyes. “Do you think I haven’t seen this game before? Do you think you’re the first desperate girl to”
“I don’t want your money!” she hissed, hands balling into fists. Her throat burned with embarrassment, fury, panic. “I just, I just wanted you to know. That’s all.”
“Convenient.” His mouth twisted into something that might have been a smile on someone else, but on him it was a weapon. “You expect me to believe this is mine?”
Before she could answer, he turned to one of the suited men beside him, the taller one, with the cold eyes.
“Liam. Get her information. Arrange a test.”
Then Alexander’s eyes locked back on hers, unreadable, but cutting her down to the bone.
“If you’re telling the truth,” he said, voice low enough that she felt it in her ribs, “you’ll have nothing to fear. If you’re lying”
He didn’t finish the threat, he didn’t need to.
Sienna sat in the plush private clinic, her cheap shoes tapping against the pristine white floor. She’d never seen a place like this, the silence, the marble walls, the discreet nurses moving like ghosts.
Next to her, Alexander scrolled through his phone, unmoved. Not a flicker of emotion. Not even a glance her way.
It was like sitting next to a statue carved from ice and expensive cologne.
The nurse called her name. Sienna’s stomach flipped as she stood. She forced herself not to look at him, but her eyes betrayed her.
Alexander didn’t look up,He didn’t follow.
He didn’t ask if she was okay.
Inside, the nurse took her blood, gentle and efficient. She asked Sienna if she was comfortable, if she needed anything.
She wanted to laugh. Comfortable?
Nothing about this was comfortable.
When she stepped back out, Alexander was already on his feet, phone pressed to his ear.
“Three days,” he said flatly, not even looking at her. “That’s how long it takes. Don’t contact me until then.”
Then he turned and walked away, leaving her standing in that cold, spotless lobby, clutching her coat around her belly like a shield.
The days crawled by like a slow torture.
Sienna couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Every time her phone buzzed, she jumped. She checked the mail, the door, her old email, anything.
Nicole hovered like a mother hen, feeding her soup she didn’t want, forcing her to drink water when she just wanted coffee to keep her awake at her double shift.
“Si, you’re gonna make yourself sick,” Nicole sighed, curling up on Sienna’s tiny thrifted couch. “You can’t stress yourself out like this.”
“What if it’s not his?” Sienna whispered, staring at the ceiling where the paint peeled in tired flakes. “What if he makes it disappear? What if he says it’s fake?”
“Then we fight,” Nicole said, fierce as ever. “We get a lawyer, blast him on social media, whatever it takes.”
“I don’t want a fight,” Sienna said. She pressed her palm over the tiny swell of her belly. “I just want him to believe me.”
Nicole watched her for a moment, then squeezed her hand.
“He will,” she said. “And if he doesn’t… screw him. You’ve got me.”The call came at midnight.
Sienna jolted awake in her tiny bed, phone vibrating so hard it nearly fell to the floor. She fumbled for it, heart in her throat.
Unknown Number, her chest squeezed.
“Hello?” Her voice was hoarse, small.
There was silence, just a quiet hiss of breath on the other end. Then: “It’s mine.”
Alexander Kane’s voice. Cold. Crisp. Unmistakable.
Sienna pressed her hand over her mouth, eyes stinging.
“I, okay,” she whispered.
“There will be an agreement,” he said, every word measured like he was reading a contract out loud. “You’ll be taken care of. You’ll move out of that apartment immediately. You’ll do exactly as I say. Understood?”
Sienna’s gut twisted. Agreement. Taken care of. Like she was another bill for him to pay off.
“I’m not,” she started, but he cut her off.
“Pack a bag. Tomorrow morning, a car will come for you.” Then he hung up.
No goodbye. No how are you feeling, nothing but cold instructions.
Sienna looked down at her flat, cluttered room, the cracked mirror, the half-packed boxes she’d never finished unpacking from her last eviction.
She pressed her palm to her belly again, whispering so only the baby could hear:
“I guess this is it, little one. We’re his problem now.”
The car was waiting when she stepped outside at dawn , black, sleek, silent. A driver in a suit opened the door without a word.
Nicole clutched her arm. “Call me. Every day. If he tries anything”
“I know.” Sienna hugged her, trying not to let her see the fear she couldn’t swallow. “I’ll be fine.”
The ride through the city was silent. Her fingers picked at the frayed hem of her old coat. Every mile took her further from the only life she knew dingy diners, secondhand furniture, Nicole’s loud laugh over cheap wine.
The car pulled up in front of a glass tower that scraped the clouds, Kane Tower. Of course he had his name on a whole building.
A man in a black suit was waiting, the same one from the hotel. Liam.
“Miss Reed,” he said, polite but unreadable. “Welcome.”
She tried to smile, but her lips felt stiff.
Inside, everything gleamed, marble floors, glass elevators, the quiet hum of power and money she’d never touch.
Liam led her through a private entrance. A hush of sliding doors. A hallway that smelled like polished wood and money.
Then they stopped, a door swung open.
And there he was.
Alexander Kane, leaning against the window, looking out over the city he owned.
When he turned to her, his eyes held no warmth. Just command.
“Miss Reed,” he said, voice smooth and sharp as a blade. “Let’s discuss the terms of your stay.”
And just like that, Sienna realized she hadn’t stepped into safety.
She’d stepped into his cage.
- Writer
