CHAPTER THREE: THE PREGNANCY DILEMMA
1068 Words
A week had passed since that night.
One night of raw s*x. Of heavy promises. Of words Adrian never thought he’d say to her. Since then, Roxy had gone silent.
Not a single text.
Not a call.
She vanished like she always did.
But this time… it felt different.
Adrian found himself checking his phone too often. Looking for her in his dreams. Hating himself every morning for caring.
He wasn’t a man who begged. Or chased.
But something about her—this toxic, sharp-edged woman with her goddamn seductive laugh—had buried itself under his skin.
And now there was a child. Possibly his.
Or possibly another man’s.
He hated that part the most.
THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE
“Are you sure about this?” Roxy asked, adjusting her sunglasses as she stepped into the private clinic’s lobby.
Adrian didn’t answer. He simply walked ahead, jaw set like steel.
They were here for confirmation. To make the pregnancy official. A scan. A due date.
And maybe, silently, to measure how deep this commitment would go.
Dr. Enzo welcomed them with a knowing smile. “Ah, Mr. King. Miss Vale. Right this way.”
The ultrasound room smelled of antiseptic and anxiety.
Roxy climbed onto the table, unbuttoning her top slightly. Adrian stood near the window, hands in his pockets, watching everything but her.
Until the screen lit up.
A tiny flicker.
A heartbeat.
Real.
Alive.
“Congratulations,” the doctor said. “You’re nine weeks in.”
Adrian blinked.
Roxy stared at the screen in silence. Her throat moved like she was trying to swallow something more than emotion.
The doctor left them alone.
Adrian stepped closer to the screen. “It’s real,” he said softly.
“I told you.”
His eyes flicked to her. “You still think it’s mine?”
She sat up, wiping the gel from her stomach. “Do you?”
“I want to.”
“But you don’t.”
He said nothing.
She sighed. “You’re not the only one with doubts, Adrian.”
His brows furrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”
Roxy slid off the bed, pulling her blouse back on slowly. “It means I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I didn’t plan this. I didn’t ask for your ring. Or your mansion. Or your name.”
“But you’re carrying my child.”
She turned to him sharply. “Maybe. Or maybe I’m just the worst mistake you’ve ever made.”
He stared at her.
Then, after a long silence, said, “You’re already my worst mistake. Might as well double down.”
LATER THAT NIGHT
Back at his penthouse, Roxy sat alone in his office chair, swirling a glass of red wine.
Adrian was in the kitchen, talking to his assistant on speaker about a cancelled deal. His voice cold, calculating, and sharp as ever.
She watched him through the glass.
This man who didn’t know how to love. Who wanted to possess instead of understand. Who made her feel both worshipped and imprisoned.
And still… part of her wanted to belong to him.
If only he weren’t so damn perfect.
So rich. So controlled. So... clean.
Roxy was none of those things.
She was messy. Unruly. Addicted to chaos.
Adrian? He lived by numbers and contracts.
This wouldn’t work.
It shouldn’t work.
So why did part of her ache for it to?
When he finally entered the room, he found her leaning back in his chair, bare feet on his expensive desk, sipping wine like she’d lived here for years.
He didn’t speak. Just watched.
“What are you thinking?” she asked without looking up.
“That you don’t belong here.”
She raised a brow. “Because I don’t match the curtains?”
“Because you never stay.”
She stood, walked toward him, the air between them thick with unsaid things.
“I’ll marry you, Adrian,” she said suddenly. “But only if you swear to never ask me who came before you.”
His face hardened.
“And in return, I’ll never ask you who you wish I was instead.”
He stared at her.
Then nodded.
“Deal.”
THE WEDDING
There was no ceremony. No flowers. No guests.
Just two signatures and a silent exchange of rings in Adrian’s private garden at his estate.
Roxy wore red.
Of course she did.
The staff whispered behind closed doors. The press speculated like wild animals.
A billionaire marrying a mistress? A scandalous trap? A PR disaster?
But Adrian didn’t care. He wanted her where he could watch her.
And Roxy? She accepted the cage.
With a smirk.
Because she had her reasons too.
And not all of them involved the baby.
THE FIRST NIGHT AS HUSBAND AND WIFE
He didn’t touch her.
Not even once.
She lay in the master bedroom, the silk nightgown clinging to her curves, waiting.
But he never came.
She heard the door to the guest room close.
And laughed.
Soft. Bitter.
Maybe this was what real marriage felt like.
Loneliness in luxury.
WEEKS LATER
Roxy sat at a café downtown, oversized sunglasses on, her hand resting over her tiny bump.
A tall man in a black hoodie sat across from her.
“I told you not to contact me,” she said under her breath.
“You needed the distraction,” the man replied.
“I’m married now.”
“That never stopped you before.”
She narrowed her eyes. “It’s different this time.”
“Is it?”
He leaned in. “You think he’s really the father?”
She flinched.
But didn’t answer.
“Tell me you haven’t thought about it,” he whispered. “Tell me you’re not still wondering.”
She took a deep breath, stood, and dropped a wad of cash on the table.
“I don’t wonder,” she said.
“I know.”
But her voice shook as she walked away.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE ESTATE
Adrian watched from his study as the surveillance feed played on a loop.
Roxy. At a café. Talking to someone.
A man.
She thought he didn’t know.
She was wrong.
He’d placed a tracker in her wedding ring.
Her freedom? An illusion.
Because Adrian King didn’t lose.
Not his deals.
Not his reputation.
And definitely not his wife.
- Writer
