Chapter 11
1255 Words
"I've already filed for a divorce," Elysia finally said with a sigh.
Kai's attention snapped to her.
She didn't see the slight widening of his eyes.
Her gaze remained fixed on the window, on the trees swaying gently in the breeze outside.
"What?" Nicole stared at her.
Genuine shock flashed across her face.
Jade remained silent.
Unlike Nicole, she wasn't surprised.
Ever since she'd dropped Elysia off at the Windsor mansion the previous evening, something had felt wrong.
She couldn't explain it.
Maybe it had been the look in Elysia's eyes.
Maybe it had been the exhaustion she seemed to carry everywhere these days.
Or maybe Jade had simply known her best friend too well.
So no, she wasn't shocked.
If anything, the overwhelming emotion she felt was relief.
Relief that Elysia had finally stopped trying. Relief that she had finally chosen herself.
Relief that this time, she wasn't making excuses for Declan Windsor.
“I've already asked Mr. Ansley to draft up the divorce agreement,” Elysia said, her gaze still fixed on the window.
“Mon amour... are you sure?” Nicole asked gently.
Elysia lowered her eyes.
Her hand drifted to her stomach, fingers brushing across it in a small absent gesture.
“I'm pregnant, Mama,” she said finally. “And it's time I stop thinking only about myself.”
She hadn't intended to tell her mother like this.
She had imagined a different conversation. A different moment. One that wasn't surrounded by hospital walls and the aftermath of a fire.
But now that the words were out, there was no taking them back.
Nicole gasped.
The sound was small but unmistakable.
Her eyes widened as they immediately dropped to Elysia's stomach.
For a moment she simply stood there staring, her hands suspended awkwardly in front of her as though she wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry or pull her daughter into another hug.
Elysia was pregnant.
Her daughter was going to have a baby.
She was going to be a grandmother.
Under any other circumstances, Nicole would have been overjoyed. She would have already been calling Elysia's grandmother. She would have been talking about baby names, family traditions and all the things mothers and grandmothers talked about when a new child was on the way.
But those thoughts barely lasted a second before reality returned.
The father of that baby was Declan Windsor.
The same man Elysia had just announced she was divorcing.
The same man whose name Nicole had spent years trying not to curse whenever it came up in conversation.
Joy and worry collided inside her so violently that she couldn't separate one from the other.
"Elysia—" Nicole started.
Her phone suddenly rang.
The sound interrupted whatever she had been about to say.
Nicole frowned slightly and pulled it from her pocket. The moment she looked at the screen, her expression changed.
Elysia noticed it immediately.
"What is it?"
Nicole didn't answer right away.
Instead, she turned the phone around and showed her the screen.
Eleanor Windsor.
Elysia's stomach twisted.
For a second, she simply stared at the name.
Declan's mother.
"Do you want me to tell her you're here?" Nicole asked gently.
Elysia's answer came immediately.
She shook her head. "No."
The response was so quick that it surprised even her.
Nicole's brows pulled together slightly.
Elysia looked away.
She knew Eleanor would be worried.
God, she was probably terrified.
By now the entire Windsor family had likely been informed that she'd been inside the burning house and hadn't been found.
Eleanor was probably imagining the worst.
A small pang of guilt tugged at her chest.
Eleanor had always been kind to her.
Even after the wedding, when everything else had become complicated, Eleanor had never made Elysia feel unwelcome.
She Remembered the random phone calls. The birthday gifts.
The way Eleanor always hugged her a little tighter whenever she visited.
But none of that changed how exhausted Elysia felt.
She didn't want to answer questions.
She didn't want to explain where she was.
She didn't want anyone trying to convince her to reconsider the divorce.
Most of all, she didn't want news of her reaching Declan.
Not yet.
The thought alone made her chest tighten.
She had spent years bending herself into whatever shape was needed to keep the peace.
Years putting other people's comfort ahead of her own.
For once, she wanted something different.
She wanted silence. She wanted time to think.
"Please don't tell her," Elysia said quietly.
"At least not yet."
Nicole nodded before turning and stepping out of the room to answer the call.
The door clicked shut behind her.
For the first time since she'd woken up, the room fell into an almost uncomfortable silence.
Jade, who had remained unusually quiet throughout the conversation, finally pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down beside Elysia.
Neither woman spoke immediately.
Kai cleared his throat.
"The nurse seems to be taking a while," he said. "I'll go check on it."
Elysia looked up at him.
She knew it wasn't really about the nurse.
Kai had always been good at reading a room.
Even when they were younger, he had somehow known when to stay and when to quietly remove himself.
This was one of those moments.
Jade waited until the door closed behind him before glancing towards Elysia.
Meanwhile, Kai walked down the hospital corridor with his hands shoved into the pockets of his trousers.
The moment he was out of sight of the room, his expression hardened.
He wasn't looking for any nurse. He just needed air.
Needed a moment to himself.
Needed somewhere to sort through the storm of emotions that had been building inside him since the previous night.
Elysia was alive.
Pregnant.
Divorcing Declan Windsor.
Every new piece of information seemed to hit harder than the last.
Kai let out a slow breath and rubbed a hand across his face. Exhaustion was finally beginning to catch up with him.
He hadn't slept since the previous night.
Not after pulling her out of that burning house. Not after sitting beside her hospital bed for hours waiting for her to wake up.
Every time he'd tried to close his eyes, all he saw was smoke pouring from beneath her bedroom door.
All he heard was the panic in her voice during that phone call.
And every single time, the same thought followed.
What if he'd been too late?
He walked further down a quieter corridor until he found a space away from the movement of the hospital.
Somewhere he could breathe without being seen.
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, the flame briefly catching his face before fading into smoke.
He took a slow drag, then another, exhaling steadily.
By the third inhale, his phone rang.
It was Brit Mayweather.
His assistant.
Kai had already started wondering, earlier in the night, why there had been no update from him since the previous day.
He answered the call.
“Sir,” Brit’s voice came through immediately, slightly breathless, as though he had rushed to make the call.
“Speak,” Kai replied, his tone steady.
There was a brief silence on the other end and Brit exhaled softly before continuing.
“The fire investigation file and the records from the day Mr. Hervé St. Laurent died are linked,” he said.
Kai’s expression didn’t change, but his attention sharpened instantly.
He stayed quiet, waiting.
“And your father’s name appears in both records,”
- Writer
