Morning in the Sterling mansion was usually quiet.
Controlled.
Predictable.
Today it felt… different.
Emma Laurent Sterling sat in the sunlit breakfast room, staring absently at the cup of tea growing cold between her hands. The large windows overlooked the manicured gardens of the estate, rows of white roses and trimmed hedges glowing under the pale morning light.
She barely saw them.
Her mind was heavy from the past few days.
The hospital.
The fainting.
The whispers from the media that had started circulating like smoke.
Laura.
Her chest tightened slightly at the thought.
Dominic had been unusually present since the pregnancy scare.
Oppressively present.
Even now he was somewhere inside the house instead of leaving for the office like he normally did.
Emma had noticed it i
