My Ex-Husband And My Sister

Chapter 3 Sophia's Pov

Something about the way he said it made me pause and think about it but the thought of forgetting—of anything that didn’t remind me of the life I’d left behind—was too tempting. And it was clear he knew how to play this game.

One part of me told me to run away now…that it was far too risky. But the other part of me that had been set loose by alcohol, asked me what safety had given me besides a betraying sister, husband and mother.

I leaned in closer just then and lowered my voice until it became sort of sexy and then asked. “What’s your name?”

“Alex,” he said as his eyes flashed with a glint of mischief. “ Just Alex. And you are?”

“Sophia,” I replied as my lips curled into a wicked smile. I was beginning to like this game. “Nice to meet you, Alex. You’ve got a way with words.”

He chuckled. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

And just like that, the flirting flowed, easy and fast, like we were old lovers. Or maybe it was just the alcohol making everything feel lighter for us. I didn't bother to really think about it.

When I found myself inching closer to him, I didn’t think about it either.

He smirked and leaned in as well. Then his lips brushed against my ear as he whispered hoarsely in my ears, “Why don’t we get out of here?”

I gave only a simple answer: “You are wasting time by asking, Alex.”

Within minutes, we were in the elevator, kissing and moaning and the only time I swore in frustration was when I felt that the ride up to his room was taking far too long.

The space between us was charged and I could feel my body reacting to him—no thoughts at all. Just pure, unadulterated instinct.

Once we were inside his room, the door barely closed before his hands were on me. His touch was urgent and rough in a way that made my pulse race.

I didn’t care about the fact that he was a stranger or that I was about to do something very reckless. Something I had never done before.

In that moment, all I cared about was escaping.

I stripped off my clothes with no grace as the desperate need to feel his skin against mine burned inside me. He didn’t stop me. Rather, he mirrored my urgency and pulled me against him, his kiss deep and hungry, as though he was trying to devour me. As though we were both trying to forget our pasts.

Lost in each other, we tumbled onto the bed while our bodies spoke a language I hadn’t known I would still speak after what Liam had done to me.

He was the distraction I needed. The recklessness, the passion, the heat that surrounded him consumed me. I gave myself over to him completely even as I knew that I would never see him again.

This was just a moment, an escape, and I was taking it with everything in me.

When the moment of passion was over and he rolled over to sleep by my side, I found myself picking up my things and slipping out of the bed silently so as not to wake him.

One part of me wanted to turn back and look at him for the last time because damn it, he had just given me the best s*x of my life.

But I knew it was too risky. Looking back would only cause attachment.

And right now, I was so f*****g done with attachments.

I only needed a distraction. And I got it.

And that was the only thing he needed to be.

There was going to be no space for man in my life. Only space for revenge for my family for what they had done.

*** *** ***

The days blurred into one another as I slowly began to rebuild my life in Los Angeles. It wasn’t easy—hell, it was brutal. But I knew I couldn’t stay in the shadows forever. I had to get back up for my own sanity.

I had spent the first week holed up in my apartment, refusing to talk to anyone but then, slowly, the pieces started to fall into place.

I dug into my work. I poured my soul into the brand I’d always wanted to create…something that was mine. It wasn’t much at first—just a small online shop for handmade accessories—but it was a start. It was my start.

I spent countless hours at my desk, planning, designing and making phone calls. Every day, I would force myself to wake up and face the day, no matter how much I wanted to sink back into the comforting numbness of my bed. But I couldn’t afford to wallow. Not anymore.

“Hey, I saw your i********: post,” Kelly, one of my new friends from a local coffee shop I frequented, said as she slid into the chair across from me at the cafe. “That bracelet looks amazing. You’re seriously talented, Sophia.”

I smiled even though it didn’t quite reach my eyes. It felt foreign, this feeling of validation but I wasn’t going to let it show. “Thanks. It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s finally paying off.”

“You’re going to crush it. You know that, right?” She grinned and I could feel the sincerity behind her words.

It was a small victory but it mattered.

I nodded. “I’m starting to believe it.”

And slowly, with each new sale, with every new message of encouragement, I began to feel like I was living again.

And then, it happened. One morning, I was working late on a new design when the dizziness hit me like a freight train.

My vision blurred, my head spun and before I could make sense of it, I collapsed to the floor. My body felt like lead as I was swallowed by a sea of darkness.

When I came to myself, I was lying in a sterile, white hospital room where the faint scent of antiseptic stung in the air. My body ached, my head throbbed, and I could barely keep my eyes open.

What the hell was going on here? I thought as I looked around me.

A nurse was standing beside my bed and she checked the IV in my arm.

“You fainted, Miss Bennett,” she said calmly. “You’ve been dehydrated and overexerting yourself. Your body’s been under a lot of stress.”

“Stress,” I muttered with a dry throat as I tried to be conscious of what was happening around me and what she was saying. “What happened?”

“We’ve run some tests and we think we’ve found the cause.”

I exhaled as I asked, “What is the cause?”

“You’re pregnant.”