In the arms of two sins

Chapter 15

Elias’s POV

Mara’s retching still echoed in my head long after Margaret hurried her out of the dining room.

The shock on her face.

The horror on everyone else’s.

The way she stumbled out, pale and trembling, while the entire Lawson family stared like she’d just committed a crime.

I couldn’t erase any of it.

I wasn’t just disturbed—I was unsettled in a way I hadn’t felt in years.

She had looked me in the eye and insisted she wasn’t pregnant.

Yet I’d now watched her vomit twice in less than a week.

Something wasn’t adding up.

By the time I got to the company, she was already there.

Of course she was—always running ahead of me, always slipping through my fingers.

Not today.

I walked straight into her office without knocking.

She flinched when she saw me.

“Elias?” she breathed, sitting up straighter. “Why are you just barging in like—”

I didn’t let her finish.

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet.

“We’re leaving.”

Her eyes widened. “What? No—Elias, stop—”

She yanked her hand back, and for a moment I let her. She needed the illusion of control.

“I don’t have the strength for this,” she snapped. “Not today. Not after—”

“After what?” I cut in. “After you threw up in front of the entire family?”

Her face flushed in humiliation. “Don’t say it like that.”

“How else should I say it, Mara?”

She swallowed, looking away. “It’s nothing. Just stress—”

“No.” My voice sharpened. “No more excuses.”

She stiffened.

I stepped closer, lowering my tone.

“I am disturbed, Mara. You told me you’re not pregnant. But I’ve watched you vomit twice. You’re pale, shaking, and barely holding yourself upright.”

“You’re overthinking,” she muttered.

“Maybe. But you’re hiding something. And I’m done pretending you’re fine.”

She crossed her arms tightly. “I don’t owe you every detail of my life. I said I’m not pregnant.”

“And I don’t believe you.”

Her eyes widened, hurt flashing there—quick, but sharp.

“You can’t force me to do something I don’t want to,” she whispered.

“You want to bet?”

Her breath hitched. “Elias—don’t.”

I stepped closer.

“If you don’t follow me with your two legs, Mara, I swear I’ll carry you to the car myself.”

She blinked, taken aback. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

The silence stretched—long and heavy—until finally, her shoulders sagged.

“…Fine,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”

The hospital’s cold air bit into her skin, and she looked too exhausted to fight anymore.

We were halfway down the corridor when a voice called behind Mara.

“Mara?”

A woman in a white coat hurried toward us. Her concerned eyes flicked over Mara—then up at me. Her expression froze immediately.

“You must be…” she didn’t finish.

I already knew—this was someone Mara knew.

“You’re a doctor, right?” I asked, judging from her attire.

She blinked. “Yes?”

“Good,” I said. “Run a pregnancy test on her.”

She froze. Her eyes widened before they slowly drifted to Mara’s face.

Mara said nothing. Not even a shake of her head.

“…Okay,” the doctor murmured at last. “Come with me.”

She pushed open a small examination room and gestured for Mara to enter.

“Come in. We’ll do the test here.”

They disappeared inside, and the door clicked shut.

I sat in a chair just outside the glass partition.

Her voice drifted through—low, gentle, professional.

“Mara, sit. I need honest answers, alright?”

Silence. There was a soft rustle, Mara obeying.

“How long have you been vomiting?”

Nothing.

The doctor tried again, warmer this time.

“This morning wasn’t the first time, was it?”

Still nothing.

My jaw tightened. She’d talk to anyone but me.

I could hear the sigh from the doctor, faint but frustrated.

“Mara, I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me. Did you vomit yesterday as well?”

Still nothing.

My fingers curled into fists. She was still refusing to speak.

Was it because I was here?

The doctor talked to her so casually it was obvious they knew each other more than I realized.

I exhaled sharply and before I could stop myself, my voice cut through the quiet:

“YES, she did!”

There was an abrupt silence in the room.

stunned silence.

Then a sudden shuffle, like both women had stiffened at once.

No one in the room spoke after that.

Both were quiet.

I leaned back in the chair, jaw tight, waiting for the tests to finish.

After the test was taken, we sat across from Clara in her small consultation room.

She glanced at the file in front of her, then at Mara, then at me.

“The result will be out in two days.”

Two days.

Tomorrow was the company’s anniversary.

Good timing, I thought. It would give me one last day of clarity before the truth ripped the ground from under us, one way or another.

“Thank you,” I said.

Mara didn’t speak the entire walk out of the hospital.

The car ride back to the company was suffocating.

She stared out the window, rigid, furious—with me or herself, I couldn’t tell.

I stared at her.

At the tightness in her jaw.

At the exhaustion under her eyes.

At the silence between us that felt like a war brewing under her skin.

The moment the car stopped at the Lawson building, she got out first—slamming the door harder than she probably meant to.

By the time I got out, she had already entered the building.

My phone buzzed.

A message from the same unknown number.

> I see you’re desperate to find me. Don’t worry, I’ll be present at the anniversary tomorrow.

I also have a surprise for you.

Look forward to it.

My jaw tightened until my teeth ached.

Tomorrow wasn’t just an anniversary.

It's a hunt and I must find this person and make them pay!!!