Kayla's POV
Sleep was impossible.
I lay curled on Damien's couch, my knees drawn tight to my chest, a thin blanket clutched like a lifeline. The apartment was quiet, but not the comforting kind of quiet. It was heavy, pressing down on me like a wet shroud. Every creak of the pipes, every sigh of the wind against the window sent my heart into a sprint. In the shadows of the room, I could almost hear Liam's voice-low, possessive, unforgiving.
You're still my wife. You're not walking away.
The echo of his words gnawed at me. They weren't just words. They were shackles. For years, Liam had pushed me aside, left me invisible, made me ache for even the smallest scrap of kindness. Yet now, when I had finally found the courage to break free, he wanted to chain me back?
Why now?
My hand drifted to my stomach, trembling as it settled against the fragile curve. A wave of nausea tightened my throat. The reality was plain and horrifying--I was no longer fighting only on behalf of myself. A little heart beat within me, so delicate and pure, beat like a hidden star of the blackness. I had to protect it at any cost.
And Liam... Liam could never know.
The faint buzz of Damien's phone startled me so hard I almost dropped the blanket. He reached for it quickly, his back to me. I watched his shoulders tense as he pressed the phone to his ear. His voice was calm at first, but within seconds it sharpened like a blade.
"What? When?" A pause. Then his tone dropped, all clipped edges. "I'll be there right away."
He hung up, his fingers raking through his dark hair, his jaw tightening as he exhaled.
"Damien?" My voice came out small, trembling. "What happened?"
He turned to me, and for a heartbeat something flickered in his eyes-hesitation, worry, a secret he wasn't sure how to say. Then he crouched down in front of me, his face level with mine. "There's been... a break-in. At the Reyes penthouse."
My breath caught. "What?"
He nodded grimly. "Lyra called Liam. She said someone forced their way in."
My stomach twisted. The penthouse. The place I had once called home, the place that had witnessed every tear I had ever shed over Liam. Marble floors, cold walls, empty rooms. That house had never been a home-just a gilded cage. Who would dare break into it now?
And yet, beneath the shock, a strange shiver of relief snaked through me. Relief that I wasn't there anymore. Relief that the danger had found its way to him, not me.
Damien's warm hand brushed mine, anchoring me back to the moment. "Kayla, listen," he said gently. "I don't want you worrying about this. You're safe here."
Safe. The word floated between us like smoke.
But his words didn't settle me. They only stirred more questions. Who would break into Liam's fortress of a home? It was a high-security building. Even the elevators required access codes. And why did a chilling sense of dread coil in my chest, as though this wasn't random at all?
As though someone had been looking for me.
I pressed a shaking hand to my mouth, forcing the thought away.
Liam's POV
The penthouse was chaos. Police lights flashed through the tall windows, staining the marble floors with blue and red. Officers moved briskly from room to room, radios crackling, camera flashes glinting off shattered glass.
Lyra sat on the couch, trembling with exaggerated sobs. Her silk robe slipped off one shoulder as her hands shook theatrically. "They... they smashed the lock, Liam," she whimpered when I stormed in. "I heard noises in the kitchen-I thought it was you, but when I came out..." Her voice cracked into a pitiful little sound. "They were gone before I could even scream."
My jaw clenched until it ached. My fists curled at my sides. No one dared touch my world. No one.
But as my eyes scanned the penthouse, something was off. Nothing valuable was missing. The jewelry box on the dresser sat untouched. The safe hidden behind the painting remained locked. Even the art on the walls was exactly as I left it.
This wasn't a burglary.
It was a message.
But from who?
My thoughts flickered back to Kayla. The way she had looked at me that night-broken, yet defiant. The way Damien had stood between us like a wall. The way she had pressed her hand to her stomach when she thought I wasn't looking.
My chest tightened painfully.
Could it be that someone knew something... something even I didn't?
I dismissed the police with clipped words and cold stares, refusing to show even a flicker of weakness. When the last officer stepped out, I strode to the balcony, the cold night air slapping against my face.
My reflection stared back at me in the glass doors-wild eyes, clenched jaw, a man on the brink.
No. Kayla wasn't leaving me. Not now. Not ever. If she thought divorce papers would sever us, she was wrong.
Because whether she knew it or not... she carried something that bound us forever.
And I would uncover her secret.
Even if it destroyed us both.
Kayla's POV
By morning, Damien was gone-called back to the hospital for an emergency surgery. The apartment felt emptier without him, quieter, but not in a way that soothed me. It was the kind of silence that creeps under your skin.
I sat on the couch, drinking tea, with trembling hands, watching the dull sunrise paint the horizon. Soft pink and gold streaked the sky, which seemed to be distant, unreachable.
I clenched my hands around the cup and tried to stop them shaking. No matter how many times I told myself I was safe here, the thought refused to stick.
A thought whispered at the edge of my mind, insistent and cold: They were looking for you.
My phone buzzed, startling me so hard I nearly dropped the cup. The porcelain slipped from my fingers and hit the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces.
My breath came fast, my heart pounding as I reached for the phone.
A screen came up with an incoming message from an unknown number:
You can run, but you can't hide. Liam will know the truth soon enough.
The words blurred as tears welled in my eyes.
Terror surged through me, colder than anything I'd felt before.
Because whoever sent that message... they knew.
They knew I was pregnant.