Chapter 3

Two weeks later, Elara collapsed in the kitchen.

She'd been hiding severe morning sickness, eating almost nothing, surviving on crackers and water between waves of nausea.

The household staff found her unconscious on the floor and called an ambulance.

Kael was in a board meeting when his assistant interrupted.

"Sir, your wife was taken to the hospital."

He didn't rush. He finished the meeting, signed three documents, and drove to the hospital at normal speed.

When he arrived, the doctor was waiting outside Elara's room.

"Mr. Ashford, your wife is stable now. But she's severely malnourished and dehydrated. In her condition, she needs to eat properly and reduce stress, or the risks to both her and the baby will increase significantly."

Kael stopped walking.

"Baby?" His voice was dangerously quiet.

The doctor blinked. "She's eleven weeks pregnant. You... didn't know?"

Kael didn't answer. He pushed past the doctor and entered the room.

Elara lay in the hospital bed, pale and thin, an IV drip in her arm. When she saw him, her face drained of whatever color remained.

She knew. The moment his eyes locked on hers, she knew the doctor had told him.

"How long were you planning to hide this?" Kael's voice was low, controlled, but laced with an anger she'd never heard before.

Her dry lips parted. "It doesn't concern you."

"Doesn't concern me?" He stepped closer, his jaw tight. "You're carrying my child in my house under my name, and it doesn't concern me?"

"You made it very clear this marriage means nothing," she said, her voice thin but steady. "I wasn't going to burden you with a child you didn't want."

His eyes flickered — something shifted behind them, too fast to read.

"Who said I didn't want it?"

Elara stared at him, searching for sincerity, finding only the cold mask he always wore.

"You did," she whispered. "Every single day."

Before he could respond, the door opened.

Nadia walked in, holding a bouquet of flowers, her expression perfectly arranged in manufactured concern.

"Kael, I heard what happened. I came as fast as—" She stopped, reading the tension in the room. Her eyes darted from Kael to Elara, then to the medical chart on the bedside table.

Her gaze sharpened.

"She's pregnant?" Nadia's voice pitched upward, disbelief cracking through her composure for the first time.

Kael didn't look at her. His eyes stayed locked on Elara.

"Nadia, leave," he said.

Nadia's face contorted. "You can't be serious. She trapped you with a baby, and you're falling for it? This is exactly what women like her—"

"I said leave." His voice dropped to a register that made the air in the room go cold.

Nadia's mouth clamped shut. She shot Elara a venomous look, turned on her heel, and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

In the silence that followed, Kael pulled a chair to the bedside and sat.

For a long moment, neither spoke.

Then, without looking at her, he said, "You'll move into the master bedroom. You'll eat three meals a day. You'll see the best prenatal specialist in the city."

"I don't need—"

"This isn't a negotiation." His tone left no room for argument. "You're carrying an Ashford. That child will have everything."

Elara studied his profile — the rigid line of his jaw, the tension in his shoulders.

He wasn't doing this for her. He was doing this for the bloodline, the legacy, the name.

She was still just the vessel.

"Fine," she said quietly. "But after the baby is born and my mother's treatment is complete, I'm leaving. The contract ends, and I disappear. You'll never see me again."

His head turned sharply. For one unguarded second, something raw crossed his face — surprise, or maybe alarm.

Then the mask slid back into place.

"We'll discuss that later," he said, standing. "Rest now."

He walked to the door, paused with his hand on the frame, and spoke without turning around.

"Elara."

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

His voice sounded different. Quieter. Almost human.

She closed her eyes. "Because you would have told me to get rid of it."

He stood motionless for three full seconds.

Then he left without denying it.