Chapter 1.

LUCY POV

I gripped the test results tightly in my hand as excitement and nervousness coursed through every inch of my body.

“Can you hurry up?” I said with a big smile to the cab driver as we rode to my house that I’ve lived with my husband, Kelvin, for the past two years since we got married.

I could not wait to show him the surprise. It was our second-year anniversary, and I had two surprises for him to match the year. The first was that I was coming home without telling him.

I had been in Germany for the past two weeks to finalise a deal for Carter’s corporation. My husband, Kelvin Carter, was one of the heirs to the corporation and among the top ten billionaires in the country. We were happy, and the only thing missing was our own child, which leads to the second surprise.

I was pregnant. After two years of trying endlessly, I finally conceived. During my trip, I had been sick, and I thought I had caught the flu, but a trip to the hospital yesterday proved me wrong. I wasn’t sick with the flu. I was three weeks pregnant.

It still felt like I was living in a dream. I had to pretend to be sorry to Kelvin when he called last night and complained that I wouldn’t be home for our anniversary. I was excited to see how his eyes would light up when I would tell him he was going to be a father.

We arrived in front of the mansion, and I paid the cab driver just as one of the workers ran out of the large gate with wide eyes.

“Mrs. Carter, why didn’t you inform us you were coming so the driver could have picked you up from the airport? Imagine what the media would say when they saw a Carter riding a cab.” Mason complained.

I laughed and pulled him into a hug. Mason was an elderly man who had worked for my husband’s family for years. I saw him as a father since he was always so endearing with the way he nags all the time.

“It’s good to see you too, Mase. And to answer your question, I didn’t inform anyone I was coming because I wanted to surprise Kelvin today,” I told him with a warm smile.

Another worker appeared to take the bag inside while I walked with Mason to the front door. I noticed he appeared tense, and at the same time, I noticed the unfamiliar car parked next to mine in the driveway.

“Does Kelvin have a visitor?” I asked with a frown as I stood to observe the car to see if I could identify it, but to no avail. “I don’t think I’ve seen this car before.” I turned to Mason to see him shuffling on his feet.

“Mason?” I called when he wouldn’t reply, “It’s late. Who would come and see Kelvin by this time?” More questions arose.

Mason still wouldn’t answer me, and it caused a little bit of unnerve, so I turned and pushed my way past Mason while he sputtered, trying to come up with a reply for me.

I entered the large living area, and my frown deepened when I saw that no one was there. I turned to Mason, who was dragging his feet behind me.

“I thought you said he had a visitor? Are they in his office?” I asked but didn’t wait for a reply as I made my way upstairs to his home office. Whenever Kelvin had visitors, he didn’t receive them in the living room; he took them to his office, especially when it was to discuss something serious.

The office was also empty. It was then that dread settled in the pit of my stomach. My hands slowly began to tremble at my sides against my will. I didn’t understand the feelings I was suddenly consumed with, but I suddenly had a headache.

“Where are they, Mason? No, who is the person?” I questioned, my voice trembling as my mind raced with a million reasons I wouldn’t acknowledge.

“It’s Miss Stephanie. She came over not too long ago and said she had something to discuss with Mr. Kelvin. They went into your room and have yet to come out."

I swayed, and Mason caught me before I could fall. “No. It doesn’t mean anything,” I told myself.

Stephanie Myers was Kelvin’s ex-girlfriend. They had broken up a few months before I met Kelvin, but there were times when her name would come up. She was manipulative, and I hated how she was always over him when she was around.

I had complained to Kelvin that I didn’t like the way his ex was always around him and how touchy she was. And not to mention that his mother liked her more. Kelvin had taken care of it, and I had not seen her for over a year.

I pushed past Mason and raced towards the bedroom. Tears coated my eyes as my answers were given to me before I pushed the door open.

“Mrs. Carter, you shouldn’t go in. You don’t deserve to see that." Mason called from behind me, but I shook my head. My first tightened around the paper in my hand. Instead of giving a surprise, I was the one getting one instead.

I ignored Mason and pushed the door open. The room was blurry as tears dropped down my face. The ache I felt was as though my heart was about to be ripped out of my chest.

Their moans filled the room. Kelvin’s grunt of ecstasy and Stephanie’s cries of pleasure made bile make a home in my throat. They were so lost in their pleasure that they didn’t notice I was in the room.

“Mr. Carter,” Mason called from behind me, and they flew apart. I didn’t miss the smirk in Stephanie’s eyes as she saw me when she turned, while Kelvin was blinking his eyes furiously as if trying to make sense of his environment.

“Mason, please leave,” I whispered quietly, and I heard the door softly lock behind me.

“Lucy?” Kelvin groaned weakly, confusion laced in his tone. I couldn’t help but scoff, even as tears dropped down my face. He didn’t sound so weak when he was fucking her just now.

“How long?” I whispered. I wanted to yell, to walk over there, and to shake him as hard as I could. I wanted to slap that smirk off her face and punch the confusion off his, but I couldn’t find the strength.

Stephanie adjusted the cover she had used to wrap around herself and fixed her expression as though she were regretful.

“Don’t blame him, Lucy. Kelvin has been frustrated. I only came over to complain about a failed deal and hoped to get his help, but he became emotional when I talked about you and how you still couldn’t give him a child. You can’t blame him for that,” she replied with a pout.

The words she said so gently, with fake tears pooling in her eyes, had more power as they sliced through me, creating wounds that would never heal.

I looked at Kelvin, finding it hard to breathe. He had never complained once in the two years we’ve been married and trying to get pregnant. While I complained, Kelvin was the one who always gave me words of comfort and assurance, so to hear he was frustrated with me to the point of cheating was a wild dream I didn’t want to accept.

“Kelvin?” I called shakily. “Is this true? You’ve never said a word to me before."

“Lucy, she is lying. Let me explain. It’s not what you think." He stumbled over words. His words were slurry, and his eyes were unfocused. He was drunk.

“You never drink,” I told him, shaking my head and taking steps back.

“He was just upset." Stephanie cut through again. “You know how much he wants a child, but he can’t complain because he doesn’t want to hurt you. You couldn’t even...”

“Shut the fuck up!” I finally screamed. “I don’t want to hear a word from you."

“Lucy, please...” Kelvin begged, but my resolve had hardened. Before we started dating, I had warned him that I would never be able to forgive a partner who cheated on me.

It angered me that he couldn’t even defend himself. He had nothing to say and just kept saying, please. No explanations or confirmations of what Stephanie had poured out of her lying lips.

“I told you I hated cheaters, and you promised that you would never cheat on me,” I told him while wiping the tears from my eyes. “I had a surprise for you, but you’ve chosen a path that doesn’t have me on it.

“Lucy...” He slurred.

“You can’t even say more than my name or sorry. It’s good because I don’t want to hear a word you say.” I said it with a steady voice, despite the wrenching pain I felt inside as my heart shattered to pieces. “I hope she was worth it."

“You know I am,” Stephanie smirked. I wanted to scratch that smile off her face, but she wasn’t worth it.

“You will pay for hurting me. Just wait and see." With that, I turned and stormed out of the house.