Chapter 41

Autumn’s POV

My pregnancy came as a tidal wave, drowning in a sea of uncertainty and anxiety and leaving me gasping for breath. In my mind's eye, Mathias's face—filled with love and expectation—turned from a beautiful mask of allegiance and contempt. Should he find the truth, my carefully put-on facade would fall apart, exposing me.

Given their merciless pragmatism, the rogues would not hesitate to kill me should I compromise their intentions. In their game, I was a pawn and a tool towards an aim. And a pawn in pregnancy was a liability, a loose end that needed to be secured.

As the awareness sank in, my skin started to flush coldly. Trapped, caught in a web of lies of my own creation. The weight of my secret seemed to be smothering the sumptuous bathroom's walls in on on on. A wordless cry caught in my mute body; panic tore at my throat. I had to act to figure out how to guard my unborn child and me. But specifically, how?

Deeply depressed, a spark of an idea emerged from a desperate