Chapter 2

Mallory's eyes briefly showed a hint of surprise, as though she had not expected me to be so decisive. Meanwhile, Ashton's dark gaze rested on me, but he said nothing.

I forced a smile. "Take your time catching up. I'll head home now."

At that moment, a faint pain tugged at my lower abdomen. I just could not wait to leave.

Noticing my pale face, Ashton frowned slightly. "I'll have Cameron drive you home."

Cameron Sullivan was his secretary, and he was an efficient yet surprisingly reserved man.

In the past, when I frequently visited the office, Cameron often interrupted my tender moments with Ashton to deliver work updates. When we grew familiar, I teased him one time, "Cameron, with how strict and oblivious you are, it's going to be hard for you to find a girlfriend."

He then replied in his usual professional tone, "Mrs. Wallace, you're mistaken. I don't like women."

I was speechless at the time. Yet Ashton laughed heartily at that while I stared at Cameron in shock, feeling as though I had been blindsided. Cameron, of course, remained as expressionless as ever.

When I arrived at the office building today, however, he blocked my way in the hallway and stammered for quite some time. All he said was that Ashton was unavailable. Only then did I realize Cameron was not as oblivious as I had thought.

After working with Ashton for so long, he clearly understood Ashton's feelings.

On the drive home, I closed my eyes to rest. Cameron glanced at me through the rearview mirror and, to my surprise, asked, "Mrs. Wallace, are you feeling unwell?"

I opened my eyes slowly and replied, "I'm fine."

I added after a pause, "And don't call me Mrs. Wallace anymore."

'I won't be that for much longer,' I thought to myself.

Cameron's expression tightened, but he did not respond.

The moment I got home, I rushed to the bathroom and vomited violently. I was two months pregnant and had planned to share the news with Ashton today. But fate played a cruel trick, bringing his first love back on the same day.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror—red-rimmed eyes and a pale complexion stared back at me.

Well, Mallory was wrong about one thing. Though my marriage to Ashton had started as a business arrangement, over the course of these five years, I had grown to care for him.

For the first two years of our marriage, we treated each other with politeness, maintaining a distance. Nothing intimate happened between us. I knew his heart still belonged to Mallory back then.

In our third year together, on New Year's Eve, we sat by the floor-to-ceiling windows, drinking and chatting while watching the fireworks. As the sky lit up with a burst of colors, Ashton leaned in and kissed me.

Perhaps it was the alcohol, or perhaps it was my own buried feelings, but I could not resist awkwardly kissing him back. From that night on, there was no turning back.

Ashton treated me with great care. Everyone at the company knew how much he doted on me. His employees would even whisper about how envious they were of me behind our backs.

I had everything I ever wished for—the admiration and favor of those around me.

Now, Mallory was back. It was time for me to wake up from the dream.

I placed a hand over my still-flat abdomen. If Mallory found out about the baby, she would surely pressure Ashton to make me terminate the pregnancy. I could live without Ashton, but I could not bear to lose this child.

I began packing my things, determined to leave before Ashton returned. I had a small apartment under my name in Regensburg, where I had occasionally stayed before our marriage.

When I arrived, the place was covered in dust. I called a cleaning service to help tidy up and checked into a hotel for the night.

As I was in the early stages of pregnancy, I often felt fatigued. By 9:00 pm sharp, I was already fast asleep. All of a sudden, I was startled awake by the sound of my phone ringing. I answered it without thinking.

Ashton's voice came through, low and tense with suppressed anger. "Piper Stevens, where are you at this hour?"

I immediately snapped awake.