Chapter 16 Chapter 16: A Careful Trap
Catherine’s P.O.V
I sank into the couch, the weight of everything finally pressing down on me. “So… you’re telling me Lydia might have faked her illness,” I said slowly, staring at him, trying to make sense of the tangled mess of betrayal and secrets. “Just to get you to donate… sperm?”
My voice was quieter than I wanted it to be, but the disbelief in it was raw. Xavier ran a hand through his hair and let out a long sigh, and I could feel the tension radiating off him.
“Cathy, I… I didn’t know at first. I thought she was… I thought she was really sick. I didn’t question it. I trusted her. I wanted to help. My hands were tied.”
I nodded slowly, letting him talk, though my chest felt tight.
“I understand that, Zee,” I admitted after a pause, my voice trembling slightly.
“I really do. But… why not tell me after the three-month period? Why keep me in the dark until Christmas Eve? I could have understood if you’d just… been honest after everything.”
He looked down at his hands, twisting them nervously. “My mother… she stopped me again,” he said quietly, almost like admitting it hurt him to speak it. “She told me… she told me it would be better if I gave you the news as a Christmas gift. I know it sounds absurd, but she really believed that delaying it was the ‘right thing.’ “
“She thought it would soften the blow, I guess. I honestly thought I was going to be the one to tell you the truth, Cathy. I prepared myself for it, rehearsed it in my head a hundred times. I never expected… I never expected her to bring Caroline in like that. And… and announce it publicly.” His voice cracked a little, and I could see the guilt etched across his face, but I wasn’t sure if guilt alone could erase the humiliation I’d felt.
Because knowing Lydia, she’d planned this, all of it, from the very beginning. She wanted a Dalton heir desperately, but she wanted me out of the picture even more.
I let out a sharp, bitter laugh, one that came from deep down in my chest. “Do you even realize what that meant, Xavier?” I asked, leaning forward, my hands gripping the edge of the couch.
“Your mother humiliated me in front of everyone. She paraded my medical conditions like I was some… some sideshow attraction. Do you understand? She made me look like a creature, a thing to be stared at and pitied, all for some grand gesture of hers. Do you see how that feels?” I paused, swallowing hard, my throat tight.
“Do you know what it does to a person, being made the subject of a spectacle, especially when it’s your body, your life, your choices that are being showcased?”
He reached for my hand, his eyes pleading. “I do, Cathy. I swear, I didn’t want that. I never imagined… I never even thought for a second she’d do it like that. I thought it would be private, intimate, just between us. I thought I would hold your hand when I told you, look into your eyes and let you process it with me. I never thought… I never thought my mother would step in and make it a public affair. I wanted to protect you from that. I swear to God, I wanted…”
I pulled my hand back gently, shaking my head. “Protect me by letting the entire room know what was going on with me? By turning me into a spectacle while you smiled and nodded? That’s not protection, Xavier. That’s… that’s betrayal with a bow on top. You may not have wanted it, but your silence, your delay… it made you complicit. Do you understand that?”
His jaw tightened, and he exhaled slowly. “I do. I get it, Cathy. I messed up. I should have told you sooner. I should have said something the moment I knew. But… my mother…she has this way of… of convincing me. And I was weak. I wanted to believe she was right, that it would be better this way. I didn’t want to hurt you, not directly. I thought that my mother knew better than this, because she’s had children and she knew how to deal with these situations.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the anger, disappointment, and confusion wash over me.
“Well, congratulations,” I said finally, my voice low and sharp. “You succeeded in hurting me, and indirectly, no less. Your mother’s meddling doesn’t absolve you of this, Xavier. You may have thought you were protecting me, but look around… look at what this turned into. Do you understand the damage? The embarrassment?”
He nodded solemnly, his eyes glassy. “I do. I do, Cathy. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I thought… I thought I was doing the right thing for us, for you. But I see now… I see that I failed you in the worst possible way.”
I let out a long, shaky breath and looked at him, my chest heavy with a storm of conflicting emotions. “I don’t know how we move past this, Xavier. I really don’t. But one thing is clear…you, your mother, Lydia… none of it can erase the way I felt in that moment. The way I felt being made into a public display like I was nothing but a prop in your lives.”
I watched Xavier’s expression soften, his eyes tracing mine like he was trying to read every fear I hadn’t voiced.
“Cathy,” he said, and I flinched a little at the tenderness in his voice, “no one at the party thought like that. Everyone was just happy there’s a baby on the way.” He reached for my hand, and I hesitated before letting him take it, feeling the warmth of his fingers against mine.
“You don’t need to worry so much,” he continued, his thumb brushing over my knuckles.
“This first child… it’s just so my mom can get off my back about children. But I’m sure the gods haven’t abandoned us. Soon, we’ll have a child of our own. You’ll see.” He leaned a little closer, his voice dropping into a sincerity that made my chest ache.
“I haven’t lost hope in you, in us, Cathy. And I promise, I will love our child even more than any other child I have from surrogacy.”
I opened my mouth to answer, to tell him that my heart didn’t feel the same certainty he exuded, but before I could, the sharp sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hall. A servant came rushing toward us, and Xavier’s face tightened, annoyance flashing across his features.
“I specifically asked not to be disturbed,” he snapped, voice sharp, tone cutting like glass. The servant looked uncomfortable, shuffling on the spot, eyes darting between Xavier and the floor, as if trying to disappear entirely.
“Sir… I… I…” the servant started, but before he could finish, the grand double doors swung open, and my stomach dropped. Xavier’s mother entered first, her gaze sweeping over us like a hawk, and right behind her, unmistakable in the way only she could be, was Caroline, the surrogate.
Xavier’s jaw tensed, his hand gripping mine just a little tighter, and I felt the weight of the moment settle heavily between us. “Mom,” he said, exasperation dripping from each syllable, “we talked about this. I told you not…”
His voice faltered when he saw the calm but deliberate smile on Caroline’s face, a smile that made my stomach twist. I looked at Xavier, and I could see the flicker of frustration and worry fighting in his eyes, and I felt an odd mix of fear and protectiveness. Caroline, however, seemed unbothered, her presence filling the room with a quiet assurance, as if nothing could rattle her.
“Xavier,” his mother said smoothly, ignoring his irritation completely, “I thought it’ll be good to bring Caroline around, after all, she’s doing so much for our family already.”
She nodded toward the surrogate, whose eyes met mine briefly, and I saw nothing but professionalism there, yet the way she held herself made me suddenly hyper-aware of how intertwined our lives had become.