Chapter 5
Elizabeth's POV
Aiden's brow furrowed, his gaze dropping to my stomach. Whatever flicker of desire had just ignited in his eyes was forcibly extinguished, replaced by a rigid sense of duty.
He managed a stiff, almost rehearsed smile. "Of course. It's the right thing to do. You're pregnant, after all."
With that, he straightened his shirt, scooped up his pillow, and headed for the couch. "Get some rest. Take care of yourself. I won't touch you."
I couldn't help but sneer inwardly, yet I still felt a twinge of pain.
Aiden didn't love me. To him, our intimacy was nothing more than a biological release, a need to be met.
It was laughable, how I had once been overjoyed at the news of my pregnancy, believing it was the beautiful culmination of our love.
Now, an immense, almost dizzying wave of relief washed over me, knowing the child growing inside me wasn't his.
The room plunged into darkness as he switched off the lights. I clutched the comforter, my body instinctively curling into itself.
Lying in this bed, with the truth of Aiden's character laid bare, no longer offered any sense of security. It felt cold, foreign, and vast.
Outside the room, Jessica lurked around the hallway corner, her eyes fixed on the bedroom door. "Mom, it's dead silent in there," she complained in a harsh whisper. "Don't tell me Aiden is protecting that woman again."
Cleo stood with her hands on her hips, her voice dripping with indignation. "She hasn't even married into this family, and she already dares to give me attitude. The nerve."
Jessica gritted her teeth, her voice a low hiss. "Mom, Elizabeth slapped me. I swear I'm going to return that favor myself."
The next morning, I woke to an empty room.
Aiden was already gone.
Through a haze of sleep, I thought I heard the faint murmur of his voice on the phone.
The tone was one I had never heard directed at me—a soft, indulgent tenderness that could only be meant for one person. Bianca.
He had undoubtedly gone to be with her. I pushed the thought aside as I washed up and headed for the dining room.
"Elizabeth, you're up so early!"
The saccharine voice, instantly recognizable, met me as I entered. I looked up to see Jessica standing by the dining table, a wide, cloying smile plastered on her face.
I paused, my brows knitting together in suspicion.
What was this sudden change in attitude? This was the same woman who looked at me as if I were something she'd scraped off her shoe.
"What do you want?" I asked, my voice flat and cold.
A maid brought my breakfast, and Jessica's eyes immediately locked onto the bowl of yogurt placed before me. I watched her, saying nothing.
Realizing she had been staring too intently, she fumbled for an explanation. "Well, Aiden wants us to get along, right? I've been thinking, since you're going to be my sister-in-law, we should be more civil. Let's have breakfast together."
She made a move to grab my arm, but my glare stopped her short. Her hand recoiled as if burned. Instead, she pulled a chair out and sat down, uncomfortably close to me.
Her smile felt stretched, brittle, as it might crack at any moment. Her gaze was impossible to ignore, constantly darting toward my breakfast.
I picked up my spoon. Her eyes lit up instantly, her expression glowing with an unnerving eagerness.
"I've suddenly lost my appetite. You eat by yourself."
I put down the spoon, and it collided with the edge of the bowl, making a crisp sound. Jessica's face froze instantly, and she spoke in a flustered manner, "This is the breakfast I specially prepared for you as an apology. How can you say you won't eat it just like that?"
"You made it?" I let my skepticism show, my eyes raking over her from head to toe. "Jessica, are you trying to make me laugh this early in the morning?"
Just yesterday, she was accusing me of poisoning her with a bird's nest soup, and now she was desperate for me to eat something she'd prepared. You'd have to be a complete idiot not to see that something was wrong with this breakfast.
"If you don't eat it, it means you don't want to get along! If you want to be my sister-in-law, you have to eat this!"
The more frantic her tone became, the calmer I felt.
She snatched the spoon and tried to feed it to me, but I turned my head, dodging her clumsy attempt. After a few more futile lunges, her face flushed a deep, blotchy red. "Just eat it!" She shouted, her voice rising. "You're not going anywhere until you do!"
Seeing her lose all control, I met her wild eyes, then deliberately knocked the bowl of yogurt off the table. It shattered on the floor with a loud crack. Jessica jumped back, startled. A nearby maid, equally stunned, rushed forward to clean up the mess.
"What's the act, Jessica?" I said directly. "What did you put in that bowl? Do I really have to spell it out for you?"
"What are you talking about? I didn't put anything in it! Stop making baseless accusations!" she stammered, her words tumbling out in a panicked rush.
"You thought you could outsmart me with a pathetic little scheme like this? Go look in the mirror. You'd see just how foolish you look."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you radiate incompetence."
Jessica looked like she was about to lunge at me, her eyes burning with pure hatred, her chest heaving with ragged, furious breaths.
"I'm warning you," I said, my voice low and steady. "Stop with these pathetic little games. You have no idea what happens when you truly piss me off."
I had no more time to waste on her. With that final warning, I turned and walked away, leaving her in the ruins of her failed plot.
Behind me, I heard her enraged scream, followed by the sound of more things being smashed. She was having a full-blown tantrum. A small, triumphant smile touched my lips as I slipped into the back of the rideshare I had ordered earlier.
At a café in the city center, I had barely settled into a chair when my best friend, Nina Jones, rushed in and grabbed my hands.
"Is it true? Elizabeth? Did you really ask me here to talk about starting the business back up?" Nina plopped down beside me, her eyes shining with an almost electric excitement.
Her enthusiasm made a pang of guilt strike me.
Before I had entered into this disastrous relationship with Aiden, Nina and I had planned to build an empire together right out of college.
Back then, before the Spencer family's bankruptcy, our company had been thriving.
But then I had poured all my energy into Aiden, into helping him with his work, and I'd all but abandoned our shared dream.
The company had managed to survive on its old momentum, but it had long since stalled.
"Elizabeth! I always said you weren't cut out for marriage! You belong with me, taking on the business world! Don't you remember? With you leading the charge, our company was an instant hit. We brought in so much investment!"
Nina looked at me with an expression that was part admiration, part wistful longing.
I lowered my head and squeezed her hand, a familiar ache tightening my throat. I had neglected my most loyal friend for that bastard, Aiden.
It was like I had been under some kind of spell.
"Nina, I have a secret to tell you," I whispered, leaning close to her ear. I spoke each word with deliberate clarity. "I'm not going to marry Aiden. But it's going to take some time to untangle myself from the Smith family. I'll handle it as fast as I can."
Nina's jaw dropped. She stared at me, her eyes wide with disbelief, before breaking into an ecstatic grin. "Really? Elizabeth, you're not kidding, are you?"
She threw her arms around me in a fierce hug. "This is amazing! I'll be waiting for you at the company, whenever you're ready!"
Feeling the warmth of her embrace, a genuine smile finally broke through my carefully constructed facade—the first real smile I'd had since discovering Aiden's betrayal.
I had no family left in this world, which was why I had clung to him so desperately.
But now I understood with painful clarity that I had never been truly alone. I had people who genuinely cared for me right here beside me all along.
Nina and I stayed wrapped up in our own world until noon, when my phone suddenly buzzed with an incoming call from Aiden.
"Elizabeth, where are you? I'm sending someone to pick you up for your prenatal check-up."