Chapter 48 Chapter Forty-seven
ARA
The tension hanging over the dining table was so thick it felt like you could scoop it up with a spoon and choke on it.
I forced my face to stay calm, my lips pressed into a line as I tried, no, desperately, to convince myself this was all a misunderstanding.
A mistake. A tasteless prank.
But the moment I looked at Thayne, I knew better.
The man sitting across from me didn’t look like the one who had touched me like I mattered.
His shoulders were stiff, his jaw locked so tight it looked painful. Whatever softness I thought I’d seen in him before had vanished, replaced by something colder
Something I didn’t recognize, and that scared me more than anger ever could.
His eyes had hardened, the warmth stripped clean away, his features sharpening into something cold and distant. Whatever this was, it was real.
“She came with your sister,” Munroe said quietly. “I’ve got them held back. Do I—”
“I’ll be with them shortly,” Thayne cut in.
His voice was clipped. Final. He didn’t look at me. Not even once.
That hurt more than I was prepared for.
I waited, for a glance, a look, something to silently tell me he had control of this situation. That I wasn’t being quietly edged out of his life.
Nothing. And suddenly, I wondered if I’d been stupid. If I’d imagined everything between us.
I’d thought there was something there. The kind of chemistry that burned hot enough to reduce everything else to ash.
Now? It felt laughable. Bitter. Almost cruel.
I swallowed the ache rising in my throat and kept my hands folded neatly in my lap so my sisters wouldn’t see how badly they were shaking.
Thayne stood up without a word.
I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from asking the one question I already knew the answer to.
What made me think he was different?
He was rich. Powerful. Beautiful. Men like that didn’t belong to women like me. Men like Thayne Slade didn’t survive by being soft.
They collected people the way they collected power, useful until proven otherwise. I’d forgotten that for a while. Or maybe I’d chosen to ignore it.
He’d made me come apart with just his fingers in the VIP suite of his club, but then so what?
He could’ve done the same to a hundred women. A thousand.
I pushed up from my chair, unable to sit still anymore. Millie’s hand slipped into mine.
“Will he marry the new woman?” she asked quietly, fear trembling in her voice.
“Maybe,” I said honestly.
Whoever this woman was, she carried the one thing Thayne truly needed.
A child wasn’t just a child in his world. It was leverage. Legacy. A weapon against his father and a shield against those waiting for him to fail.
Love didn’t stand a chance against that kind of necessity.
An heir.
He could marry her, secure his position, and finally win against his father. It made sense. Too much sense.
“But he loves you,” Mollie whispered. “He tells us you’re his soulmate. He says we’re lucky to have you as our sister.”
My chest tightened painfully. He’d told them that?
Why did he do that? Why fill their heads with fantasies when he knew how easily everything could shatter?
I couldn’t stay there for another second.
I left the dining room and headed straight for the elevator, my thoughts spiraling wildly as it descended. I hated myself for the jealousy clawing at my chest.
This wasn’t a love story. It was an arrangement.
The lobby came into view, and voices reached me before faces did.
“I texted you for weeks,” a woman was saying loudly. “I called you. You ignored everything. And now I’m here, and I’m not leaving. We’re going to handle this baby like adults.”
My feet froze. Weeks?
That meant Thayne had known. Before I came along.
Nausea rolled through my stomach.
“I’m not stupid, Nadia,” Thayne said coolly. “That baby isn’t mine.”
“Oh please,” she scoffed. “You think I’m some girl you can use and discard? I’m Nadia. We slept together. You got me pregnant. Deal with it.”
Her words echoed in my head. They’d been together.
Once.
The realization hurt more than it should have, and I hated myself for it.
She didn’t sound like a liar. She sounded hurt.
“Show him the DNA test,” Ursula chimed in.
That was when I stepped into the lobby.
Nadia was tall, slender, you know, runway-perfect.
She had the long legs. Perfect posture. The kind of woman men noticed without trying.
She tossed a paper at Thayne, who caught it without effort.
“I won’t let you destroy my modeling career and walk away,” she said, one hand resting possessively on her stomach. “Either you accept responsibility, or I terminate it.”
Ursula smiled approvingly..Then she saw me.
“Well, look who finally crawled out,” Ursula purred. “Come to see who the new lady of the house is?”
“Shut your mouth,” Thayne snapped.
“What?” Ursula shot back. “Hit me like father hit mother?”
He flinched, then folded the paper.
He still didn’t look at me. It was as if I’d become invisible. As if the space I occupied no longer mattered.
It felt deliberate now. A distance carefully maintained. As if acknowledging me would complicate a decision he was already struggling to make.
"Decide now,” Nadia said smugly. “I’m only three weeks along. I’ve done it before.”
Thayne exhaled slowly.
“You’ll stay in the penthouse until I confirm it’s mine,” he said. “Ursula, leave.”
My heart sank. He was letting her stay. The penthouse had never felt smaller. Every polished surface suddenly looked hostile, like it was closing in on me. I wondered where that left me, where it left my sisters, now that the rules had shifted without warning.
Nadia’s gaze slid over me, slow and deliberate.
“So you’re Ara,” she said sweetly. “I’m sorry your engagement has to end. I’m carrying his baby now.”
She didn’t sound sorry.
“Watch your mouth,” Thayne warned. “She’s my fiancée.”
I turned away.
Again and again, life reminded me I didn’t belong here.
I was a lone diver swimming among sharks.
I ushered my sisters away quickly, wanting them nowhere near Nadia.
On the way, I saw her luggage being wheeled in. Four suitcases. She wasn’t visiting. She was staying.
Later, I ran into her in the hallway. Her smile was sharp enough to draw blood.
“Don’t be jealous,” she said lightly. “I’m just here to take what’s mine.”
“Oh, what could that be, pray tell?” I asked coolly.
“Thayne’s wife. His heir. He wants legitimacy. You?” She shrugged. “You’re just PR.”
The words sank deep. This arrangement was ending.
And when it did, I’d be alone with my sisters.
How was I supposed to survive this?