already whispering, glancing between her and Lucas. With the CEO personally introducing her, his arm linked with hers, everyone would be drawing their own conclusions. I sat frozen at

"If I mean so much as you claim, transfer shares to me right now." I dared. A look crossed Lucas's face as he stared at me. "See, I knew it- "Fine." He said, cutting me off. I expected him to brush me off, to tell me I was being unreasonable. Instead, he opened a drawer and pulled out a document. He placed it on the desk in front of me. I looked down. Stock transfer agreement. My name. The date was two years ago. The day we got married. "I planned this from the beginning," he said quietly. "To give you and our future child security." Our future child. The words made my chest tighten. I stared at the document, at the percentage of shares he'd allocated to me. It was substantial. Real security. "You did this when we got married?" My voice came out barely above a whisper. "Yes. You're my wife. This was always meant to be yours." Something cracked open inside me. Maybe I'd been wrong. Maybe he did care, just in his own quiet way. And he'd mentioned a child. Our future child. This was it. This was the moment I should tell him. "Lucas, there's something I need to tell you." I took a breath, my hand moving instinctively to my stomach. "I'm-" A knock on the door interrupted us. Victoria pushed it open without waiting for permission. Her eyes darted between us, taking in the scene. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." She looked at me with concern. "Sister-in-law, please don't be mad at my brother because of me. If you really don't want me to, I'll give the project back." The document was still in my hands, Lucas's words still echoing in my head. I felt steadier than I had all morning. "It's fine," I said. "You should do the project well." I walked past her out of the office. I heard her footsteps following me down the hallway. "Sister-in-law, wait." She caught up to me, her voice loud and apologetic. "I really am sorry about all of this. I didn't mean to cause problems between you and Lucas." "It's fine, we are good." I threw her a small smile and kept walking toward the elevator. She stayed beside me, and as we moved away from other employees, her voice dropped lower. "You know, Lucas has always taken such good care of me. Ever since we were young. I'm really special to him." "It's fine." I returned. "Thank you so much, sister-in-law. I hope I didn't cause arguments between you and Marcus?" She inquired. I jabbed the elevator button.