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Vivian clutched her Hermès bag, her doctor's words echoing: "Extremely high-risk pregnancy." She hoped the baby would save her cold marriage, but Julian wasn't in London as his schedule claimed. Instead, a paparazzi photo revealed his early return-with a blonde woman, not his wife, at the private airport exit. The next morning, Julian served divorce papers, callously ending their "duty" marriage for his ex, Serena. A horrifying contract clause gave him the right to terminate her pregnancy or seize their child. Humiliated, demoted, and forced to fake an ulcer, Vivian watched him parade his affair, openly discarding her while celebrating Serena. This was a calculated erasure, not heartbreak. He cared only for his image, confirming he would "handle" the baby himself. A primal rage ignited her. "Just us," she whispered to her stomach, vowing to sign the divorce on her terms, keep her secret safe, and walk away from Sterling Corp for good, ready to protect her child alone.
Contents
Chapter 1 No.1
The silence in the private consultation room on the Upper East Side was not peaceful. It was heavy, pressurized, like the air before a thunderstorm that refuses to break. Vivian sat on the edge of the examination table, her knuckles white as she gripped the leather strap of her Hermès bag. The paper sheet beneath her crinkled with every shallow breath she took.
Dr. Smith entered the room. He did not smile. He was a man who had delivered half the heirs to the Manhattan elite, and he knew when a situation required celebration and when it required caution. He held a manila file in his hands, and the way he opened it, slowly, deliberately, made Vivian's stomach twist.
Vivian watched his eyes scan the ultrasound report. He frowned. It was a small movement, a tightening of the skin between his eyebrows, but to Vivian, it felt like a scream.
"You are pregnant, Mrs. Sterling," Dr. Smith said.
The air left Vivian's lungs in a rush. Her hand moved instinctively to her flat stomach, covering the silk of her blouse. She had imagined this moment a thousand times. In her head, it was always accompanied by tears of joy, by Julian's hand over hers, by the promise of a future that wasn't so cold. But Julian was not here. Julian was in London, or so his schedule said.
"But," Dr. Smith continued, his voice dropping an octave. "We need to discuss the viability."
Vivian froze. The joy that had sparked for a fraction of a second was instantly smothered by a cold wave of fear.
"Your uterine wall is exceptionally thin, Vivian. Combined with your history of anemia and the stress markers in your blood work, this is classified as a high-risk pregnancy. Extremely high risk."
The term hung in the air between them. High risk. It sounded like a business deal, like a stock option, not a child.
Vivian nodded. She tried to speak, but her throat felt like it was filled with sand. Tears welled up in her eyes, hot and stinging, but she refused to let them fall. She was a Sterling by marriage. Sterlings did not cry in front of staff, even medical staff.
"Does stress affect it?" she whispered. Her voice sounded foreign to her ears, thin and fragile.
Dr. Smith took off his glasses and looked at her with a pity she hated. "Stress is the enemy right now, Vivian. I cannot emphasize this enough. You need absolute bed rest. You need calm. Any significant emotional or physical shock could trigger a miscarriage."
Vivian slid off the table. Her legs felt unsteady, like she was walking on the deck of a ship in rough waters. She took the prescription for the prenatal vitamins and the progesterone supplements.
"I'll pay in cash today," Vivian said suddenly, her voice sharp. "And I want this file sealed. No insurance claims. No digital updates to the family portal. Can you do that?"
Dr. Smith looked at her, surprised, but he nodded slowly. "Of course, Vivian. Patient confidentiality is paramount."
"Thank you," she said.
She walked out of the clinic and stopped at a small, independent pharmacy three blocks away. She didn't want the Sterling family pharmacist to see the prescription. She bought the vitamins and a bottle of generic antacids. In the privacy of the pharmacy bathroom, she dumped the antacids into the trash and poured the prenatal vitamins into the innocent-looking bottle. She peeled off the prescription label, leaving only the generic instructions.
She walked onto Fifth Avenue. The wind was biting, cutting through her coat, hitting her face with a rudeness that felt personal. She stood on the sidewalk, surrounded by the noise of taxis and the rush of tourists, and for the first time in her life, she felt a surge of something primal.
She looked down at her stomach. There was nothing to see, no bump, no sign of life, but she knew. There was something there. Something that was hers.
She needed to tell Julian.
The thought came to her with the force of a revelation. Their marriage had been cold lately. Frozen, actually. He had been distant, distracted, always on his phone, always traveling. But a baby changed things. A baby was a bridge. A baby was a new beginning. If he knew, he would change. He had to. He was a Sterling. Family meant everything to them.
She pulled her phone from her bag and called the family driver.
"To JFK," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "International Arrivals, please."
She checked the flight tracker app on her phone as she got into the back of the black sedan. Julian's private jet was scheduled to land in forty-five minutes. He was coming home a day early. She hadn't been supposed to know, but she tracked his flights. It was the only way she knew where her husband was half the time.
The traffic on the Van Wyck Expressway was a nightmare. Red taillights stretched out like a river of blood. Vivian checked her reflection in the compact mirror. She looked pale. She pinched her cheeks, trying to force some color into her face. She practiced her smile. It looked brittle, terrified.
When the car finally pulled up to the VIP private terminal, Vivian felt a wave of nausea. She told herself it was the pregnancy. She told herself it wasn't dread.
She stood by the gate, ignoring the cold draft that swept through the automatic doors. She was the only wife waiting. Usually, assistants or drivers waited here. Wives waited at home. But Vivian wanted this to be special. She wanted to see his face when she told him.
Passengers from the flight began to exit. A few businessmen she recognized nodded at her politely. A famous actress swept past, surrounded by handlers.
Vivian scanned the crowd, her heart hammering against her ribs. She looked for his height, the sharp cut of his jaw, the way he walked like he owned the ground beneath his feet.
The crowd thinned. Then it dispersed.
Julian was not there.
Vivian checked the app again. Arrived.
She called his personal cell phone. It rang once. Then it went straight to voicemail. The mechanical voice of the operator felt like a slap.
She called Arthur, his Chief of Staff. It rang and rang until it disconnected.
Vivian stood there. The terminal was empty now, save for a janitor pushing a mop bucket. The silence was deafening. She felt a cold chill that had nothing to do with the air conditioning. She realized she had been standing there for two hours.
Her phone buzzed.
It was a news alert. A Google Alert she had set up for Julian Sterling.
She opened it. It was a photo from a paparazzi agency. The timestamp was twenty minutes ago.
The photo was grainy, but clear enough. It showed Julian getting into a black SUV at the private exit-the exit used for ultra-high-profile celebrities to avoid the main VIP terminal where she was standing. He wasn't alone.
A woman was getting in before him. All Vivian could see was a silhouette, long legs, and a mass of blonde hair.
Vivian stared at the screen. The world seemed to tilt on its axis. He had avoided the main exit. He had avoided the family car. He had taken a separate vehicle, likely one arranged by his security team to ensure privacy.
The driver, who had been waiting by the family sedan, walked up to her. He looked at her phone, then at her face. He had tried to call Julian's security detail, but they had gone radio silent. His expression softened into something that looked like pity. Vivian hated it.
"Mrs. Sterling?" the driver said softly. "Shall we go home?"
Vivian lowered her head. Her hand moved to her stomach again, a protective shield over the secret that suddenly felt very heavy.
"Yes," she whispered. "Take me home."
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