Chapter 1 - The Question That Silenced the Boutique
“Whose baby is that?”
Damian Blackwood’s voice was quiet.
But every person inside Petit Couture heard it.
Katelyn stood beside a white handcrafted crib, one hand gripping the rail while the other covered her eight-month pregnant belly.
Six large men in black suits had spread across the luxury nursery boutique.
None had drawn a weapon.
They did not need to.
Their stillness was enough to make the other customers retreat toward the cream-colored walls.
Natalia clung to Damian’s sleeve.
“Damian, we’re leaving.”
He pulled his arm free without looking at her.
His eyes remained locked on Katelyn.
Three years had passed since she had last seen him.
Three years since he had chosen silence over her.
Three years since she had disappeared from his life without explaining why.
Now he stood less than six feet away, dressed in a tailored black suit, staring at the child beneath her heart.
Katelyn forced herself to breathe.
“Step back.”
Damian stopped instantly.
The lead bodyguard extended an arm across his path, not to threaten Katelyn, but to remind Damian that one wrong movement could frighten her.
Natalia’s face tightened.
“She’s pregnant,” she repeated, this time with accusation instead of surprise.
Damian finally looked at her.
“Go wait in the car.”
Natalia laughed once.
Sharp.
Disbelieving.
“You brought me here to choose furniture for our nursery.”
Katelyn’s stomach turned.
Their nursery.
She had not known Damian was engaged.
She had not known he was building a new family.
Then again, he had not known she was carrying a child.
Damian looked back at Katelyn.
“I asked you a question.”
“And I told you not to come closer.”
His jaw flexed.
Katelyn felt the baby move beneath her palm.
She flinched.
Damian noticed.
For one second, the terrifying calm left his face.
Something raw replaced it.
Fear.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Then whose baby is it?”
Katelyn stared at the man who had once promised nothing in the world could separate them.
Then she looked at Natalia.
At the fur coat.
The diamond ring.
The possessive hand still hovering near Damian’s arm.
Katelyn’s voice came out barely above a whisper.
“You lost the right to ask.”
Damian’s face hardened.
But before he could respond, an older saleswoman hurried from the back office holding a sealed envelope.
“Ms. Hayes,” she said nervously, “this was delivered for you.”
Katelyn saw the sender’s name.
Her blood went cold.
May you like
The envelope had come from the private clinic that Damian believed no longer existed.
👉 The letter in Katelyn’s hand contained the first proof that someone had lied to both of them three years earlier.
