Callie’s voice floated in from the living room before my mother could finish that sentence. She stepped into the entryway, and everything inside me went still for one dizzying second. She somehow looked soft and strong at the same time with her hair pulled up, a faint flush on her cheeks, and something impossibly radiant beneath the exhaustion. A glow.
The venom in my mother’s voice faded beneath something far more powerful—the sight of my wife. Callie was so damn beautiful. And she was carrying our child.
My resolve hardened with brutal clarity. I would burn every ounce of my mother’s influence before I let her touch one hair on Callie’s head.
But I’d gone quiet for too long, and my mother mistook it as permission. She pivoted toward Callie with a venomous glare. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what you’re doing. A well-timed pregnancy is very convenient. Reporters will love it when they hear the truth.”
Callie flinched, taking a tiny step back.
Margot leaned in, her voice growing even colder. “I will tell them you married Ethan for money. Once your reputation is shredded, it won’t take much to have your adjunct contract reconsidered. I have contacts at Westfield University. One call to the dean, and?—”
Callie’s breath stuttered, and her hand instinctively drifted toward her belly as though to shield the life growing there. The fear in her eyes ignited something primal in me. I stepped between them so fast my mother actually startled, her heels scraping against the marble floor.
“You have no power over us anymore.” My voice vibrated with a fury I'd never allowed myself to feel toward her before.
My mother’s smile twisted into something brittle and desperate. “Over you? Perhaps not. But over her?” She tilted her head toward Callie. “I can end her entire career in a day.”
Callie gasped behind me, her voice breaking as she whispered, “I can’t do this.”
19
CALLIE
Ididn’t even feel my feet hitting the floor as I rushed toward the elevator. My vision tunneled so much it made the edges of my sight shimmer. All I knew was that if I stayed in that penthouse one second longer with her voice still echoing in my head, I was going to break apart in ways I wouldn’t recover from.
I didn’t grab shoes. Or my purse. The only thing my mind could process was escape, the elevator button blurring beneath my thumb.
“Callie, stop.”
Ethan’s voice sliced through the panic. I froze but didn’t turn. My shoulders shook, and my breath caught somewhere between a sob and a gasp.
“Please.” His footsteps slowed behind me. “Don’t go.”
I stared at the brushed metal elevator doors, focusing on the faint reflection of my own shaking silhouette.
“The only person who gives a damn about Prescott money is her.” He was directly behind me now but not touching. “Not me. Or you.”
I folded my arms over my belly as if I could shield the baby from my chaotic emotions.
“I’m choosing you,” he continued, his voice breaking. “I’m choosing our family. Not my mother. Never again.”
A small, broken sound escaped me. Anger, fear, and longing tangled together in my chest.
“You don’t have to look at me. Not until you’re ready. Just don’t walk away.”
My eyes squeezed shut, and my fingers trembled as I braced myself against the wall.
“I’ll stay,” I whispered, barely audible. “But that’s all I can promise right now.”
I expected him to try to pull me back into the penthouse with promises and apologies. Instead, he turned and went to war with his mother.
“You’re not welcome in our life. Ever again.”
His words sliced through the air like a blade, colder than I’d ever heard him before.
I slowly turned, feeling like I wasn’t alone in this fight for the first time.
Margot’s eyes widened with a flash of real fear before she masked it with a brittle smirk. “You’ll regret choosing her.”
