“Where’s the fun in that?”
The seed was planted.
All we needed to do was plant one in her now.
Chapter 24
Alec
My breakfast paninis had wilted baby spinach tucked inside them that morning, layered with poached eggs. The nutrition needed to be more balanced now—to account for Ella and the potential fetus. Nick was my sous-chef in training, and Ella was the occasional baker. None of them would notice the subtle changes. They never did.
Rowan set the table while Ella helped carry the drinks and plates. Domestic. Ordinary. The kind of scene that looked almost normal if you didn’t know what sat beneath it.
Once everyone was seated, I turned my attention to Ella.
“Open up, sweetheart,” I murmured.
I watched her lips part without hesitation.
I placed the tiny pill on her tongue—the new one Rowan had provided.
The devious bastard.
“Just imagine if you missed a day,” I said lightly, handing her the glass of orange juice.“With multiple loads being pumped inside you, you’d be knocked up within a few days.”
Nick choked on his coffee, coughing into his hand as Rowan shot me a sharp warning look over the table.
Ella froze. Her eyes went wide, fingers tightening around the glass like it might slip from her grasp.
I smiled and began to eat, unbothered. Rowan’s words had already taken root, sinking deep enough to become my next fixation. Some of the things I enjoyed doing to Ella would have to be sacrificed—but only temporarily.
Nine months was nothing.
I took a slow sip of my coffee, deliberately ignoring Nick’s glare.
???
Numbers, calculations, and formulas had always fascinated me. They were puzzles waiting to be solved—patterns hidden beneath chaos. That was why I thrived in our line of work.
If I’d gone into the corporate world, I’d have ended up a mass murderer.
Today, though, I wasn’t devising creative accounting strategies or manipulating figures on a balance sheet. I was thinking in probabilities.
Ella’s young womb.
Stretching.
Filled with our seed.
The probability was surrounded by practical considerations—timing, access, compliance—but in the end, fate always held the final say.
And if probability was going to be given a fair chance—
Nick had to be told.
???
Rowan called the weekly meeting earlier than usual—something he only did when there was a reason. I’d nudged him into it, persuaded him that including Nick now was necessary. I hadn’t bothered laying out my full rationale. There was no need. I knew how Rowan’s mind worked.
