Chapter 3 TWO PINK LINES

Six weeks after the night that changed everything, Seraphina Vale discovered that her life was about to become far more complicated.

It started with a smell.

The scent of freshly brewed coffee, which she usually loved, suddenly made her stomach twist. She rushed away from the small kitchen in her apartment, one hand pressed over her mouth, and barely reached the bathroom before she threw up.

When it was over, she sat on the cold tiled floor, breathing heavily.

"Food poisoning," she whispered to herself.

It had to be.

She had been working late for days, surviving on coffee, biscuits, and whatever inexpensive food she could find between restoration jobs. Stress could do strange things to the body.

But when she stood up, she caught sight of the calendar hanging beside her bedroom door.

Her eyes narrowed.

She walked toward it slowly, counting the days with a finger.

Once.

Twice.

Then a third time, hoping she had made a mistake.

Her period was late.

Not by a day.

Not by two.

By nearly three weeks.

A strange coldness crept through her body.

"No," she whispered.

She grabbed her phone and opened the period-tracking application she rarely checked anymore. The dates were there, mercilessly clear.

Her last period had ended shortly before the charity gala.

The gala.

The luxurious hotel suite.

The dark eyes of a stranger who had looked at her as though she were the only woman in the world.

Cassian Thorne.

Sera closed her eyes.

She remembered the warmth of his hand against hers, the unexpected gentleness beneath his intimidating appearance, and the way he had asked whether she wanted to stay rather than assuming she would.

She remembered waking up alone.

And she remembered the magazine cover announcing his engagement.

Her stomach twisted again, but this time it had nothing to do with nausea.

"Oh, God."

She scrambled to her feet, grabbed her bag, and left the apartment.

She needed a pregnancy test.

And she needed it now.

The pharmacy was only two streets away, but the journey felt endless.

Sera kept her head lowered as she entered, hoping nobody she knew would be there. She wandered through the aisles longer than necessary, pretending to compare products while her heart hammered against her ribs.

Finally, she approached the counter.

"Please, I need a pregnancy test."

The woman behind the counter nodded and reached beneath the shelf.

"Do you want one or two?"

Sera hesitated.

Two.

She didn't know why that felt safer, but it did.

"Two, please."

She paid, shoved the small paper bag into her handbag, and hurried home.

Once inside her apartment, she locked the door and stood motionless in the hallway.

The tests were in her bag.

All she had to do was take them.

Simple.

Except nothing about this felt simple.

If the result was negative, she could return to her life. She could forget the gala, finish restoring the antique portrait waiting on her worktable, and continue trying to save her mother's studio.

But if it was positive-

Her gaze drifted toward the window.

A baby.

Her baby.

And the father was a man whose photograph appeared in business magazines, newspapers, and society columns. A man whose family could probably buy her entire street without noticing the expense.

A man who was engaged to someone else.

Sera swallowed hard.

"I can do this," she told herself.

Then she went into the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, she sat on the edge of her bathtub, staring at the two tests resting on the sink.

Two pink lines.

On both.

For several seconds, she couldn't breathe.

She picked up the first test and examined it closely, as though staring hard enough might change the result.

Two lines.

She grabbed the second.

Two lines.

"No," she whispered again, but her voice broke this time.

Tears blurred her vision.

She covered her mouth with both hands, trying to silence the sob that rose from somewhere deep inside her.

She was pregnant.

She was actually pregnant.

A thousand thoughts crashed into her mind at once.

How would she afford a baby when she could barely afford her rent?

How would she continue working with the studio's bills piling up?

What if the baby needed something she couldn't provide?

And what about Cassian?

Would he believe her?

Would he accuse her of trying to trap him into marriage?

Would he think she had planned everything from the beginning?

Sera pressed a trembling hand against her stomach.

There was nothing to feel yet. No movement. No visible change. Just the knowledge that a tiny life might already be growing inside her.

A life that hadn't asked to be part of any of this.

Her tears fell harder.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered.

For the first time since her mother's death, Sera wished desperately that she could hear her mother's voice.

Her mother would have known what to say. She would have held Sera's face between her hands and reminded her that fear didn't mean she was incapable.

But her mother was gone.

And Sera was alone.

Or at least, she felt alone.

Her phone vibrated on the bathroom counter.

She ignored it.

It vibrated again.

With a shaky breath, she reached for it.

A message from Maya, her best friend.

Maya: Girl, are you alive? You've ignored my calls all morning. I'm coming over.

Sera stared at the screen.

For a moment, she considered pretending everything was fine.

Then she looked at the two pink lines again.

She couldn't do this alone.

Sera: Please come. I need you.

Maya's reply arrived almost immediately.

Maya: I'm on my way. What happened?

Sera typed three words.

Sera: I'm pregnant, Maya.

The phone began ringing before she could put it down.

Maya arrived twenty minutes later with a handbag over one shoulder and enough worry on her face to make Sera burst into tears all over again.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Sera didn't answer. She simply walked toward her friend and collapsed into her arms.

Maya held her tightly.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out."

Sera pulled back, wiping her cheeks.

"I'm pregnant."

Maya went completely still.

Then her eyes widened.

"Pregnant?"

Sera nodded.

Maya glanced toward the bathroom.

"Are you sure?"

"Two tests."

"Oh, Sera."

Maya drew her into another hug, and for a while, neither of them spoke.

Eventually, Maya guided her to the sofa and sat beside her.

"Is it his?"

Sera knew exactly whom she meant.

"Yes."

"The man from the hotel?"

"Yes."

"The billionaire?"

Sera gave a miserable nod.

Maya leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

"Of course."

Despite everything, Sera let out a weak, watery laugh.

"What does that mean?"

"It means your life never does anything halfway. Other people have one-night stands with regular men who forget their names. You have one with Cassian Thorne."

"Maya!"

"I'm sorry!" Maya raised both hands. "I'm trying to process this."

Sera looked down at her fingers.

"I don't even know what to call him. The father of my child? A stranger? Someone else's fiancé?"

Maya's expression softened.

"Have you told him?"

"No."

"Are you going to?"

Sera immediately shook her head.

"He'll think I want his money."

"Do you?"

"No!"

"I know. I'm asking because you need to be honest with yourself, not because I doubt you."

Sera's eyes filled again.

"I don't want anything from him. I didn't even know who he was that night until the morning. And when I found out, I left."

Maya took her hand.

"Then tell him the truth."

"What if he doesn't believe me?"

"Then that's his problem. But you can't make a decision about your child's father based on a rejection you haven't even received yet."

Sera stared at her friend.

"What if he tries to take the baby?"

Maya's expression changed.

"Don't borrow trouble before it arrives. First, confirm the pregnancy with a healthcare professional and make sure you're okay. Then decide how to approach him."

Sera nodded slowly.

That sounded reasonable.

It also sounded terrifying.

Maya squeezed her hand.

"One step at a time, okay?"

"One step at a time," Sera repeated.

But even as she said the words, she knew there was one problem she couldn't ignore.

She had to see Cassian Thorne again.

Across the city, Cassian sat behind his desk on the thirty-second floor of Thorne Tower, staring at a document he had read three times without absorbing a single word.

His assistant, Daniel, stood opposite him.

"Sir, the board meeting starts in fifteen minutes."

"Move it."

Daniel hesitated.

"Your father is already in the conference room."

"Then he can wait."

Daniel studied him carefully.

In the eight years he had worked for Cassian, he had learned that his employer's silence could be more dangerous than his anger.

"Is there anything else you need?"

Cassian glanced at the small black box beside his laptop.

"No."

Daniel left.

Cassian opened the box.

Inside lay a photograph he had printed the previous night: a woman standing outside Vale Restoration Studio, her dark hair falling over one shoulder as she spoke to someone on the pavement.

Seraphina Vale.

He had spent six weeks trying to find her.

Six weeks of unanswered questions, frustrating searches, and growing irritation with himself for caring so much about a woman whose surname he hadn't even known when she walked out of his suite.

He should have forgotten her.

Instead, he remembered everything.

The way she had challenged him without knowing his wealth.

The way she had looked at him when he asked if she wanted to stay.

The way she had disappeared without asking for a single thing.

Most women who entered his world wanted something. A connection, a contract, a photograph beside him, or an opportunity to turn a private moment into public attention.

Seraphina had wanted nothing.

That was precisely why he couldn't stop thinking about her.

His phone rang.

Daniel's name appeared on the screen.

Cassian answered.

"Yes?"

"I found something about the hotel room assignment," Daniel said. "The change was made through an internal account linked to your father's executive office."

Cassian's jaw tightened.

"You told me that already."

"There is more. The person who submitted the change used credentials belonging to an employee who left the company three months ago."

"Someone deliberately arranged for me to enter that room."

"That appears to be the case, sir."

Cassian looked down at Seraphina's photograph.

"Find out who gave the order."

"I'll do my best."

"No." His voice hardened. "Find out who did it."

He ended the call.

His father had spent years arranging his life as though Cassian were another asset in the Thorne portfolio. Business deals disguised as friendships. Engagements disguised as love. Every decision made to protect the family name.

But this was different.

Someone had interfered with a private night.

Someone had put a woman who knew nothing about his world directly in his path.

And Cassian couldn't decide whether he was more furious about the manipulation or grateful that it had happened.

He picked up his phone and opened the message thread he had started with Seraphina's business number.

Their last conversation had been brief.

She had agreed to meet him, but she had made it clear she didn't trust him.

He understood why.

He typed a message.

Cassian: We need to meet. Today, if possible.

He waited.

A minute passed.

Then another.

No reply.

He set the phone down, forcing himself to return to the document on his desk.

It vibrated again.

His hand moved toward it immediately.

But the message wasn't from Seraphina.

It was from Vivienne.

Vivienne: My father wants us to announce the wedding date at Saturday's dinner. Don't make this difficult, Cassian.

Cassian stared at the screen.

For the first time in years, the thought of marrying Vivienne felt less like an obligation and more like a sentence.

He turned the phone facedown.

There was a woman somewhere in the city carrying a secret that might change his life forever.

He simply didn't know it yet.

That evening, Sera stood in front of the mirror, trying to decide whether she looked different.

She didn't.

Her jeans fit exactly as they had the previous week. Her face was the same. Her stomach was flat beneath her loose blouse.

Yet everything had changed.

She rested her palm against her abdomen.

"I'm going to take care of you," she whispered. "I don't know how yet, but I will."

Her phone buzzed on the bed.

Cassian's message was still waiting.

We need to meet. Today, if possible.

Sera sat down.

She could ignore him. She could block his number, leave the city, and raise her child without ever telling him the truth.

But would that be fair to the baby?

And would she spend the rest of her life wondering what might have happened if she'd given him a chance?

She opened the message thread and typed slowly.

Sera: Tomorrow. Somewhere public. I have something important to tell you.

His reply came almost instantly.

Cassian: Name the place and time.

Sera chose a café near the restoration studio, one where she could leave easily if the meeting went badly.

Sera: 11 a.m. The little café on Bell Street. Come alone.

Three dots appeared.

Disappeared.

Then returned.

Cassian: I'll be there.

Sera placed the phone on the bed and closed her eyes.

Tomorrow, she would look the father of her child in the eyes and tell him the truth.

Whatever happened after that, she would face it.

She had to.

But what Sera didn't know was that someone else had been watching the Thorne family closely.

And that person had already discovered the one thing that could destroy them all.

A secret that began long before the night at the hotel.