“What pregnancy?”
The words hung in the sterile air of the waiting room, heavy and suffocating. William looked at the doctor, waiting for the punchline, but the doctor merely flipped a page on his chart.
“Mrs. Croft is approximately twelve weeks along,” the doctor stated, oblivious to the nuclear bomb he had just detonated. “Given the fainting spell and her elevated cortisol levels, she is high-risk. She needs absolute rest.”
The doctor retreated back through the double doors, leaving a vacuum of silence that was instantly filled by William’s rising fury.
He turned slowly toward Dominic Valerius. Dominic sat on the vinyl chair, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor with a look of grim resignation. He hadn’t flinched at the news.
“You knew,” William whispered, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. “That day at the studio. The morning sickness. You knew.”
Dominic looked up. His eyes were cold, devoid of the usual shark-like amusement. “Yes.”
“She is carrying my child,” William roared, lunging forward. “And you kept it from me? You let me think she was having an affair while she was carrying my heir?”
He moved to storm the double doors, desperate to see her, to demand answers, to see the proof of the life they had created before everything turned to ash.
Dominic moved faster. He was on his feet and blocking the doorway in a heartbeat, his hand slamming against William’s chest to hold him back.
“Get out of my way, Valerius,” William snarled, his hands bunching into fists. “That is my wife. That is my family.”
“She *was* your family,” Dominic said, his voice low and lethal. He didn’t budge an inch. “She stopped being your family the moment you prioritized a liar over her. You want to see her? You want to play the doting father now?”
Dominic shoved William back, hard.
“You lost the right to know when you chose Seraphina,” Dominic spat. “Victoria sat in that studio, sick and terrified, afraid you would take the baby and give it to your mistress to raise. I am the one who held her hair back while she threw up. I am the one who made sure she ate. You were too busy playing white knight to the wrong woman.”
William staggered back, the truth cutting deeper than any knife. He looked at the closed doors, knowing his child was behind them, and knowing he was the villain in their story.