The morning after the party, I sat at the kitchen island in the quiet house.
Zane had left early.
The silence felt heavy now.
At ten, the doorbell rang.
A courier handed me an envelope.
Inside was a keycard and an address written in strong, clear handwriting: The Aerie.
PH 70.
7 AM.
No note.
No explanation.
Just an order from Vance.
I didn’t want to go.
But I had nothing else to do today.
So I went right away.
The Aerie was the top floor of the residential tower next to the Astera Spire offices.
The elevator opened right into the apartment.
The place was all windows and empty space.
It didn’t look like anyone lived there.
It looked like a museum.
Vance was waiting.
He wasn’t wearing a suit.
He had on dark pants and a grey sweater.
It made him look different.
Casually handsome that it made me held my breath.
“Sit,” he said.
“Harrington’s final amendments. Review the liability clauses.”
I sat and looked at the documents, but the words blurred in my eyes.
The memory of last night played on a loop.
He stayed standing by the window.
“Is it true?” The question left my lips before I could stop it.
Vance’s pen stilled.
“Is what true?”
”That you don’t love her.
With their affair.”
”You asked if I loved her.”
He turned around.
“The answer is no. But it’s not that simple. I didn’t marry her for love. I married her because it made sense. Our families knew each other. Our goals aligned. I thought that was enough.”
He paused.
“It wasn’t enough for her.
She wanted something else.
Something I couldn’t give her.”
”Love….
you couldn’t love her?
Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“Because you asked for it. Beside, we’re in this together now. You should know what you’re dealing with. My marriage is empty. Yours was built on a lie. We both failed.”
I wanted to tell him he was wrong.
My marriage wasn’t built on a lie, not for me.
But the words felt too heavy in my throat.
Before I could answer, a soft buzzer sounded.
Vance walked to the wall and pressed a button.
“Yes?”
A woman’s voice came through.
“Mr. Blackwood, the items from the main house are here.
And…
there’s something else.
From Mrs. Blackwood’s private room.
I think you need to see it.”
”Bring it up.”
A minute later, the elevator opened.
A woman in a staff uniform came in quickly.
She put a small box and a zipped bag on the table, then left without looking at the new VP.
Me.
Vance opened the box first.
Papers.
Documents.
Boring stuff.
Then he unzipped the bag.
He pulled out a plastic stick.
A pregnancy test.
I could see the two blue lines from where I sat.
For one insane, merciful second, my brain short-circuited.
It fabricated an entire alternate universe: Zane’s shocked, thrilled face in their kitchen.
My own hand, trembling, reaching for it.
It was the ghost of every hope I’d quietly buried.
Then the world crashed back in.
Next to it, Vance placed a lab report.
I saw the words: POSITIVE.
3-4 WEEKS.
My heart stopped.
The room got very quiet.
“No,” I said.
The word came out weak.
“That’s wrong. It has to be wrong.”
Vance didn’t look at me.
He was staring at the test.
“The dates match,” he said, his voice flat.
“It matches the week she left.
The week she was with him.”
”It could be yours!” My voice was too loud, so desperate.
“You’re her husband! Maybe the dates are off!”
Finally, he looked at me.
His eyes were cold.
“I haven’t slept with my wife in over six months. The math is simple.”
The floor dropped out from under me.
A baby.
Zane’s baby.
Growing inside Jovi.
All the air left my lungs.
I couldn’t breathe.
I bent over, my hands pressed on my knees.
A horrible sound came from my throat, between a gasp and a sob.
Tears ran down my face.
I couldn’t stop them.
My whole body shook.
They had a baby together, from the affair.
A baby I had dreamt together with Zane for five years.
And it made my world felt like it had crumbled into dust.