Audrey's POV.
The question hung in the air like a blade.
Who is the father?
For a moment, no one moved. No one even breathed.
The entire room seemed to shrink around me.
Sasha didn't rush me for an answer. She didn't need to.
Instead, she stepped forward and calmly placed the pregnancy test on the polished mahogany table beside the floral centerpiece, as if she were simply adding another decoration to the dinner setting.
The small white strip looked painfully out of place against the dark wood.
But no one looked away from it.
Sasha folded her hands together and turned toward me with wide, innocent eyes.
Anyone who didn't know her might have believed the act.
But I saw the slight curve at the corner of her mouth.
A tiny expression of satisfaction.
Of triumph.
My world tilted.
The faces in the room—my fiancé, his parents, my uncle, my aunt—blurred together until they became nothing more than shapes and colors.
My hands were shaking so badly that I had to grab the edge of the tablecloth just to keep them steady.
"Audrey?"
The voice came from my right.
Trent.
I forced myself to look at him.
The expression on his face nearly broke me.
He looked confused. Lost. Like someone had just told him the ground beneath his feet wasn't real.
"Tell her she's crazy," Trent said quietly.
He stepped toward me, ignoring the sharp sound of his mother inhaling in disapproval. His hand reached for mine, gripping it tightly as if I were the only thing keeping him standing.
"Audrey," he whispered desperately. "Tell them it's not yours. Tell them it's a mistake."
My heart twisted painfully.
I wanted to lie.
God, I wanted to lie so badly.
But the pregnancy test was sitting right there on the table.
Two bright lines.
A silent witness I couldn't erase.
"I…" My voice barely worked. "I… I'm pregnant."
The moment the words left my mouth, Trent dropped my hand as if it had burned him.
He stumbled backward, hitting the chair behind him. The wooden legs scraped harshly against the floor.
"You're… what?"
"It happened before we met!" I rushed out, panic tightening my chest. "Trent, please. I didn't cheat on you. I swear I didn't!"
"But you're pregnant," he said weakly.
His voice sounded hollow.
"You sat here with me… you let me show you houses… you let me plan our future while you were carrying…" His voice cracked. "While you were carrying someone else's child?"
"I didn't know!" I cried. "I only found out today!"
"That is enough."
Mrs. Mercer didn't raise her voice.
She didn't need to.
Her tone cut through the room like ice.
She stood slowly from her chair, smoothing the front of her elegant dress as if this entire situation were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Her expression was perfectly composed.
Cold.
"Mrs. Mercer, please," I said desperately, taking a step forward. "I love your son. I would never betray him."
"Do not speak to me."
Her gaze sliced through me.
It wasn't anger in her eyes.
It was disgust.
The kind someone reserves for a stain they've just discovered on their clothing.
She turned toward her husband.
"The wedding is off," she said calmly. "Call the lawyers in the morning and cancel the merger."
My uncle shot up from his chair so quickly it nearly toppled over.
"Now hold on!" he blurted out, his face turning pale. "Orson, please. Let's not make any rash decisions. This is a personal issue. It doesn't have to affect the shipping contracts."
Mr. Mercer looked from my uncle… to me.
His expression was completely emotionless.
Purely business.
"We don't do business with damaged goods, Saul," he said flatly.
"And your niece has made it very clear what she is."
His voice hardened slightly.
"We're done."
"Trent," I said desperately, tears finally spilling down my cheeks. "Trent, please look at me."
He slowly lifted his head.
His eyes were red.
His jaw was clenched so tightly it trembled.
For a second—just a second—I thought he might stay.
I thought he might say something.
Fight for me.
But then his mother stepped beside him and placed a firm hand on his arm.
"Come, Trent," she said quietly. "She isn't who you thought she was."
Trent didn't argue.
He looked at me one last time.
The betrayal in his eyes cut deeper than anything else in that room.
"I trusted you, Audrey."
Then he turned away.
The front door slammed moments later.
The sound echoed through the house like a gunshot.
And just like that, the future I thought I had was gone.
I stood there in the silence, trying to breathe.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed my arm.
Hard.
"You foolish, stupid girl!"
Uncle Saul's face was inches from mine, red with fury. His grip tightened painfully as he shook me.
"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" he roared. "That merger was going to save us! You've destroyed everything!"
"I didn't mean to—"
"Who is it?" he demanded harshly.
His fingers dug deeper into my arm.
"If you weren't sleeping with Trent, then who is the father? Which bastard ruined this family?"
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
Roman.
The name burned in my throat.
If I said it… everything would explode.
My uncle wasn't just a businessman.
He owned a journalism agency.
A man who had spent his entire life hunting scandals and exposing secrets.
And he hated the Lennox family with a bitterness that had lasted decades.
If he discovered I was carrying Roman Lennox's child, he wouldn't see a baby.
He would see a weapon.
A headline.
Leverage against one of the most powerful families in the city.
"I can't tell you," I whispered.
"You can't?"
He laughed harshly.
"You ruin this family's reputation and you think you get to keep secrets?"
His grip tightened again.
"Give me the name, Audrey!"
"I will handle it," I said desperately. "Just give me time—"
My phone began vibrating on the table.
The sudden sound cut through the room like an alarm.
Both of us froze.
The screen lit up in the dim room.
My uncle's gaze slowly shifted toward it.
Roman Lennox.
The name glowed brightly across the screen.
A sharp breath escaped my lips.
Why now?
Why was he calling now?
He had already thrown me out of his office.
My uncle noticed the panic on my face.
He noticed the way I lunged toward the phone.
But he was faster.
"No! Uncle, don't!" I cried.
He shoved me aside easily.
I stumbled against a chair, watching helplessly as he picked up the phone.
He looked at the caller ID.
His expression changed instantly.
"Lennox?" he muttered.
Confusion flickered across his face.
Then realization struck.
A dark, calculating look slowly spread across his features.
He answered the call and pressed the phone to his ear.
But he didn't speak.
He just listened.
His eyes locked onto mine with terrifying intensity.
My heart stopped.
Roman was going to talk.
The NDA.
The payout.
The silence I had promised him.
If he realized the secret was exposed… he wouldn't just be angry.
He would destroy me.
My legs gave out beneath me.
I slid down the wall slowly, my vision blurring as the last pieces of my world finally collapsed around me.