The note stayed pinned to the blanket long after we left the room.
Neither of us touched it.
Neither of us said a word.
We just stood there, breathing the same tension, the same dread.
Adrian reached for my hand, but I pulled away gently,
I needed to feel alone in that moment
Because for the first time, I realized this wasn't just about me, or her, or him.
This was about the child growing inside me.
And what she was willing to do to claim something that was never hers.
The guards did another sweep
They didn't find her, only more signs that she'd been watching.
A cup with lipstick on the rim in the kitchen,a shoeprint on the windowsill in the study, the perfume bottle is missing from my dresser.
Adrian installed new locks, reinforced the nursery, two guards posted outside our door,another stationed in the hallway.
His father sent his own security team,they didn't speak much but they moved with purpose.
That night, I couldn't sleep,I kept thinking of the note.
"I want him"
Three words that echoed over and over until my chest tightened
Until I couldn't breathe.
Adrian brought me tea and sat beside me on the edge of the bed.
"She's getting desperate", he said
That makes her sloppy.But I wasn't so sure.
Desperation made people dangerous, not sloppy
It made them cunning.
The next morning, Vanessa came over,she didn't knock she just walked straight in. Something about her eyes made my stomach twist.
"You need to see this", she said, holding out her phone.
I took it from her,and there was a photo. A close-up of Adrian's birth certificate.
But something was wrong….
It had been edited,digitally altered, his last name replaced,the father's name too.
"She's building a narrative",Vanessa said. That Adrian isn't the legal heir, that everything the Montclairs built was based on a lie.
I felt the floor tilt beneath me. If she proved that, If she found a way to sell the lie, then everything,his inheritance, the business, even our marriage,could unravel.
We went into full crisis mode.Lawyers were called,cybersecurity teams combed through every file,and Adrian's father flew back into town.
He was furious,not at Eliora,but at Adrian.
"You should have never let this get so far", he snapped.
"You should have handled it when I told you she was unstable"
Adrian didn't argue, he just listened, jaw tight, arms folded, then he left the room.
That night, I found him in the nursery,rocking slowly in the chair by the window,holding the giraffe with no eyes,he looked tired,more than that….he looked haunted.
I knelt beside him,touched his knee,"she's trying to take everything from us", I said. "Not just the baby,not just the name but everything".
He looked at me then he looked again ,this time firmly,and for the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.
"She knows too much", he whispered, "she knows things only family should know,things I've never told anyone"
"Like what?" I asked.
But he didn't answer.
The next day, we received an invitation.
A dinner,private location,no name, no details,just a card with a gold seal,and a time.
Adrian recognized the seal,
" My uncle's", he said,
"This is a trap".But we went anyway.
We arrived at a secluded estate just after sunset,Vanessa followed behind us in a separate car,the gates opened automatically.
Inside, everything was dark,except for a single table under a chandelier,and seated at that table was Eliora.
She wore red,the kind of red that struck like lightning,the kind that drew blood with a glance.
She stood when we walked in,smiled like we were old friends and gestured to the chairs opposite her.
I didn't sit,neither did Adrian.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"To talk", she said simply
"To remind you that I was here first".
"You gave that up", I said, stepping forward, "you walked away from it all"
She turned to me slowly
" No, Eliana,you stole it".
I felt the air shift ,the guards tensed,Vanessa's fingers hovered near her clutch,where we all knew she carried a blade.
"You can't have him", I said
"He's not yours,neither is this baby"
But she only laughed,and it was soft like a lullaby gone wrong.
"I don't want the baby", she said
"I want the truth".
I narrowed my eyes,"what truth?"
She turned to Adrian,"tell her", she said, "tell her what you did".
Adrian didn't move,he didn't even blink a bit.
I looked at him, "what is she talking about"?
He didn't answer.
Eliora smiled,the silence says everything.
We left that night with more questions than answers,in the car, I didn't speak neither did he.
When we got home, I went straight to the nursery,I needed to feel grounded, I needed to breathe.
Adrian followed me in, "Eliana", he said quietly.
"There's something you should know".
I turned around,saw the torment on his face and braced myself.
"The night before the wedding", he began,
"Your father told me the truth, that Eliora couldn't have children.
I didn't say anything
"So when I married you thinking you were Eliora,I already knew what I was signing up for, I already knew the risks, but I never expected to fall in love with you".
The words stung.
Because they were meant as comfort but they only confirmed one thing.
He had gone into this knowing there was a lie, and he let it happen anyway.
"Why didn't you say something"? I asked
"Because you made me forget", he said.
Because you were never like her,
because for the first time, I didn't care about the contract.
I couldn't process that, I walked out of the room,out of the house, down the garden path until I couldn't see the windows anymore.
When I returned, hours later,Adrian was waiting,he held out a letter,It had my name on it.I opened it slowly and inside was a printed legal document,custody rights,signed by Eliora.
I hereby relinquish all claims to the unborn child of Adrian Donavan and Eliana Montclair,effective immediately.
There was no signature,only a blood-red fingerprint at the,bottom.
We called our lawyer ,he examined it,said it was real
and also said it would hold up in court.
But something didn't feel right,
Why now?, why give up?,why walk away after fighting so hard?
I stared at the paper until the words blurred and then my phone rang….
It was an unknown number,
then I answered.
"You shouldn't have trusted the letter", Eliora said
" That was just the beginning".
And then she hung up,I turned to Adrian ,"we're not safe",he didn't argue.
That night, we packed a bag.Not to run,but to be ready.
Because this war wasn't over and I had the sinking feeling that the worst was yet to come.