Victoria's POV
Victoria Cross Sterling stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and carefully fixed the padding under her dress.
The fake belly looked great. Round and firm, exactly like a woman who was three months pregnant would look. She'd practiced this lie so many times that she almost believed it herself.
Almost.
Victoria touched the cushion and felt sick inside. She wasn't pregnant. She'd never been pregnant. The whole thing was a desperate lie to keep her power now that Kai was dying.
"Mrs. Sterling?" One of her father's men knocked on the bathroom door. "Your father wants to see you."
"Coming," Victoria called out, taking one last look at her fake belly in the mirror.
She walked out to find Alpha Marcus Cross waiting in the main room with several of his best fighters. Her father looked proud and satisfied, like a cat who'd caught a mouse.
"How's our prisoner?" he asked.
