Christy’s POV
The silence after Mira’s voice carried through the hall was deafening.
Her words, "you must be careful as you are pregnant," echoed again and again inside my head, louder than the music, louder than the laughter that had just filled this hall monts ago.
The chandeliers sparkled above , but all I could feel was the weight of a thousand eyes stabbing into from every direction.
And then, like venom spilling from an open wound, the whispers began.
"She’s pregnant?"
"Did you hear what the girl said? Pregnant?"
"Whose child could it be?"
"Oh God, after that video?"
"What a sha, such disgrace on the family na."
Each word slamd into like stones. My body stiffened, my lungs burned for air, my hands shook violently though I tried to keep them still. I could feel the heat of my sha crawling up my neck, flushing my skin red.
Mira’s satisfied little smirk was the final dagger.
"Mira!" Mason’s voice exploded through the chaos like a clap of thunder.
Everyone froze.
He stord toward her with fire raging in his eyes, his fists curled so tightly at his sides I thought he might break his own bones. His tall fra cast a dark shadow over her smaller one, and he lood with the fury of a storm barely contained.
"How dare you?" he growled, his voice vibrating with a dangerous energy that silenced even the boldest whispers. "Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?"
Mira’s eyes widened, her lips trembling as she instantly donned the mask of innocence she wore so well.
"I... I didn’t an it like that," she stamred, though her sweetened tone betrayed her glee. "I only wanted to remind my sister to be careful. She’s fragile, she’s recovering, and well it’s not like I lied, is it?"
Her words were knives dipped in honey.
The crowd gasped again, their whispers flaring hotter, spreading across the golden-lit hall like wildfire.
Mason’s rage only deepened. He took a threatening step closer, his voice rising, "You conniving little... "
"Mason!" my mother hissed, her face pale as she tried to pull him back. But he was immovable.
"Don’t you dare act like so saint," Mason spat, pointing a finger at Mira’s chest. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you opened that poisonous mouth. You wanted this... you wanted to humiliate her in front of everyone!"
Before Mira could answer, her mother, Lydia, swept forward, the sound of her heels like hamr blows against the marble. The suffocating perfu of her presence hit before her voice did.
"That’s enough!" she snapped, seizing Mira’s arm. Her sharp glare fixed on Mason with the intensity of a blade. "Do not raise your voice at my daughter, Mason. She has done nothing wrong!"
"Nothing wrong?" Mason’s fury cracked through the hall, his voice dark, nacing. "She just broadcasted Christy’s private matters to every single person in this room, and you think that’s nothing wrong?"
Lydia’s lip curled, her chin lifted high in arrogant defiance. "If Christy truly is with child, then Mira only voiced concern, as family should. If this brings sha, perhaps you should ask why sha exists in the first place."
The words slapped harder than any physical blow could.
My knees wobbled, and I gripped the edge of the nearby table to steady myself.
The whispers swelled louder again, cruel and rciless.
"A child? So it’s true..."
"Then who’s the father?"
"What will the council say?"
"Doesn’t this ruin everything? Their na, their reputation?"
My vision blurred.
It was happening again, the sa humiliation, the sa stripping away of dignity, just like that night at the engagent banquet when Celeste released the video.
My body shook violently, my chest heaving, as though I were drowning in the middle of a crowd.
"Enough!" My father’s voice roared suddenly, cutting through the noise. His tone silenced every whisper instantly.
The musicians had long since stopped playing, servants stood frozen like statues against the walls, and the once beautiful hall felt like a cage.
My grandfather, seated in his high-backed chair, rose slowly. His presence was enough to silence even the boldest voices. His glare cut through the chaos, his words like iron.
"The party is over," he said coldly. "Leave. All of you."
The guests gasped in disappointnt, but none dared to disobey. Slowly, carefully, they began filing out of the hall, but their gazes lingered on with a hunger for scandal, their whispers refusing to die.
By the ti the last of them had gone, the hall was quiet, too quiet. The golden chandeliers cast their glow over a battlefield of emotions.
I stood frozen in place, clutching my trembling hands together, my gown shimring mockingly in the light.
Celeste was the first to break the silence. She rushed toward Mason, panic etched across her delicate features.
"Mason," she whispered urgently, her voice tight with fear, "you must tell , who is responsible for this pregnancy?"
My heart slamd against my ribs. The ground beneath felt like it was splitting open.
Before Mason could respond, another voice broke through, deep and cold, one that made my entire body stiffen.
"I want to know too."
Kendrick.
He stepped forward from the shadows, his tall figure imposing, his gaze locked on Mason with a fire that threatened to devour everything in its path.
"Who is the father?" he asked again, each word sharp as steel.
The air thickened.
My heart stopped.
No.. No, this couldn’t be happening.
His eyes burned into , demanding, searching, stripping away every defense I tried to build.
Celeste gasped, stumbling back as though she might collapse. My mother tried to hold her ground, but even she faltered under the weight of Kendrick’s fury.
My chest tightened, panic clawing at my lungs until I couldn’t breathe. The room spun violently around , and before I could stop it, my vision went black.
And I collapsed.
Or at least, I pretended to.
The last thing I heard before slipping into that deliberate void was chaos breaking loose.
My mother screaming my na, Mason barking orders, Lydia’s smug voice rising, and Kendrick’s tone, deep and desperate.
*****
Kendrick’s POV
The mont she fell, my world shattered.
"No... Christy!" I lunged forward, catching her limp body in my arms before she hit the marble floor. Her face was pale, too pale, her body too light, too fragile in my hold.
"Christy, open your eyes," I whispered, my voice cracking as I shook her gently. "Don’t you dare do this to , not now."
Mason’s voice exploded beside . "Get your filthy hands off her!"
He tore back with a strength born of fury, his chest heaving as he placed himself between and Christy like a shield.
"Don’t touch her," he growled, his eyes blood-red with rage.
My chest heaved as I stood my ground. "She’s carrying my child," I snarled, the words ripping from my throat before I could stop them.
Gasps filled the air. My mother, Celeste, and even Jasper froze at my declaration.
Mason’s jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it might snap. His fists curled at his sides, and for a mont, I thought he might lunge at .
"You think you can just say that?" Mason hissed, his voice low and dangerous. "You think claiming her like that makes it true?"
"It is true," I roared, stepping forward, refusing to let him silence . "You know it as well as I do. She is mine. That child is mine."
The words shook the hall like thunder.
Mason’s glare could have killed on the spot. But before fists could fly, Jasper appeared, sliding between us, his presence calm yet commanding.
"She needs rest," Jasper said firmly. His arms slipped around Christy, lifting her limp body with a gentleness that cut deeper than any blade. "Fighting will not help her."
I froze. My chest ached as I watched him hold her as though she belonged to him. The beast in howled, clawed, begging to rip her from his arms, to shout the truth until the world believed it.
But then... her eyelids fluttered.
Her lashes trembled, her lips parted, and her eyes finally opened.
"Christy..." I breathed, my heart stopping as her gaze focused.
But she wasn’t looking at .
Her trembling hand reached for Jasper’s sleeve, clutching it like a lifeline. Her voice, weak and broken, sliced through .
"I was so scared," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "I thought I’d lose our child."
Our child?.
The word shattered every part of .
She wasn’t looking at . She wasn’t holding on to . She was clinging to Jasper as though he were the only man who mattered.
Every cell in my body scread in protest.
No. No, that child was mine. She was mine.
But when I looked into her eyes, I saw the confusion, the shadows of broken mories, the fragility of soone barely piecing herself together.
If I told her now,
if I forced the truth... she might break completely.
So I swallowed the roar clawing at my throat.
I said nothing.
But my silence didn’t an surrender.
This wasn’t over.
She was mine and the child was also mine.
And no one, Mason, Jasper, or fate itself would take them from .
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