Ethan stared at the message, thinking about that tiny flickering heartbeat. About seven months from now when everything would change. About whether he'd ever be able to trust Isabelle again, or if they'd spend the next eighteen years navigating this painful distance.Derek hadn't slept in three days.He stared at the ceiling of his apartment, watching the shadows shift as headlights passed on the street below. It was 3:17 AM. He'd been lying here since midnight, his mind replaying that night with Isabelle on an endless, torturous loop. Her grief. His grief. The whiskey. The way she'd looked at him like he was Ethan, just for a moment, just enough.He rolled over and grabbed his phone from the nightstand. The screen's blue light burned his eyes as he typed the same search he'd entered a dozen times this week: can you get pregnant during your period.The results loaded. He scrolled past the top answers—the ones that said "unlikely" and "rare"—and dug deeper. Medical journals. Forum thre

Ethan arrived at the Foundation offices at seven PM, after most of the staff had gone home. The building felt hollow in the evening light, all glass and empty corridors. He found Isabelle in Marcus's old study on the third floor, surrounded by file boxes and legal documents.She looked up when he knocked on the open door. "You came.""You asked me to." He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "And you were right. We need to figure this out."Isabelle gestured to the chair across from her desk. Between them sat Catherine's acquisition proposal, flagged with sticky notes and annotations. "I've been going through her offer. It's worse than I thought. If we accept, the Foundation dissolves within eighteen months. Everything Marcus built gets absorbed into her institute, rebranded, repurposed."Ethan leaned forward, scanning the document. "There's no preservation clause?""None. She's not interested in continuing his work. She wants to erase it." Isabelle's voice was tight. "This is

Isabelle found Ethan at the estate, measuring window frames in what would eventually become Marcus's library. He looked up when she entered, wiping dust from his hands."Hey," he said. "I wasn't expecting you today.""We need to talk." She closed the door behind her, and something in her voice made him set down his measuring tape."What happened?"Isabelle took a breath. "Victoria Sterling called me yesterday."The name landed like a physical blow. Ethan went very still, his expression shifting from confusion to something harder. "What?""She saw the news about Catherine's takeover attempt. She called to offer help.""Help." Ethan's voice was flat. "Victoria wants to help us.""She has evidence, Ethan. Financial records proving Catherine embezzled funds, committed grant fraud, evaded taxes. Years of documentation." Isabelle pulled out her phone and opened the encrypted files Victoria had sent. "I've been through it. It's real. It's enough to destroy Catherine's credibility completely.

The waiting room was quieter this time. Fewer couples, more women alone with magazines they weren't reading. Isabelle sat with her hands folded over the small swell of her stomach, now visible enough that she'd started wearing looser clothing. Fourteen weeks. The second trimester. The doctor had said this was when things got easier—less nausea, more energy.She didn't feel easier. She felt terrified.The door opened and Ethan walked in. He spotted her immediately, nodded once, and took the seat beside her. Not close enough to touch, but closer than last time."How are you feeling?" he asked."Tired. But okay." She glanced at him. "You?""Same." He looked like he meant it. The past two weeks since the meeting with Victoria had been brutal—coordinating evidence, preparing statements, fighting Catherine on multiple fronts while pretending everything was fine. "Have you heard from Victoria today?""Three emails this morning." Isabelle kept her voice low. "She's relentless.""That's one wo

Derek was reviewing structural plans in his office when his assistant knocked on the door."There's a Catherine Montgomery here to see you. She doesn't have an appointment, but she says it's urgent."Derek's pen stopped mid-stroke. "Catherine Montgomery?""Should I tell her you're busy?"Every instinct screamed yes. But curiosity—and something darker, closer to dread—made him shake his head. "No. Send her in."Catherine entered like she owned the building. Charcoal suit, pearl earrings, silver hair swept back in a style that probably cost more than Derek's monthly rent. She closed the door behind her without asking permission."Mr. Hayes. Thank you for seeing me."Derek stood, not offering his hand. "I don't think we've ever met.""Not formally." Catherine settled into the chair across from his desk, crossing her legs with practiced elegance. "But I know quite a bit about you. Ethan Cole's best friend. Talented architect in your own right. Loyal to a fault.""What do you want?"Cather