The brother who had been so disgusted by my confession that he fled the country was finally back. His fiancée threw a welcome-home party behind my back. I showed up uninvited. Before I even walked through the door, I heard his best friend say: "Aren't you worried she'll latch onto you again now that you're back?" Ethan draped an arm around his fiancée's waist. "The beating I gave her before I left should have knocked some sense into her." "Of course," he added, "if she starts up again—" He laughed softly. "Then I'll just have to ship her off somewhere so remote she'll never forget her place." Laughter erupted inside. I pushed the door open and walked in. The room went instantly quiet. Everyone stared at me with contempt. His fiancée sneered. "Shameless. Nobody invited you." Ethan gave me a knowing look and said lightly, "My fiancée speaks her mind. Don't take it personally." "But honestly, you shouldn't be here." I swept my gaze over the crowd drinking in the spectacle. Then I let out a sudden, broken sob. And grabbed Ethan's best friend by the arm. "Babe," I cried, "why didn't you tell my brother I'm pregnant?" --- **1.** Ryan yanked his arm away in shock, staring at me like I was something he'd stepped in. "Stella, are you out of your mind? Why the hell would I ever touch you?" The room exploded with laughter. Ethan frowned and pulled his fiancée, Violet, closer as they stepped toward me. "Stella, if you wanted my attention, you didn't have to make a scene like this." I met his disgusted gaze. I pressed a hand to my stomach, going for pitifully helpless. "Ethan, I really am carrying Ryan's baby." "That's impossible." Violet hurled her wine glass at me. The liquid splashed across my face and soaked into my clothes. "Still delusional? My brother can't stand you. What, you couldn't climb your way into Ethan's bed so now you're going after the next rich heir?" The wine stung my eyes like needles. I reached up to wipe them. Ryan grabbed my wrist and wrenched my hand away. "You say it's my kid — when exactly did we sleep together?" The wine blurred my vision until tears streamed down my face, but no one cared. My voice shook. I had no choice but to say it. "About six weeks ago. At the Nightfall Club. Someone slipped something into your drink, Ryan. That night — it was me." "That's insane! How could it have been you!" Ryan's grip loosened in shock. Ethan's expression darkened. "Is that true?" Ryan said blankly, "I was drugged that night. I knew someone was there, but I had no idea who..." He cycled through women like he was flipping channels — his schedule was booked out years in advance. There was no chance he remembered who he'd been with. Ethan exhaled roughly and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were burning with fury. The next second, he backhanded me across the face. The force of it sent me stumbling backward into the champagne tower. The room gasped. The entire tower crashed down on top of me. I pressed my palm to the floor and cut it on the shards. The pain was sharp enough to make me tremble. I forced my eyes open and saw Violet coming at me, her face twisted with rage. She raised her hand and slapped me twice across the face. "Say it! You seduced my brother, didn't you!" Ryan watched me with open irritation. "Yeah — did you crawl into my bed on your own? Because the idea that I'd actually want you makes me sick." My head was spinning from the blows. Through the daze, I caught Ethan staring at me with an intensity I couldn't read. For just a moment, I thought I saw something in his eyes. Like he actually cared. I denied it instinctively. "No. He forced me." Violet screamed again. "Liar! You threw yourself at my brother! Ethan, don't believe her!" She grabbed Ethan's arm and clung to it. Ethan stroked her hair gently. "It's okay, Violet. I know." Then he looked at me, and his eyes went cold. My chest tightened with dread. Sure enough — the next second, Ethan patted Ryan on the shoulder. "I didn't raise Stella right. That's on me. I'll give up a percentage of the West District deal next month as an apology." He then turned to address the room. "Stella seduced Mr. Ryan of her own doing, without any shame. I will handle her personally. Are we clear?" The guests exchanged glances, then fell over themselves to agree. "Grew up outside a proper home — what do you expect? No class, no limits." "She went after Ethan first, now Ryan. Absolutely shameless." I dug my nails into my palm. A shard of glass drove deeper into my flesh. The pain kept my head clear. Ethan was still Ethan. He would never pick a fight with the Ryan family over me. Why would he? --- **2.** Ethan grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the car. I shook him off. "Why does my brother suddenly care what I do?" I said flatly. "Shouldn't you be managing Violet's feelings right now?" Ethan smiled at me. "A few years apart and you've picked up some new tricks." I didn't respond. He stepped in front of me and blocked my path until I got in the car. I swallowed my irritation. Now wasn't the time. I climbed in and spent the whole ride staring out the window. When the car passed through the gates of the Foster estate, I went still. Three years ago, Ethan had whipped me with his own hand — ten lashes — and then thrown me out himself. I hadn't expected him to bring me back. I was fifteen when the Foster family found me. My birth parents were already gone by then. The only one who welcomed me was Ethan — the Fosters' adopted son. The estate was vast and hollow. I was too scared to sleep. Ethan flew back from out of state that same night, still carrying a warm box of date pastries. He pushed open my bedroom door and said: "If the dark scares you, leave the light on. I'll stay with you." For three years after that, he walked beside me through everything. Introduced me to people. Helped me find my footing. When a business associate mocked me in private, Ethan walked away from an eighty-thousand-dollar contract on the spot. The day I turned eighteen, he took me to the rooftop observatory. The wind was fierce up there. He draped his jacket over my shoulders and asked what I wished for. I said quietly, "Can you be my boyfriend?" I remember the hope I felt in that moment. What I got instead was him stepping back, revulsion written across his face. "How could you have feelings for your own brother?" Ethan left me alone on that cold, dark rooftop. I walked through the snow for hours before I finally made it home. Then I found Ethan holding Violet in his arms, repeating over and over how disgusted he was. And Violet — the moment she saw me — smiled and held him tighter. After that, Ethan whipped me again. Ten more lashes. Family discipline, he called it. Each stroke came with a demand: say it. *I will never have feelings for Ethan Foster again.* By the time it was over, I was barely conscious, lying on the floor. Violet pressed her stiletto heel into the wounds on my back. "This is what you get for being shameless." The next morning, Ethan threw me out of the house and had me sent abroad. And everyone laughed at me for being unable to keep my place. That was the moment I understood. If I couldn't have Ethan, then I would take what was rightfully mine: the Foster family itself. --- Back at the estate, Ethan shoved me down into a chair. The Foster family's medical team surrounded me immediately. Ethan stood over me, staring down. "Stella, if I find out you're not actually pregnant, you know what happens." He didn't believe me. But I was prepared. "And if I really am?" I asked calmly. Ethan slammed his fist down beside me and forced out two words: "Disgusting. Mistake." I smiled faintly and rolled up my sleeve, letting the doctor draw blood without resistance. "Ethan, if I'm really carrying his child, it's good for both families. Why are you so against it?" He laughed coldly. "Don't flatter yourself. First of all, we don't know if you're even pregnant. Second — how are you so sure it's Ryan's? Has Ryan even admitted to anything?" He leaned closer. "Stop selling yourself so cheap, Stella. Did your parents auction you off so many times it started to feel normal?" My face went white. There was a time when Ethan had pitied me — when my gambling-addicted foster parents kept selling me off to cover their debts. He'd been furious on my behalf. Now he was using it as a weapon. Ethan watched the shame cross my face. Then, suddenly, his voice softened. "What I said at the party tonight — that was because the deal with the Ryans closes next month. I can't afford complications right now." He crouched in front of me and used tweezers to carefully pick the glass fragments from my wounds himself. I watched him do it. I felt nothing. The stick-and-carrot routine. Ethan had worn that one out years ago. Back in school, Violet had never been able to stand me. She bullied me relentlessly. Ethan never said a word against her. Instead, after every time Violet hurt me, he'd take me to an amusement park to smooth things over. I used to tell myself he was stuck in the middle and doing his best. Later I figured it out. I was easy to manage — a little comfort was all it took. But Violet was different. She was the Ryan family's princess. She wasn't someone he could afford to upset. Ethan finished dressing my wounds. His fingertips brushed lightly over the bandage. His voice carried a trace of amusement. "Going through all this just to get a rise out of me — making yourself a mess and cooking up some baby that may or may not exist. Was it worth it?" I met his eyes. He looked like he could see right through me. I smiled. "Ethan, I genuinely like Ryan." His expression darkened instantly. He scoffed. "Impossible. You like someone else? And Ryan, of all people?" Before he could say another word, the test results came back. "Miss Foster is indeed pregnant." Ethan spun around to face the doctor. The doctor held his ground under the pressure. "The father is confirmed to be Ryan." A crash — Ethan swept the medical kit off the table, his hands trembling. I calmly placed a hand over my stomach. Then I found the female doctor standing just behind the others and met her eyes. She gave me a firm, steady nod. --- **3.** When Ethan looked at my stomach again, he couldn't hide the hatred. "Get back to your room." He was scowling hard. I didn't move. "Which room is mine?" Ethan paused. He clearly remembered that three years ago, he'd thrown me out along with everything I owned. "Didn't you give this estate to Violet?" I said. "Because she said it was a waste to leave it empty — might as well use it for her wardrobe." Ethan had pressed my hand down and made me sign the transfer papers himself. The only thing my birth parents had ever left me had become Violet's walk-in closet. Ethan was silent for a few seconds. He avoided my eyes and called Ryan. Ten minutes later, Ryan arrived with Violet in tow. The moment he saw me, Ryan's cruelty kicked in automatically. "So you really are knocked up. Think that gives you leverage over me? You wish." Violet looked up at Ethan with wounded eyes. "Ethan, what do we do?" Ethan turned to Ryan. "If we terminate the pregnancy, do you have any objection?" Ryan glanced at me with contempt. "Obviously not. Someone like her doesn't deserve to carry my child." The two of them went back and forth like I wasn't there. I slammed my hand on the table. "I don't agree. I'm keeping this baby." This child was my leverage. My entire plan depended on it. But apparently Ryan misread something in my expression, because he stared at me with a complicated look. Ethan narrowed his eyes and stepped between us. "You don't get a say in this. Someone take her and lock her up." I shot to my feet and dodged the hands reaching for me. "On what grounds? I don't get a say in my own child?" Ethan grabbed me and twisted my arm behind my back, then shoved me into the nearest storage room. He tossed my phone in after me. The door locked. His voice came through the crack. "I'll arrange the procedure for tomorrow." The storage room was pitch black. Before I even realized it, cold sweat had soaked through my shirt. My breathing came fast and shallow. I threw myself at the door, pounding it like a madwoman. "Ethan! Let me out — I have claustrophobia!" Violet had locked me in small spaces enough times to give it to me. Ethan's footsteps paused. Then they came closer. I forced myself to breathe slowly. I waited for him to open the door. But he stopped just outside it. "If I don't give you consequences, you'll never learn." "Use the time in there. Think about what you should and shouldn't do." Then his footsteps faded away completely. I couldn't believe Ethan would actually leave me. The darkness pressed in from every side, like something was about to swallow me whole. My heart leapt into my throat. Then everything went black. When light finally hit my face again, I opened my eyes — weak, disoriented. And found Violet standing over me. With a man I didn't recognize. Violet drove her heel down onto my face. Her voice reached me like something out of a nightmare. "How dare you taint my brother." Then she picked up a camera. "Ethan went and scheduled a whole procedure. So much trouble," she said lightly. "Once you've been used up, who's going to believe that baby is Ryan's?" The stranger's eyes crawled over me as he stepped forward. Violet turned and walked out, pulling the door shut behind her. Her parting words: "Make it quick. Bring the video to the main hall when you're done." The man's hands moved to my legs. I kicked him away with everything I had. He yelped in pain and slapped me hard across the face. "Stop fighting. Do you know who you've made an enemy of?" I screamed: "I'm Stella Foster! You touch me and my brother will destroy you!" It was the only name that still carried weight. Ethan's. But the man just laughed. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and spat in my face. "Who do you think sent me?" The words turned into a ringing in my ears. His greasy hands tore at my collar. Desperate, I reached to my waist and found the small self-defense knife I kept hidden there. I drove it into the back of his skull. He dropped like dead weight. I crawled to my feet. Wiped the blood from my face. Walked to the camera with its blinking red light. Saved everything. --- **4.** I pushed open the storage room door and picked up my phone from the floor. The screen was cracked. When I turned it on, I found a message from Dr. Helen. *Stella — reporters are camped outside the Foster estate asking about the baby. Ethan said he's giving a statement at 2 p.m. today.* It was 1 p.m. A bad feeling hit me. I sent a quick message and headed downstairs. The moment I stepped outside, cameras swung toward me from every direction. Violet spotted me and went pale, like she'd seen a ghost. "What are you doing out here?" She lunged at me. I stepped aside. I raised the camera. "Your little plan didn't work, Violet. Disappointed?" She flinched but forced herself to hold her ground. "What are you doing?" I smiled coldly and backhanded her across the face. Violet clutched her cheek and screamed. The sound brought Ethan and Ryan running out at the same time. Ethan crossed the distance in a few long strides and clamped his hand around my wrist hard enough to fracture it. His eyes swept over me. I was covered in dust. There was blood on me. My clothes were torn. Ethan barely registered any of it. "What is wrong with you? You're an embarrassment." I wrenched my arm away from him and raised my voice. "Violet hired someone to rape me! To make sure I couldn't affect Ryan's reputation!" Ethan's hand froze in midair. Every camera lens in the crowd swung toward me. I held up the camera. "I have it all on here. Everything she said. Evidence of attempted assault on Violet's orders." The color drained from Violet's face. She shook her head frantically. "That's not true! I didn't do anything!" But the cameras kept rolling. Violet let out a scream and threw herself into Ethan's arms. "Ethan, I swear it wasn't me! Please, you have to help me!" Ethan wrapped his arm around her protectively. When his eyes found mine, I saw a flicker of something — guilt, maybe. But Violet's tear-streaked face turned up toward him. "Ethan…" He hesitated. Then he looked away from me. "Let it go, Stella." His voice came out rough and low. "Violet's young, she doesn't think. Don't make it into more than it is — I'll have her apologize to you later." His words turned my stomach. I was younger than Violet. But because Violet was his fiancée, she would always get his defense. I looked to Ryan. He wouldn't meet my eyes either. "On what grounds?" I held the camera tighter. "Nothing actually happened, did it?" Ethan's expression carried a trace of tiredness. "Why make this bigger than it needs to be?" In his mind, this was nothing. The numbness in my chest spread. I stopped speaking. I turned to face the press, and I raised the camera. It was ripped out of my hands. Ethan took my only piece of evidence and without a moment's hesitation, popped out the memory card and smashed the camera against the ground. I stared at him. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "Apologize to Violet," he said. "What?" I thought I'd heard wrong. Ethan repeated himself. "Apologize to Violet. Tell everyone you made it up." "It's better for everyone this way." He meant trade my dignity for Violet's reputation. I understood him perfectly. Even though I had long since stopped expecting anything from Ethan, my eyes still stung. My chest felt like something was grinding it apart, over and over. The pain never quite stopped. Ethan kept his cold eyes on me, waiting for me to say the words. "It was me who—" I opened my mouth slowly, drawing it out, my eyes drifting toward the gate. At that moment, the front doors of the estate swung open. "What exactly is going on here?" A middle-aged man in a jacket bearing the Foster family crest walked in. Ethan straightened slightly at the sight of him. "Uncle Richard." This was the man who actually ran the Foster family: Richard Foster. When I saw him, I wiped the corner of my eye. Richard glanced briefly at my stomach, like he already knew everything. I covered my abdomen with my hand and stepped back. Richard looked away and spoke. "Ethan — didn't the Foster and Ryan families arrange a marriage alliance?" Ethan hesitated. "Yes." "I'm the one who decides who the parties are." Richard looked at me. "Since Stella is carrying a Ryan child, she'll be the one to marry Ryan."
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