Chapter 2 - The Engagement Announcement
The following month, Evelyn discovered Dominic was engaged to another woman.
She learned from a television screen in the waiting room of her obstetrician’s office.
Dominic stood beneath chandeliers at the Arden family estate, smiling beside Celeste Arden. She was the daughter of shipping magnate Theodore Arden and the public face of the Arden Foundation.
Celeste lifted her hand to display a diamond ring.
The news anchor described the engagement as the union of two powerful families.
Evelyn could not hear the rest.
She left the waiting room and called Dominic from the parking garage.
He answered on the sixth ring.
“You are engaged.”
Silence.
“Evelyn, let me explain.”
“You told me we were keeping our relationship private.”
“We were.”
“You are marrying someone else.”
“The Arden merger requires stability.”
Evelyn gripped the phone.
“You are treating marriage like a business document.”
“That is what marriage has always been for people in my position.”
“And what was I?”
His answer came too slowly.
“You were real.”
The cruelty of it nearly took her breath away.
Dominic arrived at her apartment that evening carrying no flowers. He came with a leather folder.
Inside were medical expense agreements, confidentiality clauses, and a proposal to place money into a private trust for the baby.
The documents did not identify Dominic as the father.
Evelyn pushed the folder away.
“Our daughter deserves your name.”
“She deserves security.”
“She deserves the truth.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Truth is valuable only when it produces a useful result.”
Evelyn ordered him to leave.
At the door, he turned back.
“Do not challenge me publicly. You have no idea how many people depend on this merger.”
After he was gone, Evelyn sat alone at her kitchen table, one hand resting over her stomach.
May you like
For the first time, she understood that Dominic did not view love as a bond.
He viewed it as leverage.
