Chapter 5

Shaking, I forced myself to get up and go find Lucas.

To make things easier for me, he had moved his bedroom from across the hall to the one right next to mine.

The door was slightly ajar, and when I peeked inside, I saw him holding that pregnancy guide again, carefully taking notes.

Once, I would’ve thought it was sweet, but now, it just felt cruel.

“Lucas, you deserve an Oscar. You should’ve gone into acting, not business.”

He quickly shut the book, his handsome face flushing slightly.

He looked at me, and for a moment, his expression froze.

“You’re not wearing slippers.”

He turned to leave, but I grabbed his arm.

“Is it true that Madeline can’t have children?”

In the scuffle, the book slipped from his grasp, falling open on the floor.

He quickly covered my eyes with his hand. “Don’t look...”

What were they hiding? Had they done something even worse behind my back? If he didn’t want me to see it, I definitely had to.

I forced his hand away and glanced down.

My face immediately turned red.

A line of text had been circled in red ink: “Safe to resume intercourse after three months of pregnancy.”

Next to it, Lucas had written detailed notes, citing references and expert advice.

He hurriedly picked up the book and locked it in a drawer, but my mind was still spinning with his scribbled handwriting, all those notes, and... those memories.

His taut muscles, the beads of sweat, and those... intimate sounds.

But all of it—everything he’d done for me—had been for someone else. All I’d been was a stand-in for another woman.

“Chloe, you’re bleeding.”

Bleeding? I touched my nose. It didn’t seem like I was…

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you to the hospital right away!”