Chapter 4

Vincent made a dash for the door, so I grabbed the vase off the bedside table and brought it down on the back of his head.

He stumbled forward a step and hit the wall.

The bodyguards burst in from the hallway, and I pressed the jagged edge of the broken vase against my own wrist. "One more step," I said, "and I'll bleed out right here."

They stopped in their tracks. The corridor behind them was already in chaos.

Vivian arrived with her people, her face tight and pale.

She had heard that shout in Rhinean, too. There was no mistaking it.

"Ms. Rhine," she said, "there are some disruptive people outside. Just try to stay calm."

I looked her in the eye. "What are you so afraid of?"

Her smile turned strained. "What would I possibly have to be afraid of?"

She nodded to a lawyer, who placed a document in front of me. "Sign this," she said, "and I'll talk Charles into letting you have the baby without any interference."

The title said it all: Voluntary Waiver of Parental Rights and Confidentiality Agreement.

I turned the pages one by one.

After the birth, custody would go to a guardian chosen by the Rivers family.

I would never be allowed to acknowledge any relationship with Charles.

And the Rivers family would pay me a lump sum of fifteen million dollars.

On the very last page, tucked in at the bottom, was an authorization form for a psychiatric evaluation.

I lifted my head. "You're trying to lock me up in a mental hospital?"

Vivian's voice stayed soft and measured. "Ms. Rhine, you've been seriously unstable lately. You attacked me, disrupted medical procedures, and threatened to hurt yourself. What the doctors write in their reports isn't really up to me."

Behind her, Vincent stood rubbing the back of his head, his face dark with anger.

By the time Charles walked in, the lawyer had already pressed the pen into my hand.

He spotted the document on the bed and his expression hardened. "Who told you to give her this?"

Vivian's eyes welled up instantly. "Your father is in the ICU. The board is demanding answers, and she won't cooperate with anything. I was just trying to handle things for you."

Charles took the agreement and ripped it in half. "I told you before. The baby can stay."

Vivian's tears spilled over. "And what about me? What about Rivers Group? The Wynn family put two point six billion into saving you, and now you want to humiliate my family because of her?"

Charles fell silent.

Vivian seized the moment and wrapped her hand around his. "Charles, I can accept that the child exists. What I can't accept is her staying by your side."

She turned to me, and behind her glistening eyes was something sharp and venomous. "Have her sign a departure agreement. After the engagement, send her abroad to finish the pregnancy.

"When the baby is born, the child comes back to the Rivers family, and she leaves with the money."

I let out a laugh. "You've got it all mapped out, don't you?"

Charles' voice came out rough and reluctant. "Sophia... I'll come see you. Often."

I grabbed the water glass from the bedside table and hurled it at his feet. "See me where? Locked up in some foreign country? Watch my child call someone else 'Mommy'?"

His face turned pale. "That's not going to happen."

Vivian stepped forward before Charles could stop her, closing the distance between us in one quick move.

"Ms. Rhine," she said, "I'm begging you. Rivers Group has tens of thousands of employees relying on it, and the Wynn family has put everything on the line.

"If it's money you want, a house, anything short of being his wife, I'll make sure Charles gives it to you."

She took my hand like she was pleading with me, but her fingernails dug deep into my palm. "Just please, don't destroy him."

I looked at her. "You really think you're in any position to beg me?"

Vivian's face stiffened.

Charles frowned. "Sophia."

And there it was, the same old pattern. The moment Vivian played the victim, I was the one to blame.

I raised my hand and brought it across her cheek with everything I had. "That was for my child."

She hit the floor, then curled up, clutching her stomach. "It hurts..."

Charles scooped her into his arms before anyone could react. "Someone call the doctor!"

The room erupted into chaos.

Vincent shouted over the noise, "Ms. Wynn is in her first trimester. She can't take this kind of shock!"

I stood frozen, a cold ache spreading through my chest.

So Vivian was pregnant too.

Charles turned to look at me, and for the first time, I saw something like reproach in his eyes. "Sophia, that was too far."

I smiled and stepped backward.

That was when the helicopter outside drew close to the window again.

A searchlight flooded the room, and in the glass I caught a glimpse of my own face, pale and drained.

Through the earpiece, the cleaner's voice came through, low and steady. "Your Highness, hold on until the engagement party. The King will be there himself."