Chapter 4 Secrets Beneath the Surface

Ariana Vale sat on the edge of her bathtub, the white-tiled bathroom too bright, too clean for the turmoil that twisted in her chest.

She cradled the paper bag in her lap as though it would burn her.

Three additional pregnancy tests were within. Just in case.

The one at the doctor's office hadn't been sufficient. Due to the fact that one test-a thin blue line-could really change *everything*?

Her hands trembled as she ripped open the box.

She hadn't cried. Not yet.

She couldn't afford tears. Not when her whole world had torn open at the seams.

The test lay on the marble countertop, its screen flashing as it calculated the truth she already knew.

Pregnant.

She stared at the word until it blurred.

"Okay," she whispered to herself, as if saying it aloud would make it more real. "Okay, okay...

Her heart was pounding against her ribs like a caged animal.

Dominic. Leo.

She closed her eyes.

The timing was unclear. Too close to be sure. She and Dominic hadn't made contact in months... but that final night, the one just before everything imploded, came back in unwanted vividness.

That moment of desperation. Of trying to feel *something* again. He'd kissed her like a man already gone, and afterward he hadn't even stayed in the room. She'd lain there, hollow, listening to the sound of the shower, knowing it was the end.

And then Leo.

She hadn't even asked his last name.

Hadn't had to.

Because that night had been about freedom. Recklessness.

She never imagined it would follow her into the rest of her life.

Now here she was.

Divorced. Alone. And pregnant with a child that could belong to a man she barely knew-or worse, to the man she had sworn never to let back in.

Ariana stepped into her walk-in closet and looked at the rows of designer clothes, the shelves of heels, the handbags that had once shouted her status as Mrs. Dominic Thorne.

None of it mattered now.

She tugged out a loose cream sweater and black leggings, something comfortable and concealing. She wasn't showing yet, but her body already felt... different. Sensitive. Protective.

She had to be careful now. With stress. With the media. With *Dominic*.

She hadn't told him. Not yet.

She didn't *plan* to.

The thought of letting him back into her life, even temporarily, churned her stomach more than the morning sickness.

Dominic had made it abundantly clear: love wasn't enough. Control. Power. Reputation. That's what he lived for.

She wouldn't let her child become another pawn in his kingdom.

Across Manhattan, meanwhile, Dominic Thorne stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, gazing down at the city below him pulse with life he no longer felt.

His head hadn't ceased racing in days.

He'd not heard from Ariana. Not once.

She'd gone dark.

Her attorneys were tight-lipped. Her apartment was silent. Her social calendar was clear.

He knew because he checked. Daily.

She'd cut him out with surgical precision.

And he was unraveling.

He told himself it was a point of pride. Betrayal. The principle of being the one *left*.

But when he was lying in bed at night, all he could do was see her face. The way her eyes didn't tremble when she said she was done. The way her voice didn't crack when she gave him back his ring.

She used to love him with a passion that scared him.

Now she was looking at him like he was a stranger.

Worse-like she pitied him.

"Sir?" his assistant, Mila, stood in the doorway. "I have the report you asked for."

Dominic turned, his voice rougher than he intended. "Which one?"

"The... background check. On Leo Santos."

He stiffened.

His stomach plummeted.

"Leave it on the desk," he said.

Mila hesitated. "Are you certain you want to go down this road?"

He glared at her.

"I have to know *everything*."

Ariana was in a downtown coffee shop, hands wrapped around an untouched decaf latte.

Across from her was her best friend, Sasha, who had known something was wrong from the moment she picked up the phone.

"You're pregnant?" Sasha gasped, eyes wide.

Ariana nodded slowly.

"Oh my God, Ari."

"I know."

Sasha blinked. "I mean... I thought the divorce was the plot twist. But *this*? This is, like, season finale cliffhanger."

Ariana let out a small laugh, shaky and bitter. "It's not funny."

"It is *a little* funny. In the 'wow, fate is an evil bitch' kind of way."

Ariana rubbed her temples. "I don't know what to do."

"You don't *have* to know. You've been carrying the weight of that marriage on your back for years. Maybe this baby isn't the end of the story. Maybe it's the beginning."

"I shouldn't let Dominic find out."

Sasha paused. "Certain?"

"Yes," she said right away. "You don't know what he's like. He'll use it. He'll make it something about legacy and power. He'll put this child in a glass box and label it love."

Sasha sighed. "So... Leo?"

"I don't know how to contact him."

"Okay, if he's as sexy as you've described him, he's had a string of broken hearts in his wake. We can put out a city-wide alert for 'Tattooed Sex God with Amber Eyes.'"

Ariana laughed for the first time in days.

But inside, the worry still lingered.

What if the baby *was* Dominic's?

And what if he found out?

That evening, Dominic rested against his penthouse bar, drink in hand, eyes scanning the dossier on Leo Santos.

Born in Brazil. Relocated to New York at nineteen. Founded a boutique architecture firm. No criminal record. Impeccable reputation. Rumored association with underground fight clubs in his early twenties, but nothing confirmed.

And one line at the bottom that made Dominic's blood boil:

**Seen with Ariana Vale on the night of [redacted]. Checked into The Ritz, 12th floor suite. No check-out record.**

He gripped the glass so tightly it broke in his hand.

She'd moved on.

Already.

He had no right to be angry. He'd emotionally left her for *years*.

But the idea of another man touching her-*owning* a piece of her he never could-sent something explosive spiraling through him.

He grabbed his phone.

Dialed her number.

It rang once. Twice.

Straight to voicemail.

He didn't leave a message.

He didn't trust what he'd say.

---

That night, Ariana lay in bed, a hand curled protectively over her stomach.

Everything felt uncertain. Fragile.

But for the first time in a long time, she felt like this baby-this tiny, unexpected life-was hers.

Not Dominic's.

Not Leo's.

Just *hers*.

She didn't need a man to define her anymore. Not the one she'd run from, and not the one she'd lost to the night in a one-night stand.

This was a fresh start.

And no one-*not even Dominic Thorne*-was going to rewrite it.