Chapter 3

Water dripped from Kingston's dark hair, sliding down his sharp jawline. He froze, his dark eyes snapping from Audrey to Celestine.

The second Celestine saw him, her smug expression vanished. She let out a pathetic, high-pitched gasp. She clutched her swollen belly and stumbled backward, pretending to lose her balance from Audrey's glare.

"Kingston!" Celestine cried out, her knees buckling.

Kingston's face went pale. He dropped the towel. He crossed the room in a blur of motion, his long arms shooting out to catch Celestine before she hit the floor. He pulled her tightly against his chest, his hands hovering protectively over her stomach.

Audrey watched her husband hold another woman. It felt like someone had reached into her chest and crushed her heart with bare hands. The physical pain was blinding.

Kingston snapped his head up. His eyes locked onto Audrey, blazing with a terrifying rage.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kingston roared, his voice shaking the glass windows. "Coming to my office to attack a pregnant woman?"

Audrey let out a broken, hysterical laugh. She pointed a trembling finger at Celestine's belly, tears finally spilling over her lashes.

"Is this the meeting you had last night?" Audrey screamed, her throat tearing with the force of it. "Is this why you smell like her?"

Kingston didn't even bother to look at his robe. He didn't offer a single word of explanation.

"Watch your mouth," Kingston warned, his tone lethal. "Celestine cannot handle this kind of stress right now."

Celestine buried her face in Kingston's chest. But she turned her head just enough so only Audrey could see her face.

Celestine smiled. It was the smile of a venomous snake. She mouthed a sentence, forming the words perfectly with her lips.

Your crippled mother's car crash wasn't an accident.

The words hit Audrey like a freight train.

Her adoptive mother. The car crash that left her in a vegetative state. It was the deepest, most agonizing wound of Audrey's life.

All reason evaporated. A primal, violent scream ripped from Audrey's throat. She lunged forward, her hands reaching for Celestine's throat.

She didn't even make it halfway.

Kingston stepped in front of Celestine. He raised his arm and shoved Audrey backward with brutal force.

He didn't hold back. Audrey flew backward like a broken doll. Her spine slammed violently against the sharp edge of the marble coffee table.

A sickening crack echoed in her ears. Blinding agony shot through her lower back and ripped across her abdomen.

Audrey collapsed onto the carpet. She curled into a tight ball, clutching her stomach as the pain threatened to make her pass out.

"My baby!" Audrey sobbed, panic clawing at her throat. She looked up at Kingston through her tears. "Kingston, please! I'm pregnant too!"

Dead silence fell over the office.

Celestine's eyes darted nervously, a flash of genuine panic crossing her face before she quickly masked it.

Kingston stood over Audrey. He didn't drop to his knees. He didn't reach out to help her.

He looked down at her with a level of disgust so profound it made Audrey's blood run cold. He looked at her like she was a rotting animal on the side of the road.

He let out a dark, hollow laugh. He took a slow step forward, the sole of his leather shoe sinking heavily into the carpet next to her face.

Kingston crouched down. He reached out and pinched her jaw, his fingers digging painfully into her bone.

"Pregnant?" Kingston said, his voice a deadly, quiet hiss. "Do you think I am a fucking idiot, Audrey?"

Audrey shook her head, her tears dripping onto his hand. "No, Kingston, I swear-"

"I had a vasectomy five years ago," Kingston stated, the words slicing through the air like a guillotine. "Long before you ever managed to trap me into this marriage."

Audrey's breath stopped. Her eyes widened in absolute horror.

A vasectomy.

The lie was so massive, so completely reality-shattering, her brain couldn't process it. She knew she hadn't touched another man. But Kingston believed it as absolute truth.

"No," Audrey gasped, struggling to breathe. "No, that's impossible, Kingston, I-"

Kingston's eyes were pitch black with violent fury. In his mind, she was a lying, cheating whore trying to force another man's bastard onto the Savage name.

He stood up abruptly. He pulled a white silk handkerchief from the pocket of his discarded suit jacket on the chair. He wiped the fingers that had just touched her face, scrubbing the skin as if she had infected him.

He threw the crumpled handkerchief down. It landed directly on Audrey's cheek.

"How could you do this to him, Audrey?" Celestine gasped from the background, playing the horrified victim perfectly.

Audrey couldn't speak. The physical pain in her stomach was nothing compared to the death of her soul in that exact moment. She stared at the carpet, her love for this man turning to ash in her chest.

Kingston slammed his fist onto the intercom button on his desk.

"Security. Top floor. Now," he barked.

Seconds later, the heavy doors burst open. Four massive men in black suits flooded the room.

"Take her to the Hamptons estate," Kingston ordered, his voice devoid of any human emotion. "Lock her in the third-floor guest room. If a single fly gets in or out without my permission, you are all fired."

Two guards grabbed Audrey by her arms. They hauled her roughly off the floor.

Audrey didn't fight them. Her body hung limp in their grip. She turned her head and looked at Kingston one last time. She memorized the coldness in his eyes. She memorized Celestine's victorious smirk.

They dragged her out of the office. Max stood in the hallway, looking away, unable to meet her dead eyes.

As the elevator doors closed, cutting off the sight of her husband, Audrey instinctively curled her hands over her flat stomach. The tears stopped falling. A cold, terrifying resolve locked into place in her mind.

She was going to run.