Chapter 5 Smoke between lines

Raina arrived at the office early the next morning, hoping to avoid him.

The sky was still bruised from dawn, the lobby half-lit and quiet. She took comfort in the silence, settling into her desk with a cup of peppermint tea and spreadsheets she didn't really need to review. Her focus was splintered-half on work, half on the familiar flutter in her lower abdomen.

It was a strange kind of comfort now, that subtle, constant presence.

A reminder. A heartbeat. A truth she couldn't outrun.

By 9:00 a.m., the team began filtering in. Linda offered her a sideways glance but didn't ask anything. She wouldn't. Not here.

But Raina didn't get more than twenty minutes of peace before she saw the calendar notification ping across her screen.

"9:30 a.m. – Strategy Alignment – Adrian Blake (Private Room B)"

Her stomach sank.

He'd scheduled it directly. No assistant. No subject line. No escape.

She could cancel.

She could walk out and go back to Chicago, to anonymity and chaos.

But she didn't.

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Private Room B – Thirty Minutes Later

Adrian was already inside when she arrived-standing by the window with his jacket off, sleeves rolled, the morning light casting sharp lines down the side of his face.

When she entered, he turned, eyes immediately locking on hers.

"Close the door."

She did.

The silence stretched between them.

He spoke first. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Her breath caught. Not if. Not what. Just why.

She steadied herself. "Because I didn't think you'd care."

He flinched-barely-but it was enough. "You don't know me well enough to decide that."

"I don't know you at all," she shot back. "You vanished. No last name, no number. You were gone before I even woke up."

"I left because I didn't want to complicate something that was never meant to last."

"Then congratulations," she said tightly. "Because it's complicated now."

He stepped closer, and Raina's breath hitched. "Are you going to keep it?"

She stiffened. "That's not your decision."

"I didn't say it was."

But his voice was lower now, weighted with something she didn't expect.

Concern?

She looked up at him, furious at the way her pulse betrayed her. "Why do you care, Adrian? You're not exactly a family man. I've read your file. Ten years building a company, zero personal details. You make ghosting look like an Olympic sport."

"I care," he said, "because it's mine, Raina."

The word hit her like a slap.

Not ours.

Mine.

Possession instead of connection.

She took a step back, folding her arms over her chest.

"I'm not looking for a savior. Or a co-parent. Or whatever version of control you're used to exerting in boardrooms."

"Good," he said quietly. "Because I'm not offering any of that. But I won't walk away this time. You need to know that."

Something in his voice shifted then. No longer defensive. Just... resolute.

They stood there in the silence again, nothing between them but a shared secret and months of uncertainty.

Then he said something that caught her off guard.

"Let me take you to dinner."

Raina blinked. "What?"

"Someplace neutral. No work. No pressure. Just... dinner. A conversation."

"Why?" she whispered.

He looked at her for a long moment.

"Because if I'm going to be in this child's life, I need to understand the woman bringing it into the world."

And just like that, he left-closing the door behind him without waiting for an answer.

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