Chapter 4

Charlotte Jennings POV:

The world shrank to the four walls of that guest room. They left me there, with the post-nup lying on the desk like a death sentence. The silence in the penthouse was a living thing, pressing in on me, suffocating me. I was trapped, with no allies, no escape. My phone had been taken away days ago, under the guise of "helping me disconnect from the stress." I was completely cut off.

I paced the floor, a caged animal, my hand pressed against my stomach. My baby. Our son. They were talking about him like he was a tumor to be excised, a problem to be erased. The thought of their cold, clinical solution made bile rise in my throat.

I tried the door. Locked from the outside. I was a literal prisoner.

The hours crawled by. Night fell, painting the city in glittering, indifferent lights. I didn' t sleep. I sat in the dark, watching the headlights of cars moving freely on the streets below, a freedom I no longer had.

My mind raced, searching for a way out. I thought about screaming, but who would hear me? Or rather, who would care? The staff were loyal to the Sullivans. I thought about breaking the window, but we were on the 80th floor.

Desperation clawed at me. I thought of my adoptive parents, the people who were supposed to love and protect me. Their betrayal was a fresh, gaping wound. They had chosen money and status over their own daughter. I was an orphan all over again.

And then, a memory surfaced. A faint, flickering ember in the darkness of my despair.

I was not an orphan. Not really.

When I was eighteen, just before I left for college, a letter had arrived. It was from a law firm, informing me that my biological parents had been searching for me. They had been young when I was born, forced to give me up, but they had never forgotten me. The letter contained a name and a private number. Antony Dean.

At the time, I had been too hurt, too full of a child' s anger at being abandoned, to respond. I was a Jennings. I had a family. Or so I thought. I had tucked the letter away in a box of old keepsakes and tried to forget it.

But I hadn't forgotten the name. Antony Dean. I' d idly googled it once, years ago. The results had been staggering. The Dean family was old money, a global dynasty with influence in shipping, finance, and politics. They were notoriously private, their power immense but invisible. They were a world away from the flashy, new-money tech world of the Sullivans.

It was a long shot. A desperate, crazy gamble. But it was the only one I had.

I needed a phone.

The next morning, when Gabe came to my room, his face was strained. He looked like he hadn't slept either. He held a tray with a glass of juice and a single croissant. A peace offering.

"Lottie," he began, his voice rough with emotion. "I... I know this is hard to understand."

"Hard to understand?" I laughed, a broken, humorless sound. "You' re asking me to let your mother and that snake you brought into our home murder our child, and you think it' s 'hard to understand' ?"

"Don' t say that," he flinched, pain flashing in his eyes. "It' s not murder. It' s... it' s a procedure. For the good of the family."

"For the good of the stock price, you mean."

He set the tray down, his hands shaking slightly. "I love you, Lottie. I swear I do. After this is all over, we can try again. We can have other children. As many as you want."

The casual cruelty of his words knocked the air from my lungs. As if our son was a prototype to be discarded, easily replaced by a new model.

I knew then that I couldn't fight him with emotion. He was immune to it. I had to use logic. His logic.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself into a state of unnatural calm. I had to play the long game.

"Okay," I said.

He stared at me, shocked by my sudden acquiescence. "Okay?"

"Okay, Gabe," I repeated, my voice steady. "If this is what has to be done to secure our future, then... okay. I' ll do it."

The relief that washed over his face was so profound it was almost comical. He was so desperate to believe I would fold, so eager to have his problem solved.

"But I have one condition," I added.

"Anything," he said immediately, his eyes shining with gratitude.

"I want my phone back. And my laptop. I can' t be locked in here like this. I' ll go crazy. If I' m going to do this... this thing... I need a distraction. I need to work. I need to feel like I still have some control over my own life."

He hesitated for a fraction of a second, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes. But his desire for an easy solution won out. He wanted the compliant wife, the partner who would make the necessary sacrifices.

"Of course," he said, nodding eagerly. "Of course. I' ll have them brought to you right away."

He kissed my forehead, a gesture so full of false tenderness it made my skin crawl. "Thank you, Lottie. You won' t regret this. I' ll make it all up to you, I promise."

He left, and a few minutes later, one of the security guards brought my phone and laptop. I waited, my heart pounding, until I was sure I was alone.

My hands trembled as I unlocked my phone. I found the old email, the one containing the letter from the law firm. The number was still there.

With a prayer on my lips, I dialed. I didn't know if the number was still active. I didn't know if they would even want to hear from me. But they were my only hope.

The phone rang twice before a man with a calm, authoritative voice answered. "Hello?"

"Hello," I whispered, tears choking my voice. "My name is Charlotte. I... I think you might be my father."