Chapter 5
Savannah Price arrived at the party forty minutes later.
Invited.
Of course.
She walked into the house wearing pale blue.
One hand remained near her stomach.
Not showing.
Protecting.
Daniel saw her.
His face went white.
Margaret looked furious.
Not at Savannah.
At whoever let her inside.
I did.
“Claire,” Daniel said.
I smiled.
“Problem?”
Savannah stopped when she saw me.
Then Lily.
Then the DNA report in my hand.
Her expression changed.
“You told her?”
Daniel stepped between us.
“Savannah, leave.”
She laughed once.
“You said she already knew.”
I stared at him.
“What did I know?”
Margaret cut in.
“This is not the place.”
Savannah looked at her.
“You said this party was when it ended.”
Lily squeezed my hand.
I felt it.
The party.
The chain.
The public insult.
Not random.
A ceremony.
They expected me to leave humiliated.
With Lily.
So Daniel could move on cleanly.
I looked at Savannah.
“Are you pregnant?”
She nodded.
Daniel whispered:
“Don’t.”
“Whose child?”
Savannah looked at him.
Then me.
“Daniel’s.”
The room went silent.
Mark swore under his breath.
Margaret lifted her chin.
“There. Now you understand.”
I stared.
“Understand what?”
“That this family needs stability.”
I almost laughed.
“You think adultery is stability?”
“She carries a Whitmore son.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
So they knew the sex.
Margaret continued:
“Lily is a girl.”
My body went cold.
“She is Daniel’s child.”
“So?”
Margaret looked at Lily with open contempt.
“She cannot become what this family requires.”
No inheritance.
No paperwork.
Just old mafia prejudice.
A son to display.
A daughter to discard.
Lily looked up at me.
“Am I bad?”
That broke something.
I crouched.
“No.”
Margaret laughed.
“Don’t lie to her.”
I stood.
“No.”
My voice changed.
“You don’t get another word.”
Savannah looked suddenly uncomfortable.
Good.
Maybe she had been promised a cleaner story too.
Then she whispered:
“Daniel said Lily would already be gone.”
May you like
And I knew the chain had never been punishment.
It was preparation.
