Chapter 22 Samantha
SAMANTHA
Two days after the red room, I’m staring at my phone calendar and trying not to panic.
The numbers don’t lie. I’m ten days late.
Ten days.
I’ve been so caught up in everything—work, the men, the life I’m building here—that I didn’t notice. Didn’t think to check or pay attention to my body’s rhythms because I’ve been too busy losing myself in theirs.
But now, sitting alone in my room while Grant handles business calls and Donovan works in his office and Kai does whatever Kai does, I can’t ignore it anymore.
I open the period tracker app I’ve used for years. The little red dot that should have appeared over a week ago is conspicuously absent. The app is practically screaming at me in concerned notifications I’ve not seen until now.
Your period is 10 days late. Log symptoms or mark as arrived.
My hand shakes as I close the app.
This can’t be happening.
Except it absolutely can be happening. We’ve been careful most of the time, but not always. And three men, multiple times a day for weeks? The math isn’t exactly in my favor.
I need to know for sure.
I wait until late afternoon when everyone’s occupied. Grant’s still on his call. Donovan mentioned going to check on something at the main resort. Kai’s been in the gym for the past hour.
I slip out of my room and head toward the medical wing.
The estate has its own pharmacy. Not a full hospital setup, but enough supplies to handle emergencies until real medical help can arrive. It’s in the basement level, past the wine cellar where I nearly bled out two weeks ago.
The hallway is quiet. Cold. I pull my cardigan tighter and keep walking.
The pharmacy door is unlocked. Inside, everything is organized with clinical precision. Medications. First aid supplies. Equipment I don’t recognize.
And pregnancy tests.
I find them on a shelf next to other diagnostic supplies. I grab one quickly, shove it in my pocket, and leave before anyone can find me here.
Now I need a bathroom. Not my room—too close to the private wing. Not any of the common areas where staff might interrupt.
I head to the old section of the estate. The parts Kai showed me weeks ago. The abandoned rooms that Grant’s still renovating.
I find a bathroom that looks functional enough. The fixtures are old but clean. The door locks.
I lean against the sink and pull out the test. My hands won’t stop shaking.
The instructions are simple.
Pee on the stick.
Wait three minutes.
Two lines means pregnant. One line means not pregnant.
Simple.
I follow the directions mechanically. Set the test on the counter. Start the timer on my phone. Three minutes.
I sit on the closed toilet lid and stare at the test.
What if it’s positive?
What if I’m pregnant with a baby—or babies, knowing my luck—for men I came here to destroy? Except I didn’t destroy them. I fell into bed with them. Fell in love with them.
Oh God. I love them.
When did that happen? When did revenge turn into this?
My phone buzzes. One minute down.
I can’t have a baby. I can’t bring a child into this mess. How would I even explain it to Robert?
“Hi, Dad, remember that revenge plan you’ve been coaching me on for over a year? Well, I’m pregnant by the three men I was supposed to be gathering intelligence on. Surprise!”
He’d lose his mind.
He’d tell me I betrayed Mom’s memory. That I let myself get distracted and manipulated. That I’m weak and stupid and everything he trained me not to be.
And he’d be right.
Two minutes.
But what if they didn’t destroy Mom’s business? What if Robert lied about that, like he might have lied about other things?
The thought has been growing in my mind for weeks. Little inconsistencies. Things that don’t add up.
Grant doesn’t act like someone who crushes small businesses for sport. He’s ruthless, strategic, and calculated. He doesn’t destroy things without reason.
And Mom never talked about the Hales. Not once. If they’d really ruined her life, wouldn’t she have mentioned them? Warned me? Something?
Unless Robert made the whole thing up.
Unless he manipulated my grief and rage and pointed me at innocent people because he needed me to get close to them for his own reasons.
Three minutes.
The timer goes off. I stand on shaking legs and look at the test.
Two lines.
I’m pregnant.
The bathroom spins, and I grab the edge of the sink to steady myself.
I can’t be pregnant. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to gather information, get out, and make them pay for what they did to my mother.
My stomach lurches. I barely make it to the toilet before I’m throwing up.
When I’m done, I sit on the cold tile floor and cry.
I can’t have this baby. How can I bring a child into this situation? A child conceived during a revenge plot that I abandoned? A child who would be evidence of my betrayal to Robert and my lies to the Hales?
But the alternative—ending the pregnancy—feels impossible too. This baby is part of me. Part of them. Part of this life I want so desperately to keep.
I’m trapped.
Trapped between who I was supposed to be and who I’ve become, between revenge and love. Between the daughter Robert expects and the woman the Hales think I am.
And now there’s a baby. A real, actual baby growing inside me.
I pick up the test again and stare at those two lines.
This changes everything.
Or maybe it doesn’t change anything because everything was already broken. I lied to get here. I stayed under false pretenses. I fell in love with men I was supposed to hate.
And now I’m pregnant.
Shit.