The rain wouldn't stop that night. It beat against the glass walls like it was trying to warn her.
Evelyn Hart sat frozen before the contract, her heart pounding painfully. her name was already there, printed beside his- Mrs. Evelyn Blackwood.
Across the table, Liam Blackwood stood tall in his black suit, cold and unreadable. The man who once smiled shyly at her back in high school was gone.
This version of him looked like he'd never known warmth.
"Sign it," he said, his voice deep and calm - too calm.
Evelyn's fingers shook around the pen. "You weren't supposed to find out this way."
Liam's gaze darkened. "Your mother made sure i did.'
Her chest ached. Her mother had betrayed her - told Liam about the pregnancy before she could even decide what to do.
She had wanted to raise the baby herself, quietly, away from his world. But fate was cruel.
"You don't have to do this," she whispered.
His lips curved slightly, but it wasn't a smile. "You think you can hide my child from me and walk away?"
Her throat tightened. "It's not about you, Liam. It's about peace. I just wanted to live quietly."
He leaned closer, his tone low and dangerous.
"Peace doesn't change the fact that you're carrying my child."
Her eyes burned with tears. "So this is what you call responsibility? Forcing me into marriage?"
"Call it whatever you want," he said coldly. "But you're signing the paper."
Evelyn swallowed hard. There was no point arguing. Thee man she once cared about was long gone. So she signed - slowly, painfully- each letter of her name sealing her future.
Liam took the papers without a word. "From today, you're Mrs. Blackwood. No one outside this room needs to know."
When the door closed behind him, Evelyn sat still for a long time. Then pressed a trembling hand against her stomach.
"I'm sorry," she whispered softly to the child inside her. "I tried to protect you."
Outside, thunder roared- just like the storm waiting inside her heart.