Chapter 3 - The Ultrasound
Nathan stood motionless.
Then he suddenly walked out of the dining room.
Vanessa followed him.
“Nathan.”
He crossed the hallway and entered his study.
On the bookshelf beside his desk sat a silver frame.
Inside was an ultrasound image.
Nathan picked it up.
His hands were shaking.
Twelve weeks.
That was what Vanessa had told him.
He had stared at the tiny shape for hours after she gave him the picture.
He had even taken a photograph of it and kept it on his phone.
Now he held it toward her.
“What is this?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Answer me.”
She whispered,
“An ultrasound.”
“Whose?”
No response.
Nathan’s eyes filled with something worse than anger.
“Whose baby is this?”
Vanessa sat down.
“I bought it.”
Nathan looked at her as though he had misheard.
“You bought an ultrasound?”
“Online.”
The frame slipped from Nathan’s hand.
It struck the carpet without breaking.
Ethan appeared in the doorway.
Vanessa looked at him with pure hatred.
“This is what you wanted.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice was calm.
“I wanted him to stop being lied to.”
Nathan turned toward Vanessa.
“When did this start?”
She said nothing.
Nathan moved closer.
“Was there ever a positive test?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
The answer was barely audible.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Every memory began rearranging itself.
The morning she had walked into the bedroom holding a pregnancy test.
The way she had cried.
The way she had placed his hand against her stomach.
The dinner where they announced the news.
The congratulations.
The gifts.
His mother’s tears.
All of it had been theater.
“The test?”
Vanessa stared at the floor.
“Purchased.”
“The doctor’s calls?”
“A friend.”
“The prenatal vitamins?”
“Real vitamins.”
“The morning sickness?”
She remained silent.
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Vanessa suddenly stood.
“You think I enjoyed this?”
Nathan stared at her.
“You wore a fake stomach every day.”
“Because once it started, I couldn’t stop.”
“You could have stopped on the first day.”
“I was desperate.”
“For what?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“For you.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Something about her expression changed.
He saw it.
A hesitation.
A calculation.
And he understood that even now she was choosing which truth to give him.
Ethan saw it too.
“What aren’t you telling him?”
Vanessa looked toward the door.
Nathan stepped in front of it.
“You are not leaving.”
“Nathan.”
“Why did you invent a pregnancy?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
His voice became colder.
“You told me the version you want me to believe.”
Ethan pulled another page from his envelope.
“This might help.”
Vanessa’s face changed immediately.
Nathan took the document.
It was a copy of a clause from his father’s family trust.
Nathan had seen it years earlier.
He had almost forgotten it existed.
Ethan pointed to one paragraph.
Upon the birth of Nathan Cole’s first biological child, controlling voting rights in Cole Meridian Holdings would transfer permanently to Nathan’s household trust.
Nathan slowly lifted his eyes.
Vanessa was no longer crying.
May you like
And suddenly the fake pregnancy looked much less like desperation.
It looked like a plan.
