Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Your husband, Ethan Sterling, had been hospitalized after a car accident.
At his bedside, his secretary stood with red-rimmed eyes, her voice trembling. “I’m sorry. Mr. Sterling was injured protecting me.”
Ethan frowned from the hospital bed, his impatience softened by unmistakable affection. “Why are you apologizing to her? Marriage certificate aside, you and I are the real couple.”
You took in the absurd scene before you, fingertips brushing lightly over your lower abdomen.
“Relax. I was only stopping by while I was here. I came to the hospital for a prenatal appointment.”
Ethan shot upright. The sudden movement pulled at his injuries, and he sucked in a sharp breath. Disbelief filled his eyes.
“I’ve never touched you. How could you possibly be pregnant?”
“Oh.” Your smile never wavered. “The baby isn’t yours.”
The entire room fell silent.
Lily Parker stared at you, eyes wide with disbelief.
Ethan lurched forward again, heedless of the pain tearing through him. “What did you just say? Say it again!”
You could repeat it a hundred times, and the child still wouldn’t be his.
You blinked at him reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I promise I won’t tell either of our families that you’re not the father.”
Then you rested a hand on your stomach and glanced toward the door. “They’ll probably call me in soon. I should go.”
“Claire Bennett! Claire!”
Ethan shouted your name, panic raw in his voice.
But he had broken his leg protecting Lily. Trapped in bed, all he could do was rage helplessly as you walked away.
Lily hurried after you into the corridor. When you turned, she clenched her fists. It seemed to take every ounce of courage she possessed to force out the question.
“Is… is the baby really not Ethan’s?”
You smiled. Instead of stopping, you stepped closer until your face was almost level with hers, your voice deceptively gentle.
“Whatever happens in my marriage is none of your business. Especially when you’re the shameless woman sleeping with my husband.”
Lily stumbled back, staring at you in shock and fury. For a long moment, she couldn’t manage a single word.
You gave her no further attention. Turning away, you continued down the corridor, your heels striking the polished floor with crisp, decisive clicks.
Your marriage to Ethan Sterling had been arranged to unite two powerful families, but that wasn’t the whole story.
Once the engagement was settled, he began appearing in your life with increasing frequency.
Chapter 2
Sometimes it was a bouquet delivered without warning. Sometimes it was his BMW waiting outside the Bennett Group offices. Even when you traveled overseas, he somehow managed to book the seat beside yours.
“A long flight alone is painfully dull,” he said with an innocent smile. “With two people, it might actually be fun.”
Back then, Ethan had also told you, “We’re going to get married anyway. Why not try being a real couple?”
And eventually, that was exactly what you became. Your marriage existed in more than name alone.
But that only lasted until Lily Parker turned nineteen.
Lily was an underprivileged student Ethan had sponsored for ten years. On her nineteenth birthday, she posted a wish:
“I hope Mr. Sterling will help arrange my wedding someday.”
You happened to see it, but before you could give the words much thought, Ethan lost control.
That night, he rolled off you and rushed out without even stopping to shower.
When he returned, there was a conspicuous hickey on his neck. It was small, but the childish possessiveness behind it was unmistakable.
Before you could ask what had happened, Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke first.
“Maybe we should go back to what this marriage was supposed to be. An alliance between our families.”
Only then did you finally understand.
The girl he had nurtured and supported for ten years had grown up. When Lily saw that the man she adored had married someone else, she lost hope and accepted a confession from one of her classmates.
Then Ethan saw the background of one of her birthday photographs and went mad.
She was in a cheap roadside motel, the kind that rented rooms for barely more than pocket change.
He couldn’t bear the thought of the flower he had tended for ten years being touched by another man in a place like that.
So that night, Ethan made her his.
Afterward, when he tried to justify himself, he told you, “Claire Bennett, Lily was already in my heart before I married you. She was simply too young back then. Besides, ours was always a dynastic marriage alliance. There’s nothing wrong with each of us having our own relationships.”
In a twisted way, he did have a point.
The two of you soon reached an agreement: whatever happened outside the marriage, neither of you would tell your families.
As soon as Ethan finished speaking that day, he hurried away.
Chapter 3
You stood beside the window and watched him climb into his car. He immediately leaned across the center console, tangling himself with the woman in the passenger seat as though he couldn’t wait another second.
Before the car pulled away, a message from him appeared on your phone.
“Claire, don’t let Lily find out that you and I ever slept together.”
That day, the private investigator you’d hired sent you a photograph.
It showed a ten-thousand-dollar-a-night hotel suite. Against the crisp white sheets, a smear of dried blood stood out with brutal clarity.
You stared at the photograph for a long time. Then you paid the investigator’s final invoice and sent him a message.
“You don’t need to follow them anymore.”
Your phone rang all night. Every call came from Ethan Sterling.
You had to give him credit for his persistence. Lily Parker was the kind of delicate little thing who burst into tears over a single harsh word. Yet instead of comforting her after you tore into her, he apparently had time to interrogate you.
Thoughtfully, you left your phone charging at home so he could keep calling.
When you returned the next morning and opened the front door, you found Ethan waiting with a stormy expression.
He sat in his wheelchair, his gaze locked on you.
“Claire Bennett,” he said coldly. “You were gone all night. Where the hell were you?”
You ignored him and bent down to change your shoes, only to discover that your slippers were missing.
You searched the shoe cabinet. They were nowhere to be found.
Straightening, you looked him directly in the eye.
“Who did you bring into our home?”
Ethan had never liked strangers in the house. Even the cleaning service came only at scheduled times.
And today wasn’t one of them.
The answer was obvious.
Footsteps clicked across the kitchen floor.
Lily Parker emerged carrying a bowl of soup in both hands, smiling brightly. “Ethan, the restorative pork broth is ready.”
The moment she saw you, she froze. Flustered, she set the bowl down and stammered, “Claire, I only came over to… to take care of Ethan. He hurt his foot…”
Your gaze traveled downward and settled on her feet.
Lily’s face flushed. “Oh… the slippers. I just grabbed a pair. Are they yours? I’m sorry…”
You said nothing. You simply watched her.
Under your steady stare, Lily grew more uneasy. She stood rooted to the spot, afraid to move.
Ethan frowned. “They’re just slippers, Lily. You have nothing to apologize for.”
A soft, humorless laugh escaped you as you strolled into the living room. “You’re right. They’re only a pair of used shoes. I never realized both of you had such a taste for secondhand things.”
You turned to leave, but Ethan suddenly raised his voice behind you.