My father had always been against my marriage to Ryan Kane, a vampire of noble birth.

He believed that as a human, I had no place in the vampire world. He warned me that if Ryan ever changed his mind, without his protection, my half-blood child and I would be nothing more than walking blood bags in the eyes of vampires.

But I believed in Ryan—and in our love.

My husband had always been gentle and attentive. He had even defied everyone to make me, a human, his vampire bride.

That was before Ryan's human ex-fiancée had her engagement called off and returned to the country seeking his help.

I went to the hospital alone. While I was learning that my pregnancy was high-risk, Ryan was there attending her prenatal checkup, even introducing her to the doctor as his wife.

All he had for me was one cold line: "Keep pushing me and I'll file for divorce."

I pressed my hand against my stomach and dialed a number I hadn't called in years. "Dad, you were right... I want a divorce."

Two weeks. That was all it would take for me to disappear from his life completely.

But later—that same vampire who had discarded me like I was nothing showed up at my wedding to another man, trembling all over, calling my name in a broken voice.

Elena's POV

Eight months pregnant, the half-blood child inside me had put me through hell, yet there I was outside the prenatal examination room, watching my husband—the one who claimed he couldn't accompany me because of "work"—shielding his first love from the sunlight streaming through the corridor glass.

Ryan drew her close, carefully angling the umbrella to block the light, and I watched clearly as he pressed a tender kiss to the corner of her lips. "Don't worry," he murmured. "I won't let anything hurt you or the baby. I'll protect you both."

He had once said the same words to me. But compared to this—what he'd given me felt like a casual afterthought.

That was Lilian, Ryan's first love. I had heard her name even before our wedding, whispered by some of his friends.

Lilian had once wandered into the vampire world by accident. Ryan rescued her when she was injured and nursed her back to health, and the two fell for each other quickly—so quickly that they'd even talked about marriage. But at the last moment, Lilian retreated. Unable to bear the elder council's contempt toward a human bride, she refused to marry Ryan and returned to the human world.

Three months ago, Lilian—now pregnant—had been abandoned by the man she was engaged to. With nowhere left to turn, she came back to Ryan for help.

Ryan told me that seeing pregnant Lilian struggle alone reminded him of me, and that out of compassion for a human woman in her condition, he had taken her in.

"Of course I trust you, but Elena..." Lilian dropped her eyes, her face a picture of concern—though I could see the mockery beneath. "She's going to be furious. Today you came with me to the checkup instead of her—what if she makes a scene again?"

"What can she do without my protection? A half-blood kid with no father? That child has nothing."

Ryan laughed softly.

The sound was quiet, but it drove itself into my ear like a needle.

"So what if she's angry? She can't leave me. Even if she finds out the child you're carrying is mine, she won't dare file for divorce."

He said it so carelessly—almost with a touch of contempt. The smile on his face was utterly foreign to me.

In that moment, something inside my mind snapped.

My blood ran cold. The medical report in my hand crumpled into a ball.

The doctor stepped out of the examination room and called Lilian's name. Ryan instinctively reached out to support her elbow and guided her through the door.

"Doctor... my wife hasn't been feeling well lately. I'd like a thorough check this time."

Ryan called Lilian his wife. Then what did that make me?

From the moment Lilian returned to his life, I, my child, our love—none of it mattered to him anymore.

I lowered my head slowly and looked at the curve of my stomach. Something pressed against my chest, heavy and aching.

I finally took out my phone and dialed that number I hadn't called in years.

It connected quickly.

"What's wrong?" My father's voice was low and measured.

My voice cracked slightly.

"Dad." I said. "You were right. I want a divorce. Come take me home."

My father was silent for a moment, then just sighed. But the steadiness in his voice settled something inside me. "My good girl. You've finally come to your senses."

"Give me two weeks. I'll come for you then."

"I won't let that vampire get close to you and hurt you again."

My father would find doctors to help protect the pregnancy, and he would find a way past the guards surrounding Ryan's estate. I would be able to leave here safely with my child soon.

Two weeks. That was all it would take for me to vanish from Ryan's life completely.

Elena's POV

I had barely stepped into the stairwell when the click of heels echoed behind me.

"I thought so," Lilian said lightly. "I thought I saw you back there."

My fingertips stilled. I could already smell that cloying perfume.

"So it really was you."

Lilian stood on the landing, one hand resting on the railing, the other still cradling her stomach. The fragile act she had put on for Ryan was gone. Her expression was relaxed—almost entertained.

"Hospitals are such busy, chaotic places." She tilted her head. "Standing there watching like that—did it hurt?"

I turned slowly to face her.

"Well?" She looked me up and down, her gaze anything but kind. "Now you finally know what it looks like when Ryan is actually happy."

My throat tightened. I said nothing.

Lilian seemed pleased by my silence, and kept going.

"Shouldn't you be grateful?" she said softly. "Without me, you'd have gone your whole life without ever seeing him smile like that."

She let out a gentle sigh, her tone edging toward something that almost sounded like pity.

My nails pressed into my palm. I watched her looking down at me from the step above, and stepped closer, lowering my voice.

"He smiles plenty around me. You're just not worth his smile."

The air seemed to drop a few degrees. I stepped forward, emotion rising in my chest despite myself.

"Are you done?"

Lilian raised an eyebrow, smugness and sarcasm in her eyes almost impossible to hide.

She had finally gotten what she wanted—watching me lose control.

"What's wrong?" she murmured. "Finally had enough?"

My chest heaved. The report in my hand was creased and crushed, my knuckles white.

"You think you've won?" I stared at her. "By crawling into someone else's marriage like this?"

The moment the words left my mouth, my hand went slack unconsciously.

The report slipped from my fingers. The pages scattered and drifted down the steps.

Lilian's gaze followed them instinctively.

The next second, her expression changed.

A brief, stunned pause crossed her face—one that was quickly replaced by something like excitement.

She bent down and picked up one of the pages, her eyes pausing on the last line for two full seconds.

Then she laughed.

The sound of it rang through the empty stairwell, sharp and jarring.

"Well, now I understand." She lifted her head, her voice laced with undisguised mockery. "No wonder you've looked so worn out lately."

"'Extreme risk of complications during delivery,'" she read aloud, drawing the words out slowly. "Looks like it's you or the baby. Tough luck."

A ringing sound filled my head. I couldn't believe the woman who had spent so long playing sweet and warm in front of Ryan was capable of this.

Before I could respond, she had straightened and let her gaze drop to my stomach.

"So your baby hates you too," she said, tilting her head. "Draining you dry just to kill you."

The world went silent with my fury.

The next second, I raised my hand and slapped her with everything I had.

The crack of it split the air in the stairwell.

Lilian stumbled back two steps, then crumpled deliberately onto the landing, clutching her face, releasing a theatrical shriek.

"Are you insane?!"

Her voice shot up immediately, breaking into sobs.

"I was just worried about you! How could you hit me? I'm pregnant!"

Almost simultaneously, a figure burst through the stairwell door.

"What are you doing?! Why are you here?"

Ryan's voice was sharp and furious.

He grabbed my wrist with a force that sent a jolt of numbness through my arm, yanking me stumbling forward.

"You pushed her?!" He stared down at me like he was looking at a stranger.

Lilian burst into tears immediately, her voice trembling.

"Ryan... don't blame her... it was my fault, I shouldn't have come to find her... as long as Elena feels better, it doesn't matter that she hit me..."

Her whole body shook slightly as she spoke, looking fragile and innocent.

Ryan's expression went completely cold.

He stepped in front of Lilian, shielding her, and turned his gaze back to me.

"Apologize," he said.

I stared at him.

"What did you just say?"

"I said apologize." He repeated it without any softness, his tone leaving no room for argument. "You hit her. She's pregnant. She's physically weaker than you—"

I laughed.

It was a quiet laugh, but I couldn't keep the sarcasm out of it.

"Do you know what she just said to me? What she said about our baby?"

I bent down and picked up the scattered report, then walked over and pressed it against his chest.

"Read this," I said. "Then blame me."

The papers hit him and slid to the floor.

Ryan glanced down briefly, then looked away before he had finished a single line.

"I don't care about that," he said. "Your hormones are all over the place, but that's no excuse to hurt someone."

"You're pregnant too. How could you be this cruel?"

That hit me like a blunt blow straight to the chest.

Cruel?

I looked at him and suddenly felt his face was completely unfamiliar.

"Three years of marriage," I said, my voice wavering slightly. "Is that really what you think of me?"

He didn't answer.

He just frowned, avoiding my eyes, impatience bleeding into his voice.

"Then what kind of person are you?" he said. "You've been completely out of line lately."

Ryan put his arm around Lilian's shoulders, pulling her close.

In that moment, I felt nothing.

Anger, hurt, pain—every feeling seemed to be cut off at the source.

I bent down and collected the scattered report pages, one by one, folding them back into order.

Then I looked up and met his eyes one last time.

"Don't hold your breath," I said. "I'm not apologizing."

"Ryan—who is actually your wife? Do you have any conscience left?" The words came out steady, without tears, without raising my voice. "Right now, you feel like a complete stranger to me."

I turned and walked out.

I didn't look back.

The stairwell door swung shut behind me, completely shutting off the last bit of possibility between us.

Elena's POV

I didn't realize I'd left my bag in the hospital until I walked out.

The midday sun was so bright that I could hardly open my eyes.

I was about to step down toward the shade of a nearby tree when I heard rapid footsteps behind me.

"Elena, where are you going by yourself?"

Ryan's voice came from behind me, with an urgency he probably didn't realize was there.

I didn't turn around, but I could feel clearly that he had stopped at the boundary where shadow met light—and gone no further.

"You're overthinking this. There's nothing between me and Lilian." His voice had dropped slightly, and then steadied again quickly.

I stood in the shade and said nothing.

A moment later, a stifled cry came from the direction of the stairwell entrance.

"Ryan... my stomach hurts a bit."

Lilian's voice was small and trembling.

I heard Ryan draw a sharp breath.

He called my name again—but this time there was a clear hesitation in it.

I still didn't turn around. I could feel my unborn child reaching out too, quietly waiting for the care of its father.

Before all of this, I would have gone running to Ryan in tears, desperate for comfort. The thought that my child and I might only have one chance between us—I didn't know how to face it.

But I couldn't make myself forget what I had just witnessed and go blindly fall in love.

Ryan made his choice quickly.

Footsteps moved away in the opposite direction.

"Go home on your own," he told me, his voice settling back into its usual cool and distance. "She's not feeling well right now."

"And stop making scenes."

Those words were a dull blade, slowly severing the last thread of hope I'd been holding.

When I got home, the house was empty.

I stood in the entryway and suddenly realized that this place hadn't truly belonged to me in a long time.

The main bedroom—larger, airier—had been given to Lilian by Ryan. The lounge chair in the living room, the bowl of fruit Ryan had cut himself and left on the table—all of it was for another woman.

The whole house was saturated with Lilian's perfume. As a vampire, Ryan's sense of smell should have been far sharper than mine, but he had chosen to notice nothing—even claiming that my nausea and vomiting were performed to drive me away.

Somehow, she had become more of a mistress of this house than I was. More like Ryan's wife.

And I was just someone who wasn't loved or taken care of by him.

I didn't sit down to rest. I went straight to the bedroom and opened the wardrobe.

Clothes were taken off one by one, folded and put into the suitcase. The gifts Ryan had given me I pulled out one by one and dropped in the trash.

I endured the pain in my stomach, moving slowly but my mind had never been so clear.

Last, I opened the drawer and took out the marriage certificate. I looked at it for a moment, then closed it again.

Three years of marriage. In the end, all that remained of it was this single piece of paper.

I was latching the suitcase when I heard the lock on the front door.

Ryan was back.

He came in with Lilian at his side, his hand at her elbow, careful and steady, as though she might shatter.

"You frightened her," he said. "Lilian's still shaken up."

Lilian stood beside him, pale, and spoke quietly.

"Elena, please don't misunderstand." She looked at me, her voice soft. "I'm only staying here because the baby and I need somewhere to live."

"Once the baby is born, I'll leave right away. Ryan and I... there's truly nothing going on."

She had barely finished the sentence before the tears came. Ryan tightened his arm around her and murmured something to calm her.

The moment those words left her mouth, something inside my chest nearly exploded.

"Nothing?" I looked at Ryan. "Then what exactly is this you're doing right now?"

He frowned.

"Can you just be reasonable?"

"She's a human pregnant woman. She needs care."

"And what about me?" I shot back. "Wasn't I eight months pregnant?"

He paused for a beat, then said impatiently:

"It's different. Your child is strong—I can feel it. You've adjusted. Lilian's baby has always been fragile, and you're the one who hit her. I'm cleaning up your mess. How can you be this selfish?"

"She stays here tonight. She'll keep staying." Ryan continued. "Don't even think about forcing Lilian out. That's not your call."

For months, Lilian had been faking illness to draw Ryan's attention, and my husband had been spending nearly every night in her room caring for her. He had dismissed every sign of my own distress as jealousy or drama.

What he didn't know was that the one in this house slowly being destroyed by pregnancy—dangerously so—was me. Not the woman playing fragile.

I had confronted him before—asked him point-blank whether he regretted marrying me, whether he just wanted to be with Lilian.

If that was the truth, I told him, I wouldn't beg.

But Ryan had always deflected. He said that as a vampire, he could sense that Lilian's baby was unusually vulnerable, which was why he gave her more attention. He insisted he felt nothing for her beyond sympathy.

And so, holding onto that small, pitiful scrap of hope, I swallowed my doubts until yesterday.

I never expected to see the two of them being so affectionate in the hospital, openly passing themselves off as husband and wife in front of a doctor.

"If you can't stand being around Lilian," he said, his tone going cold, "you can move to one of the other houses."

The air in the room hardened.

Lilian looked almost startled, reaching out to catch his sleeve.

"Ryan, don't say that." She kept her voice gentle. "Elena isn't actually going to leave."

She glanced at me. The triumph in her eyes was barely disguised.

Ryan nodded, following her lead.

"She won't go," he said with calm certainty. "She doesn't have it in her. And she wouldn't dare."

"Without my protection, where would she even go?"

In that moment, I understood something clearly.

In his mind, I had no way out. I was simply a human he could threaten at will—one who would never dare defy him or actually go through with a divorce.

I said nothing else. I turned and took hold of the suitcase I'd already packed.

The wheels made a clear sound across the floor.

Ryan finally registered that something was wrong, and looked up.

"What are you doing?"

I stopped, but didn't turn around.

"You said so yourself," I said. "If I don't want to see her, I can leave."

The moment I pulled the door open, the night wind rushed in.

The light from inside, their silhouettes, three years of everything—I left it all behind the closing door.