#built from sin

The sun was warm, filtered through paper lanterns and balloon arches the color of champagne and dusty rose. Kassidy’s backyard had never looked so delicate. Everything was perfectly curated, from the dessert bar stacked with pink velvet cupcakes to the floral arrangement spelling out “Baby Clarke” in soft blush hydrangeas. Music played low in the background, and laughter from close friends and family drifted across the lawn like a lullaby. Kassidy smiled politely for pictures, hands cradling her growing belly, but inside, her nerves buzzed like a wire ready to snap.

This day was supposed to be peaceful. Controlled. Drama-free.

That was, until she saw them.

Tall, confident. Uninvited.

Elias Moore, and his twin brother Elijah, cutting through the crowd like they belonged there.

Kassidy’s entire body stiffened. Her jaw clenched so tightly her molars ached. Her eyes narrowed like a hawk locking in on prey. She barely blinked as she watched them dapping hands, hugging old friends, and charming her guests with that cocky, comfortable air they both wore like a second skin.

She could deal with Elijah. Barely. But Elias? No. Not him.

Not today.

“Landon!” Kassidy hissed through her teeth, catching her boyfriend by the elbow as he popped a slider in his mouth.

He blinked at her. “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t even answer. She was already storming across the yard, her wedge heels crunching over gravel, her dress swaying like a flag of war. Her presence cut through the music and murmurs as she made a beeline straight for the man she hated most in the world.

Elias turned before she reached him. Of course he did. Like he could feel her rage from across the lawn. His smirk was lazy. His arms folded across his chest, just above the black button-up he wore, sleeves rolled to his elbows like he was here for a damn cookout—not her baby shower.

“Well,” he drawled. “Somebody looks thrilled to see me.”

“Get the hell out.”

“Oh, you still got that warm southern hospitality. Never change, Kass.” His eyes skimmed her figure, flicking to her bump. “Glowing. Really.”

“Don’t do that.” She stabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t act like we’re cool. Don’t pretend you give a single shit about me, or this baby.”

“Damn. You got bigger,” he said, like it was a compliment.

Kassidy’s eyes narrowed. “Get out.”

“Elijah wanted cake,” Elias shrugged, barely masking the glint in his eye. “You know how he gets.”

“I’m serious, Elias. Get. Out.”

“Why so pressed, Kass?” he asked lazily. “Don’t want anyone catching on to the truth?”

She felt her face heat. “Lower your voice.”

He didn’t. “You think that baby shower sign gonna change whose kid that really is?”

Kassidy inhaled through her nose, jaw tight. “This isn’t the time.”

“It never is with you,” he said, stepping closer, voice quieter now but deadlier. “But that doesn’t change the facts, does it?”

She hated how close he stood. Hated the fact that her body remembered everything. His hands, his mouth, the way he used to pull her hair when they fought and then kissed her so hard she couldn’t think. She hated that she still dreamed about it, even while Landon rubbed her belly and made nursery playlists.

“I’m not going to ruin your day, Kassidy,” Elias said at last, voice cooler now. “But I’m not leaving either. Landon invited me.”

“You’re lying,” she spat.

“You really think I’d show up without being asked?”

“I think you’d do anything to fuck with me.”

“Please,” he scoffed. “You think you matter that much?”

“You literally show up to an event where I’m carrying your—” she cut herself off, swallowing the end of the sentence like venom.

Elias leaned in, voice like smoke in her ear. “Say it.”

Her eyes blazed. “You want me to cause a scene?”

“Go ahead,” he taunted. “Tell everyone. Landon included. Let’s see how fast this little fairytale crumbles when the truth comes out.”

She shoved him back instinctively. “You’re disgusting.”

He smiled. “You weren’t saying that when you were begging me to put a baby in you.”

A sharp gasp escaped her lips as she glanced around to see if anyone heard. They were far enough to be ignored, but not out of sight. Her chest heaved with fury.

“You’re not staying,” she hissed.

“Too late,” Elias said smoothly. “Already had a cupcake. Might go for seconds.”

“You ruin everything, Elias.”

“No,” he said, eyes darkening. “I just don’t let you pretend.”

She wanted to slap him. Wanted to scream. But most of all, she wanted him gone.

“What the hell is going on?” Landon’s voice broke through the tension like a blade.

Kassidy spun around, eyes wide. “You invited him?”

Landon exhaled. “Kass…”

“You didn’t,” she whispered.

“I did.”

“Why?”

“Because Elias is my brother’s best friend,” Landon said gently. “He’s like family.”

“He’s not my family.”

“He’s my family,” Landon said firmly. “And he’s been around for every major moment in my life. When my brother passed. When I graduated. When I made the league. I couldn’t… look, I know you two don’t get along, but this isn’t just your baby. This day is for both of us.”

Kassidy felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. “I told you I didn’t want him here.”

“I know. But I also know that I didn’t want to look back on this moment and remember that one of my best friends missed it because you two can’t get over your hate fest.”

Elias chuckled darkly. “Told you.”

“Shut up,” Kassidy barked.

Elias cleared his throat. “Want me to go, Landon?”

“No,” Landon replied without hesitation. “You’re fine. Unless Kassidy wants to explain what the real issue is here.”

Kassidy froze. Her throat locked.

“I—just—I don’t like him. He’s a jackass. He’s always made me feel—” she faltered.

“Made you feel what?” Elias asked, all mock-innocence.

She could feel his eyes burning into her side. Feel the threat just behind his lips.

“You know what,” she said, looking at Landon. “Fine. Let him stay. He won’t matter soon anyway.”

Elias gave a low, almost amused hum. “You sure about that?”

She whirled on him once Landon turned to talk with Elijah. “I swear, if you say one thing—”

He cut her off. “You’ll what? Lie some more?”

“I’ll ruin you.”

He stepped in close again, his face unreadable now. “You already did. When you told me to stay away and then let him claim what’s mine.”

Her lip trembled. She hated that he still got to her like this. “You walked away first.”

“I walked away because I didn’t want to raise a kid in hate.”

“Well, here we are.”

Silence crackled like broken glass between them.

Kassidy looked up at him, eyes glossy, voice breaking beneath her control. “You think I sleep easy at night knowing this lie could cost me everything?”

“You’re not the only one living it, Kass,” he said low. “I think about her too. Every day.”

Her eyes widened. “You said her—”

“I know it’s a girl,” he said. “Call it a father’s instinct.”

Her lips parted. Something inside her cracked. Just for a second. She swore it was a girl too.

Then she shut it down.

“You don’t get to be a father just because you came first,” she whispered. “You gave up the right when you let someone else love me better.”

Elias’s jaw tensed. “You don’t even love Landon.”

“I love the life we have.”

“You love the lie,” he said. “But eventually, that baby’s gonna come out with my eyes, and what then?”

Kassidy blinked, hard. “Then I’ll lie again.”

He laughed. “You really think you’re built for this kind of deception?”

“I’m built for survival,” she snapped. “And I’ll protect my family by any means necessary.”

“Even if it means denying your own blood?”

Her voice dropped. “Especially if that blood belongs to you.”

For once, Elias didn’t have a comeback.

They stared at each other, fire flickering silently between them. Resentment, lust, fear. Everything they never said.

A wind blew through, rustling the baby shower streamers and the edges of Kassidy’s dress. Somewhere behind them, Elijah cracked a joke and Landon laughed too loud. Someone popped a balloon.

Elias looked away first.

“You still want me,” he said.

Kassidy exhaled sharply. “And you still want to ruin me.”

“Same thing.”

She didn’t deny it, didn’t have to.

Instead, she turned on her heel and walked away, shoulders stiff, hands cradling the lie growing inside her; their lie.

And Elias?

He stayed.

Because he already knew the truth.

And sooner or later, so would everyone else.

The moment Elias faded back into the crowd, Kassidy fixed her face.

No one could see what had just happened. Not her mama, not her aunties, not Landon’s mother who was eyeing her from the mimosa table. Definitely not Landon.

So she smiled.

She let out delicate laughs. Took pictures by the balloon wall. Cradled her stomach when people asked if she could feel the baby kicking. She kissed Landon on the cheek and leaned into his side, pretending her entire world wasn’t rattling behind her ribs like a loose screw.

Then the announcement came.

Landon clapped his hands together, his smile wide and boyish. “A’ight y’all, time for the moment we’ve been waitin’ for!”

A crowd gathered on the grass near the decorative box tied shut with a pink and gold bow. Friends pulled out their phones. Kassidy stood beside Landon, her heart in her throat. He slipped an arm around her waist, beaming.

“You ready?”

No.

“Yes,” she said.

He pulled the string.

The box opened, and an explosion of pink confetti soared into the air. Cheers erupted all around them.

Kassidy blinked. Her hands shot to her mouth as tears rushed her eyes.

It was a girl.

A baby girl.

Their daughter. Blood intertwined with her and Elias… and not Landon.

Her knees nearly buckled from the wave of emotion. Not just because of what the world thought, but because of what she knew. Because Elias also knew.

The pink didn’t just confirm the secret she’d been carrying.

It made it real.

“She’s gonna be beautiful,” Landon whispered, pulling her into his chest. “Just like her mama.”

Kassidy let herself fold into the hug, let herself cry against his shoulder as everyone cheered and took videos. She let the illusion exist. Just for a little while.

But not long enough.

Not before she felt his eyes on her again.

She didn’t even see Elias approach.

He waited.

Waited until the crowd moved toward the food table and guests started tossing confetti into the air. Until Landon got pulled away by his brother for pictures. Until Kassidy was left standing near the patio, pretending to read a gift tag.

That’s when she felt fingers curl around her wrist.

She turned, startled.

Elias’s eyes locked with hers, dark and dangerous. “Come with me.”

“No,” she hissed.

But he was already guiding her inside.

The room he pulled her into was small—somewhere off the hallway, a barely used guest room with soft pink walls and unopened boxes stacked in the corner. He shut the door behind them, locking it.

“Are you crazy?” she snapped, twisting her arm from his grip. “We are not doing this here—”

“Did you see the confetti?”

Her throat tightened.

“It’s a girl, Kassidy.” His voice was rough. “She’s mine.”

Kassidy turned her back to him. “You need to stop—”

“I’m not stopping shit.”

She whipped around. “This was supposed to be a happy day. I’m trying to celebrate with the people I love—”

“You mean him?” Elias’s jaw flexed. “That’s who you love?”

Kassidy hesitated. Too long.

“I can’t do this with you,” she muttered.

He stepped closer. “Why? Because you still feel it?”

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“You always think you know everything—”

“I know you.” He stabbed a finger into her chest. “I know what it looks like when you’re faking happy. I know what it sounds like when you’re holding back tears. I know what it feels like to be inside you and hear you whisper my name like it’s the only damn thing keeping you alive.”

Her breath caught.

She turned her face away, trying to build the wall back up but it was too late. The cracks were already splitting.

“You think Landon would’ve held you like I did?” Elias’s voice was quiet now, but full of fire. “You think he would’ve known you needed music when you cried at night, or how to press your hips just right when the baby keeps you up?”

“Stop,” she whispered.

“He doesn’t know you. Not like I do.”

Kassidy’s chest heaved. “He’s kind to me.”

“I was kind to you too.”

“You left.”

“I loved you!” he barked.

The words slapped the air between them.

She stared at him, stunned.

He blinked like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

“I loved you,” he repeated, slower this time. “Even when we fought. Even when you told me you hated me.”

Kassidy’s heart split wide open.

“Then why did you let me go?”

“Because I was scared,” Elias said honestly. “Scared I’d ruin you. Scared I’d be the worst parts of my father. Scared I wasn’t ready.”

She swallowed hard. “And now?”

He stepped forward again, closing the space.

“Now I watch another man kiss your belly while I pretend it doesn’t eat me alive.”

Kassidy’s tears came fast. “You think this is easy for me?”

“You’re the one who made it like this.”

“No,” she said through clenched teeth. “You did. You made me fall for you like it was safe. Like it was forever. And then you left me.”

Elias stepped back like she’d hit him.

She wiped her face and turned for the door. “I need to go.”

But his hand was already reaching for her again. This time, not to pull, but to press his palm flat against her belly.

She stilled.

“I felt her kick.”

Kassidy’s eyes fell shut.

For a moment, they just stood there.

Silent. His hand on her and her walls breaking.

And then she whispered, “I hate you for ruining everything.”

“I hate that you let him touch you.”

Her breath hitched.

Their foreheads leaned in, barely touching.

It was toxic. Poisonous. Unforgiving.

But it was real.

He kissed her.

Soft. Angry. Desperate.

Kassidy melted into it before she remembered where she was again. She shoved him back with trembling hands, breathing hard.

“We can’t do this.”

“But we are.”

“No,” she whispered. “I’m with Landon. He loves me.”

“So did I.”

She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “It’s too late.”

Elias shook his head. “It’ll never be too late for us.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I mean every word.”

Kassidy turned to the door again, this time without resistance. “You should’ve fought for me when it mattered.”

“I’m fighting now,” he said, voice shaking. “But you’ve got my baby, Kass. And you can lie all you want to him, to yourself, but that little girl’s gonna know who her real father is.”

She hesitated.

“You said I didn’t love you,” Elias said. “But you never stopped to ask if I was just scared to lose you.”

Kassidy’s hand froze on the doorknob.

The silence between them crackled. Her throat burned with everything she’d tried to swallow for months. The anger. The regret. The ache of wanting someone she hated so deeply, it only made the desire stronger. She could hear the music from the backyard. Laughter. Shouts of congratulations. People still celebrating the idea of her life with someone else.

She didn’t move.

“Kass,” Elias said softly. “If you walk out now… don’t come back.”

She stayed frozen for a second longer.

Then her fingers slipped from the knob.

And she turned around.

Their eyes met and something shifted. A decision made without words.

Kassidy didn’t speak. She didn’t have to. She took one step. Then another. Until Elias met her halfway and grabbed her like he was starving. His mouth crashed against hers, messy and hard. Not like lovers but like enemies who’d waited too long to admit the truth.

She gasped into the kiss, her hands fisting in the collar of his shirt. His arms wrapped around her like he needed her to breathe. There was no room for hesitation now. None for guilt. Just hunger. Just them.

He pushed her gently until her back hit the guest bed behind them, never breaking contact. Kassidy tugged him closer, pulling him down with her, teeth scraping his bottom lip, her breath catching as his hand slid along her side, over the curve of her belly with reverence. She sucked in a sharp breath as he kissed down her throat, along her collarbone, like a man who’d memorized every inch of her and was coming home.

“I hate you,” she whispered shakily, even as her legs parted for him.

“No you don’t,” Elias breathed into her skin. “You miss me.”

She clenched her jaw to fight the truth and failed.

His hand slid under her dress, slow and possessive. “You think about me when you’re with him. Don’t lie.”

She arched against him, her breath shallow. “Shut up.”

“Say it,” he rasped, his hand teasing over her hip. “Say who you belong to.”

“I don’t belong to anybody,” she hissed, even as she bucked toward him.

He grinned. “Then why are you still here?”

She didn’t answer.

He leaned down until their foreheads touched. His voice was low and broken. “This is my baby, Kass. My family. And you can lie to everybody out there, but in here you tell me the truth.”

Her hands slid into his hair, tugging just enough to make him hiss. “You think I don’t feel this? That I don’t hate how much I need you?”

He kissed her again. Softer this time. Slower. Like they were making up for months lost.

“I should’ve fought harder,” Elias whispered against her lips. “I should’ve stayed.”

“You should’ve,” she agreed, her voice breaking. “You left me scared and alone.”

“I know,” he murmured, kissing away the tears she didn’t realize had spilled. “And I’ll never forgive myself for it.”

Kassidy whimpered when his hands slid lower, parting her legs as his body settled between hers like they were made to fit. Pushing her panties to the side and thrusting himself right into her. Undoubtably, her eyes flickered to the back of her head, her lips separated, and her back arched off the bed and pressing her chest to his chest. Being so close to him, was enough to send her body into a frenzy of different emotions. She missed this, missed him, and after finding out what they were having she desperately needed this.

“Pussy leakin for me and you just takin it. Tell me it’s mine.” He groaned out to her.

Kassidy shook her head, but she couldn’t stop the moans that were leaving her mouth. This is exactly what happened before, Landon always seemed to be an afterthought whenever Elias came in mind.

“You can’t even deny it baby. You feel how you grippin onto me?” He stated behind gritted teeth, and he pulled back to placed his hands on her legs to part it just a little.

“Tell me.”

“Fuck… Elias, I can’t.” She moans out, her hands fisting the sheets beneath her as if to give her something to hold onto before she broke herself for him.

The sounds of their skin slapping was the only thing that could be heard in the room, all Elias can do is watch her. Titties bouncing in her perfect little dress, with her stomach out, round from her carrying their seed and her pussy creaming all over him as if she couldn’t help herself.

“Yessss. Just like that baby.” Kass moans out and a small smirk etched it’s way to his face.

“You love me?” He asked quietly, and Kassidy’s response was automatic.

Her nodding her head at him in agreement to his question as if it were a statement. “Love you Lias. We love you so much.” She slurs out.

That caused his pace to stutter, and the endorphins coursing through his body were from the knowledge of his family, his little family were in this room and sharing a love that nobody else knows they have.

“Love you too Angel.” He mutters before lowering himself to press his lips onto hers as her continued to thrust into her.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head when his dick kept poking her spot. Their bodies moved like they were chasing a beat only their bodies could beat. And they were. Every breath, every moan, every look, familiar and desperate. She hadn’t forgotten the way he held her, how he whispered her name when he was deep inside her like a prayer he’d never stop saying.

They moved together like they never broke, and maybe in a crazy way they never did.

“M’gonna….” Kass trailed off because her warning came last minute, and her cries of pure delight echoed throughout the room.

Elias grunted, the feeling of her clenching around him while she cried out his name was enough for him. He groaned into her ear and emptied himself in her. It didn’t matter, she already was having his baby.

When it was over, they lay tangled on the bed, her head on his chest, the room quiet except for their breathing and the faint echo of party music beyond the door.

Kassidy finally spoke, voice low.

“This changes nothing.”

“Yes it does,” Elias said, stroking her back. “You just don’t want it to.”

She sat up slowly, adjusting her dress, but didn’t move to leave yet. “We can’t keep doing this.”

“Then stop,” he challenged. “You can’t keep trynna push me away Kass. I left once cause I was scared, but I’m not going anywhere okay?”

“And I’m supposed to just take your word for it?” She whispered out, the hesitation and fear of him leaving her again was clear in her voice. She couldn’t go through that again.

“You gotta know that you were always gonna end up here. You and little Kacey.”

Kassidy’s heart thudded against her ribs like a drum.

Kass and Kacey.

It sounded too sweet. Too dangerous. Too close to the future she wasn’t supposed to want.

Her lips curled into a soft, teary smile. “You’re such a trip, Elias.”

He leaned in, resting his forehead against hers again. “Nah. I’m dead serious.”

She closed her eyes, letting the warmth of his voice settle deep into her chest.

“You really think you’re gonna just walk back in and name our baby like you never left?”

“I never left you,” he said quietly. “I left because I thought I had to. But I never left you, Kass.”

Her breath caught.

“I tried to stay away. I tried to let Landon play the role,” he continued, his voice low and cracking at the edges. “But every night I laid in bed thinking about what she’d look like. If she’d have your smile or my smart mouth. If she’d know who I was. If you’d let me be her father, even if it was from the sidelines.”

Kassidy opened her eyes slowly, heart breaking and mending all at once.

“I didn’t want her to feel like a mistake,” she whispered.

“She’s not.”

“I didn’t want us to be one either.”

Elias’s hand came to rest gently on her stomach again. She covered it with hers.

“Then don’t let us be.”

They ain’t shit huh? Lmfao, how we feel about this one?