"CHAPTER ONE LIANA'S POV I wαs..." - Read Full Novel
Novel: Secret Baby Regret
I was nineteen when I discovered my stepbrother Julian Sterling moaning my name in the bathroom, his fist wrapped around himself in the dark.
I hadn't meant to walk in. I just wanted water. But when I heard my nameâ*Elara*âfall from his lips like a prayer, my feet carried me toward the crack of light. I pushed the door open. He stood naked before the mirror, muscles tensed, jaw clenched, completely undone by the thought of me.
He caught me watching. His eyes went feral. Then he slammed the door in my face.
The next morning, he cornered me against the refrigerator. His hand slid up my thigh, pressing hard through the fabric. "You're wet," he growled. "Just from words. Just from me saying your name while I came."
I should have run. Instead, that night, I opened my door.
He didn't ask. He took. And I gave him everythingâmy heart, my body, my virginity. He pushed inside me with a savage groan, filling me completely, whispering that I was his, that no one else would ever own this pussy. When he finished, he collapsed beside me, stroking my hair.
Then he saw the blood on the sheets.
His entire body locked up. He ripped himself away like my touch had become poison. "You were a virgin?" he rasped. "A *fucking* virgin?"
He threw cash onto the bed. Right next to the bloodstain. "I'm sorry," he muttered. Then he walked out.
Five weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. That same day, I walked into our living room to find him seated beside a beautiful womanâVictoria Ashford. His fiancĂ©e. My stepmother was glowing with joy. Julian didn't even look at me.
That night, he came to my room again. I begged him not to marry her. I tried to tell him about the baby. "Don't," he cut me off. "Nothing is more important than marrying her."
Seven years later, I'm on my knees scrubbing hotel tiles, a worn-out janitor trying to keep my son fed. The walkie-talkie hisses. "Report to Room 1904." My boss's voice is cold. "Or hand in your uniform."
I knock. The door swings open.
And Julian Sterling stands before meâricher, darker, more powerful than ever. His eyes rake over my stained uniform, my trembling hands.
"Hello, Elara," he says softly. "I've been looking for you."
Behind him, I see a photo on the desk. A picture of me walking my son to school.
"You have something that belongs to me," he whispers, stepping closer. "And I'm not leaving until I take it back."
# CHAPTER 2: THE GILDED LEASH
The penthouse elevator doors slide open with a whisper, revealing a marble foyer that costs more than I made in seven years of scrubbing toilets.
Julian's hand presses against the small of my back, guiding me forward, and the touch burns through my janitor's uniform like I'm still wearing that flimsy nightgown from seven years ago. I step away immediately, memorizing the floor plan with the same methodical precision I used to catalog hotel escape routesâkitchen to the left, living room straight ahead, hallway to the right leading to what must be bedrooms.
"Your room is at the end," Julian says, his voice carefully neutral. "Leo's is next to yours. I had it decorated with dinosaurs."
The casual way he says my son's name makes my stomach lurch.
I don't respond. I walk down the hallway, counting steps, noting the service elevator tucked behind a decorative screen, the fire escape map framed near the pantry. My room is enormousâa king bed, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, a bathroom with a heated floor.
I'm still standing in the center of the room, refusing to touch anything, when I hear a child's laughter echo through the penthouse. My heart stops. Then restarts at double speed.
Leo is in the living room, clutching a paper airplane, his dark hairâJulian's hairâfalling into his eyes. And Julian is kneeling beside him, demonstrating how to fold the wings just right, his massive hands gentle in a way I've never seen.
"Daddy! The pilot says we're going to Paris!" Leo giggles, launching the plane across the room.
The word hits me like a physical blow.
Julian's eyes meet mine over Leo's head, and there's something raw in them, something desperate and hungry and broken. He opens his mouth to speak, but I shake my head once, sharply. Not in front of Leo. Never in front of Leo.
Julian nods. He turns back to my son and says, "Can you fly the plane to the kitchen and find the cookies Chef left on the counter?"
Leo salutes and runs off, leaving a trail of giggles.
The moment he's gone, Julian stands. The gentleness evaporates. He's the Alpha again, all coiled power and dark intent. "Where's his father's name on the birth certificate?"
"Blank." He repeats the word like it's a wound. "You gave him your last name. You gave him nothing of me."
Julian steps closer. I don't back down. "Safety from what? From me?"
"From your world." I gesture at the penthouse, the wealth, the power that drips from every surface. "You think I wanted my son to grow up with bodyguards and trust funds and a father who throws cash at women after he's finished with them?"
Julian flinches. Actually flinches.
"Seven years," he says, his voice dropping to a growl. "Seven years I searched for you. Every private investigator in three continents. Every missing persons database. You vanished like smoke."
"I learned how to disappear," I say. "You'd be surprised what you can figure out when you have nothing but time and a baby to protect."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The question hangs between us, heavy and jagged.
I laugh. It's not a pretty sound. "Tell you? You threw money at the bloodstains from my virginity and told me you were marrying someone else. When was I supposed to mention it? During your engagement party? At the wedding?"
Julian's jaw tightens. "I called it off."
"The engagement." He runs a hand through his hair, and I see the first crack in his composure. "The day after you disappeared, I called it off. Victoria was furious. My pack was furious. I didn't care. I thoughtâ" He stops. Swallows. "I thought you left because you found out what I am."
He looks at me sharply. "You know."
"Tabloid photo. Three years ago. You were shifting in an alley. Some tourist caught it on their phone." I cross my arms. "That's how I found out why you went feral after taking my virginity. Fated mates, right? You felt the bond, freaked out, and ran."
"Don't look so shocked," I say, and my voice is steady now, cold and clear. "I spent seven years figuring out every single reason you destroyed me. You didn't want to mark a human. You thought I'd be disgusted by your wolf. So you pushed me away in the cruelest way possible."
"I didn't know about werewolves," I continue, stepping closer to him for the first time. "I didn't know about mates or bonds or any of it. I just knew the man I loved threw money at me after he took my virginity and then married someone else."
Julian's hands clench at his sides. "I never married her."
"You might as well have."
The kitchen door swings open. Leo runs back in, his face smeared with chocolate. "Daddy! The cookies taste like sunshine!"
Julian's entire expression shifts. The controlled Alpha melts into something soft and aching. He kneels again, catching Leo in his arms, and I watch my son laugh as Julian lifts him onto his shoulders.
"Sunshine, huh?" Julian's voice is rough. "I think that's the best compliment a cookie can get."
Leo giggles. "Mommy! Did you try the cookies? They're better than the ones you make!"
I force a smile. "I'll try one later, baby."
That night, after Leo falls asleep in his dinosaur-themed room, Julian corners me in the kitchen.
"I want to meet him properly," he says. "Not as a stranger pretending to be his father. I want to tell him who I am."
I grip the counter behind me. "And what happens when you get bored of him? When the novelty wears off and you decide you have more important things to do?"
Julian's eyes flash amber. "I will never get bored of my son."
"Words," I say. "I've heard your words before."
He slams his palm against the counter beside my hip, caging me in. His body is a wall of heat and muscle, and my traitorous heart pounds against my ribs. "What do you want, Elara? Tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it."
I look up at him, meeting those wolf eyes.
"I want you to suffer," I whisper. "I want you to feel even a fraction of what I felt when I was alone in a hospital bed, giving birth to your son with no one holding my hand. I want you to know what it's like to love someone so much it destroys you, and then have them walk away like you meant nothing."
"You can't give me that," I say. "So give me something I can use. A phone. A bank account. Real access, not monitored."
He studies me for a long moment. "You're planning to run again."
"I'm planning to survive." I push against his chest, and he lets me move past him. "You want time with Leo? Fine. But if you try to trap me here, I'll make sure he knows exactly who his father is and exactly what you did to his mother."
Julian's expression darkens. "You wouldn't poison him against me."
I walk back to my roomâmy beautiful, lockless cageâand I don't look back.
But as I close the door, I hear him whisper something I'm not sure I was meant to hear.
"I already suffer, Elara. Every single day since you left."
The words wrap around my chest and squeeze.
I hate that I believe him.
I hate that I still care.
And I hate that the phone he leaves outside my door the next morningâunlocked, unmonitored, with a note saying *use it for whatever you need*âmakes my hands shake as I dial the only number that matters.
"Leo?" My voice cracks. "I love you. And I promise, I'm going to get us out of here."
Then my son's small voice: "But I like it here, Mommy. Daddy said he'll teach me to fly a real plane."
The trap is already closing.
And I'm not sure if I'm the prey or the bait.
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