He Chose Her Over Us

---- Chapter 8 Gregory Velazquez POV: The party was a suffocating affair. Adrianna, dressed in a flowing gown that accentuated her pregnancy, glowed under the chandeliers, playing the part of the rescued damsel to perfection. She held my arm, her touch light, but it felt like a brand. The air was thick with whispers. "That's her," a woman murmured behind a fan. "The one he left his wife for." "Can you imagine?" her companion replied, her voice dripping with scorn. "Belen Porter. She practically rebuilt him from scratch after his accident.

And this is how he repays her?" Adrianna flinched, her grip on my arm tightening. She hated hearing Belen' s name, hated the constant, implicit comparison where she always fell short. "Darling," she whispered, her voice a sweet poison. "Don't let them bother you. They' re just jealous." Mrs. Vanderbilt, a society matron with a tongue as sharp as her diamonds, approached us. "Gregory, my dear. We' ve all been so worried. We haven' t seen Belen anywhere. Is she ---- feeling unwell?" "She's resting," | said, my tone clipped. Adrianna jumped in, her voice full of false sympathy.

"Oh, the poor dear. She was so upset about me. | suppose the pregnancy is making her emotional. She just needs some space." The narrative shifted instantly. The whispers turned from sympathy for Belen to criticism. She was the hysterical, hormonal wife, unable to handle her husband' s noble charity. Adrianna was the graceful, understanding victim. People swarmed us, congratulating me on my generosity, on our "rekindled love." | smiled, | nodded, but my insides felt hollow. This victory felt like ashes in my mouth. My mind kept drifting, imagining Belen' s reaction. The hurt, the fury.

| braced myself for the inevitable confrontation. Just then, my assistant, Mark, approached, his face grim. He was holding a small, elegantly wrapped gift box. "This just arrived for you, sir," he said. "From a 'Ms. X' .' My heart lurched. Belen. She hadn't come to fight. She had sent a peace offering. A wave of relief, so potent it almost made me dizzy, washed over me. | had been right. She was coming around. "She's probably apologizing for her behavior," Adrianna said with a smug smile, urging me to open it.

"She knows she can' ---- t afford to lose you." | took the box, my hands suddenly clumsy. | untied the silk ribbon and lifted the lid. Inside, nestled on a bed of black satin, was a piece of shattered green jade. The air was punched from my lungs. It was the jade pendant Belen had given me. She had spent a week at a remote monastery, praying with the monks, to have it blessed for my safety after the accident. | never took it off. It was a symbol of her love, of her unwavering faith in us. + And now it was in pieces. A clear, unequivocal message. We were broken. Irreparably.

My hands started to tremble. This wasn' t an apology. This was a declaration of war. Beneath the shattered jade was a folded piece of paper. With numb fingers, | unfolded it. It wasn' t a letter. It was a medical report. An ultrasound report My eyes scanned the technical jargon, landing on the two words that changed everything. Pregnancy: Confirmed. Estimated Gestational Age: 12 weeks. Belen was pregnant. + Not just a possibility, not just a hope we' d been nurturing for years. It was real. We were having a baby. A child. Our child.

---- A tidal wave of joy, so fierce and powerful it threatened to drown me, crashed over the anxiety and guilt. This explained everything! Her moods, her anger-it was the hormones. Of course. She wasn't leaving me. She was carrying my child. | had to find her. | had to go to her, get on my knees, and beg her to forgive my stupidity. | would explain everything. | would tell her how | had planned to set Adrianna up, give her a new life, and then cut her out of ours completely. Belen would understand. She had a good heart. She was sentimental. She loved me.

| would buy her that private island she' d always joked about. I'd fill our home with flowers. | would do anything. A slow smile spread across my face, the first genuine one I'd had in days. It was all going to be okay. We were going to be a family. | looked at the broken jade, then at the grainy ultrasound picture of the tiny life that bound me to Belen forever. She had just raised the stakes of her little game. But it was a game! was destined to win. After all, she was carrying my heir.