Sariel's hands trembled as she whispered the words she'd been rehearsing for weeks. "I'm pregnant with your child." Her heart raced, anticipating joy, celebration, the moment he'd finally claim his heir. Instead, silence consumed the room—cold, suffocating, unbearable. She tried again, her voice breaking. "Baby, you're going to be a father. We're having a baby." Tears streamed down her face, desperate for any flicker of emotion from the man she loved. But his expression remained ice-cold, his gaze piercing through her like she was invisible. When he finally spoke, his words shattered her completely. "That baby isn't mine. Why would I be happy about another man's child?" The cruelty in his tone was surgical, precise, designed to wound. "What are you talking about?" Sariel's sobs erupted uncontrollably. "This is our baby! We created it together! How could you—" The accusation hung between them like poison. "Stop lying to me, Sariel," he demanded, his voice rising to a dangerous volume. "That child isn't mine." "I'm not lying!" she screamed back, her entire body aching with the force of his betrayal. "This is YOUR child! Your blood! How could you deny this? How could you deny us?" The man she'd given everything to had just destroyed her with seven words. He didn't believe her. He didn't trust her. And in that moment, their world fractured beyond repair.