Elena's POV
I stop the call with Marcus before it even connects.
What am I thinking? Divorce lawyers? Destroying Adrian? I press my face against the cool window glass, watching the empty street where his car disappeared. Maybe I overreacted. Maybe the receipt has an answer. Maybe that note from Vivian meant something simple.
Maybe I'm crazy.
The pregnancy test burns in my pocket like proof of my stupidity. I pull it out, looking at those two pink lines again. This baby changes everything. Adrian and I can start over. Be a real family. He just needs to know.
I just need to try harder.
The cake. I'll make the cake, take it to his office with lunch, and tell him about the baby there. At work, where he feels relaxed and in control, he'll be happy. He has to be happy.
Three hours later, I'm carrying a picnic basket through the marble entrance of Kane Industries. The cake sits inside, perfect and beautiful, wrapped with a red bow. I made Adrian's favorite sandwiches, packed the expensive cheese he likes, even included a bottle of the wine we had on our first date.
The security guard waves me through with a smile. "Mrs. Kane! Mr. Kane didn't say you were visiting today."
"It's a surprise," I say, my voice bright and fake.
The elevator ride to the executive floor feels like climbing toward my own punishment. My image stares back at me from the polished doors—thirty-two years old but looking older, wearing the designer dress Adrian bought me three Christmases ago. The only expensive thing I own that he actually picked for me.
I'm trying so hard to be enough. Why isn't it working?
The luxury floor is quiet. Adrian's secretary, Michelle, looks up from her desk and her face does something weird. Uncomfortable. Almost pitying.
"Mrs. Kane," she says slowly. "Does Mr. Kane know you're here?"
"I wanted to surprise him for our anniversary." I lift the basket, trying to smile. "Is he in his office?"
Michelle's eyes dart toward Adrian's door, then back to me. She opens her mouth. Closes it. Finally sighs. "Yes, but—"
I don't wait for the rest. I'm already walking, my heels clicking against the tile, the basket getting heavier with each step. Behind me, Michelle says something I don't catch.
Adrian's office door is slightly open.
I hear laughing before I see anything. Liam's laugh—the bright, sincere one he never uses at home anymore. The one I haven't heard in months.
I push the door open wider.
They're sitting on the couch in Adrian's office—all three of them. Adrian in the middle, Liam tucked under his arm on one side, and Vivian on the other. Glossy papers are spread across the coffee table. Boarding schools, just like the ones in Adrian's study.
But that's not what freezes me in the doorway.
It's how they look. How easy. How right.
Adrian's actually smiling—really smiling, the way he used to smile at me seven years ago. His arm is around Liam, pulling him close, ruffling his hair. Vivian is pointing at something in a magazine, her blonde head bent close to theirs, and they're all leaning in together like they've done this a thousand times.
Like they're a family.
"This one has the best soccer program," Vivian says, her voice warm and sweet. "And look, Liam—they have a robotics club too."
"Cool!" Liam bounces excitedly. "Daddy, can I go to this one? Please?"
Adrian chuckles—actually chuckles—and kisses the top of Liam's head. "We'll see, buddy. We want to find the best fit for you."
My heart stops beating.
He kissed Liam. Adrian, who never shows physical love, who barely touches our son at home, just kissed him. Like it's natural. Like he does it all the time.
When did he become this father? And why not with me?
"The three of us should visit the campus," Vivian offers, her hand resting on Adrian's shoulder. So casual. So familiar. "Make a weekend trip out of it. Liam would love that, wouldn't you, sweetheart?"
"Yes!" Liam throws his arms around Adrian's neck. "Just us three! It'll be so fun!"
Just us three.
Not four. Three.
I don't exist in this shot. I'm not even an idea. I'm nothing.
The basket slips from my numb fingers.
It hits the floor with a crash. The cake box breaks open. Red velvet and raspberry filling splatter across the expensive rugs like blood.
Three heads snap toward the opening. Toward me.
Liam's smile vanishes. Adrian's look goes cold and distant—the face he wears at home. Only Vivian looks pleased, a tiny smile playing at her lips before she hides it.
"Elena." Adrian stands slowly, carefully removing himself from Liam. "What are you doing here?"
What am I doing here? In my husband's office? On our anniversary?
"I brought lunch," I whisper, looking at the ruined cake. Seven years of marriage, spilled on the floor. "I thought... it's our anniversary."
"Mom," Liam says, and there's something in his voice I've never heard before. Annoyance. Like I'm breaking something important. "We're busy. Miss Winters is helping Daddy find me a good school."
"Sweetheart, I—"
"Mrs. Kane," Vivian interrupts easily, standing up and moving closer to Adrian. Closer than necessary. "I'm so sorry about the confusion. Adrian asked me to help study schools during my lunch break. You understand—it's such an important choice." She smiles, all false pity. "Maybe you should have called first?"
Called first. To see my own husband. In his study. On our anniversary.
Adrian won't look at me. He's fixing his tie, checking his watch, doing anything to avoid my eyes. "Elena, this isn't a good time. I have a meeting in twenty minutes."
"With me," Vivian adds nicely. "Very important investor call."
Of course. She's in his meetings now too. She's everywhere I'm not.
"Daddy," Liam tugs Adrian's sleeve. "Can we finish looking at the brochures? I want to see the one with the Olympic pool. " My son wants me to leave. My husband wants me to leave. The other woman is standing in my space, wearing my bracelet—I see it now, glinting on her wrist—and they all want me gone.
I'm the stranger in my own marriage.
"I'm pregnant."
The words fall out of my mouth like stones.
Adrian's face goes white. Vivian's smile freezes. Liam looks confused, looking between the adults.
"What does pregnant mean?" he asks.
Nobody answers him. Adrian and Vivian are staring at each other, having some kind of silent chat. Her eyes are wide with something that looks like fear. His jaw is clenched so tight I can see the muscle moving.
Finally, Adrian looks at me. "We'll discuss this at home. Tonight."
"But—" "Tonight, Elena." His voice is steel. "Vivian, let's reschedule that investment call. I need to handle this... situation."
Situation. He called our baby a situation.
I stumble backward, my heel caught on the doorframe. The wrecked cake mocks me from the floor—all those hours of work, all that hope, destroyed.
"I'm sorry," I say, though I don't know why I'm apologizing. For existing? For interrupting? For getting pregnant with my own husband's child?
I run. Past Michelle's pitying face, past the other executives who pretend not to notice, into the elevator. The doors close and I fall against the wall, pressing my hand to my mouth to hold in the scream.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number: Mrs. Kane, this is Marcus Sterling. I got your number from my old friends. If you still need that lawyer, I have someone. The best in the city. But Elena—whatever you're planning, make sure you're ready. There's no going back from this kind of war.
My finger hovers over the delete button.
Through the closed elevator doors, I see Adrian step into the hallway. But he's not alone. Vivian is with him, and her hand is on his arm, and she's saying something that makes his shoulders relax.
She comforts him. About my pregnancy. About our baby.
And he lets her.
I don't delete Marcus's letter. Instead, I type back: Tomorrow. 9 AM. Send me the address.
The elevator lowers, carrying me away from the family that isn't mine, toward a future I can't see yet.
But in my purse, hiding beneath the pregnancy test, is something else I found in Adrian's study. Something I grabbed on impulse while looking through his papers.
A flash drive titled "Kane Industries - Private Files."
I don't know what's on it yet. But I'm going to find out.
And when I do, Adrian Kane will learn what happens when you make invisible women disappear.
They come back as ghosts who haunt you.