Chapter 8 - The Bride Recoils
Alyssa’s hands tightened over her pregnant stomach.
Her breathing turned sharp, frantic, uneven.
She was trying to look wounded.
But fear kept breaking through.
Grace did not move toward her.
Did not accuse her directly.
Did not say the name no one was ready to hear.
She only watched.
Connor looked at Alyssa with the report still in hand.
“I asked you before.”
Alyssa froze.
The sentence was quiet, but devastating.
Before.
So there had been doubts.
Questions.
Things Connor had almost faced before choosing the easier answer.
Betsy stepped between them.
“This is exactly what Grace wants.”
Connor’s eyes stayed on Alyssa.
“What didn’t you tell me?”
Alyssa’s tears poured down her face.
“She is poisoning you against me.”
Grace’s voice remained low.
“No. I brought paper. You brought panic.”
A guest gasped.
Connor’s hand clenched around the report.
The edge bent slightly.
Grace’s eyes sharpened.
“Careful.”
He loosened his grip immediately.
That obedience shocked him.
It shocked Alyssa more.
Because Connor had not listened to Grace in years.
But now he listened when she warned him not to damage the document.
Alyssa recoiled from that.
Not dramatically by choice.
Instinctively.
As if the proof had more authority over Connor than her tears.
Betsy grabbed her pearl clutch and pressed it to her stomach as if she needed something to hold.
Grace looked at both women.
“I am not here to answer his questions for him.”
Connor stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Grace turned the full force of her gaze onto him.
“It means the first question belongs to your bride.”
Alyssa shook her head.
“No.”
Connor’s eyes moved to her stomach.
The room held its breath.
No paternity revealed.
No answer spoken.
Only the question forming.
May you like
And Alyssa looked terrified of it.
Read Chapter 9 👉 Because Grace refused to explain the report herself, forcing Connor to turn toward the bride who had never wanted him to ask.
