Divorced And Pregnant: The Billionaire's Hidden Heir

Eleanor Hayes pressed her palm flat against the wall beside the master suite door. Her breath hitched, trapped high in her chest. Light bled under the heavy oak, a warm smear that felt like a wall she wasn't allowed to cross. Her fingers had gone cold and stiff, locked around her phone. The screen glared up at her: Payment for Mr. Hayes's surgery is overdue. Please remit immediately.

A woman's laugh cut through the door. Light, sharp, like glass snapping. Aria Beaumont. Eleanor's stomach twisted, a hard, burning knot right under her ribs. Every nerve screamed at her to turn, to slink back to the cold guest room she had been assigned. Then the image of her grandfather rose up-frail in his hospital bed, skin papery and gray-and she shoved the door open.

The room stopped her cold.

Aria sat on the edge of the mahogany desk wearing nothing but one of Harrison's silk dress shirts, too big on her, slipping off one shoulder. Her bare legs hung down, one foot tracing slow circles in the carpet. She passed a document to Harrison with an easy, possessive flick of her wrist.

Harrison sprawled on the low leather sofa, bare-chested, in tailored suit pants. Lamplight cut shadows across his shoulders. He took the file without looking up, all his attention on the papers in his lap. They moved around each other like this was their room, their night, their rhythm. Eleanor stood in the doorway and felt her insides go hollow.

Aria saw her first. The smile on her face slipped for half a second, then curved back into something sweeter-innocent surprise painted over a flash of glee.

"Harry." Her voice came soft and smooth. "It looks like we have a guest."

Harrison Sterling IV lifted his head. His eyes, the gray of a storm sky, landed on Eleanor. No surprise. No curiosity. Just a flat, cold disgust that made her skin shrink. She opened her mouth, but nothing came. The words she'd been running through her head all night-desperate, pleading words-died in her throat.

Harrison didn't speak to her. His gaze slid to Aria, his voice low and dismissive. "Have the housekeeper deal with this. I don't like it when the help wanders in without knocking."

The blood drained from Eleanor's face so fast she felt her lips go numb. The help. She stood frozen, the air punched out of her.

Aria slid off the desk, her bare feet silent on the carpet. She stopped inches away, close enough for Eleanor to smell her perfume-something floral and expensive. "I'm sorry," Aria said, voice dripping with soft pity. "You must not be familiar with the rules. This is a private area."

Eleanor looked past her. Her eyes locked on Harrison, her voice scraping out in a raw whisper. "I need to talk to you. It's an emergency."

Harrison's brow drew down, just a flicker of annoyance. "I don't have time."

That look-that flat impatience-cracked something open inside her. A surge of sheer desperation pushed a sliver of steel into her spine. "I need money."

At the word, a cold, mocking smile touched his lips. It never reached his eyes. "Ah. There it is. The Hayes family's true nature. Leeches, all of you."

Beside him, Aria pressed a hand to her mouth in a perfect little pantomime of shock, her eyes glittering.

Every shred of Eleanor's dignity crumbled. She fought to keep her voice steady, to swallow the burn rising in her throat. "It's not for me. It's for my grandfather."

Harrison rose. He was tall, and the way he uncurled from the sofa, bare chest and hard shoulders filling her vision, made her feel small. He stalked toward her until his shadow fell over her like a cold sheet. She had to tilt her head back just to meet his eyes.

His voice came out flat and hard as a blade. "That is your problem. Not mine. Now, get out."

She flinched. Her shoulder banged the doorframe as she stumbled back a step.

Aria moved in, linking her arm through Harrison's, pressing close. Her voice was a soft purr. "Harry, don't be angry. Let's get back to the acquisition papers."

The tension in his shoulders eased. He turned, wrapped an arm around Aria's waist, and pulled her against his side. His focus shifted to her completely, as if Eleanor had already been wiped from the room. The way he softened for Aria was a different man-attentive, warm.

Eleanor watched them framed in the golden light, and a pain so sharp it made her gasp tore through her chest. It was the pain of something cracking right down the middle.

She knew it was over. No money tonight. Standing there one more second was just another cut she didn't need.

She turned and fled.

As she stumbled down the grand staircase, their voices trailed after her. Harrison's low murmur. Aria's satisfied, musical laugh. The sounds bounced off the marble and chased her down.

The tears broke loose, hot and silent, streaking her cold cheeks. She hadn't just failed to get the money. She had been handed proof, brutal and undeniable, of exactly what she was in this house, in this marriage. Not a wife. Not a stranger. Nothing.