Divorcing The Fake Heiress: Falling For My Sister's Fiance
CELESTE's POV:
“You’re only two centimeters dilated, Mrs. Lancaster. Nothing to worry about yet, but you must relax. Stress will only make things worse for you and the baby.”
I nodded, forcing a smile, though my chest tightened with dread. The contractions had started on and off for two days now, small waves of pain that came and went like a cruel reminder that my body was preparing for something far bigger.
Then the doctor added softly, almost too casually, “If possible, try to be intimate with your husband. It sometimes helps speed the process along.”
Intimate. With Blake?
The moment she said it, I wanted to laugh, except laughter had long abandoned me.
My husband hadn’t touched me since the night this child came about. It was a night neither of us ever spoke of, a night born from drunken mistakes and my forbidden love for Blake Lancaster.
To ask him for tenderness now would be like asking the moon to burn brighter than the sun.
Impossible, I told myself, but my heart didn’t listen. It still ached for him, even after everything.
Maybe that was the cruelest part.
I returned home, showered, and got dressed in a silk peach night gown that clung to my curves.
I smoothed the gown nervously as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering if Blake would look at me once, or even think of touching a single hair on my skin when I heard the door creak behind me, and Blake strode in with his brooding presence, suffocating the air I breathed.
"Blake—" My breath shivered.
Now I was more than anxious, but I held my resolve as I turned to him with a wide smile on my face.
"Y-you're back. Welcome," I stuttered as I got to him timidly, but I hope he didn't hear it.
Blake stopped mid-step, his eyes landing on me.
His gaze lingered, not on my face, not even on the silk gown I had so carefully chosen, but somewhere past me, as if I were nothing more than an obstruction in his path.
“What are you doing dressed like that?” His voice was sharp, edged with disdain.
My throat tightened. “I… I just thought...maybe—”
“Don’t.” His jaw clenched, cutting me off with one word. “Don’t start with whatever pathetic thing you plan to say or do.”
The rejection cut deeper than any contraction I had felt in the hospital.
Still, I forced a trembling smile, trying to hold onto the faint hope the doctor had planted in me. “Blake, the doctor said… sometimes intimacy could help the labor progress. I was just thinking that you might help—”
His laugh was cruel and low. “Intimacy? With you?”
He stepped closer, towering over me until his cologne, bitter with smoke and whiskey, filled my lungs. “Don’t humiliate yourself, Celeste. Don’t think for a second that wearing your sister’s shade of lipstick, or parading around in cheap silk, will make me forget who you are and how you ruined my life months ago.”
I flinched, my nails digging into my palm. “I...I didn't mean to hurt you in any way.”
“But you did. You are such a leech in my life and everyone around you. No one wants you, okay? You’re desperate. Pathetic. And if you had even an ounce of dignity left, you’d stop forcing yourself where you’re not wanted and just Stay Away.”
My lips parted, but no sound came out.
My chest burned, my vision blurred, and I wanted to scream, to tell him how much I had loved him, how it wasn’t just desperation but years of quiet devotion. But my voice betrayed me, as it always did.
Before I could retreat away from him, just as he had advised, the bedroom door opened ajar, as if whoever pushed it wide open owned it. Like, there's no sort of privacy between couples who own the room.
“Blake? What's going on?”
That sweet, honeyed voice that haunted me every night, yet I could do nothing about it.
"Seraphina." My eyes moved to her. She stood in the doorway, eyes wide as her gaze fell on me standing far too close to her precious Blake.
Her lips curved, cunning. “Well, well… Celeste. I can’t believe you’d actually try to seduce him—like this. In your condition. You really do have no level to how much you could stoop to have my man to yourself, Sis.”
Blake shook his head in disappointment as he walked past me, going further into the room and leaving me behind him.
“Seraphina, I...Blake is my husband. You should learn to knock before walking into our room—"
The slap came before I could finish, forcing my body to hit the cold marble floor unexpectedly.
Pain ripped through me, but worse than that something hot and wet gushed between my legs.
I froze. My heart stopped as tears burned behind my eyes.
The pain in my stomach clenched into something unbearable. My water had broken.
“Blake,” I croaked, clutching my belly as a wave of pain consumed me. “Please… the baby. I need to go to the hospital. Quick.”
Seraphina laughed, tilting her head in false pity. “Oh, don’t be dramatic. I didn’t even hit you that hard. You’ll do anything for his sympathy, won’t you? Even fake this?” she rolled her eyes, hissing at me.
“I’m not… faking…” I wheezed, tears blurring my sight as I tried to crawl closer to Blake, clutching his trouser leg.
Blake’s face darkened. "Are you ever going to quit your dramas? You should probably go into the movies since you're so good at it, and stop wasting your talent here. No one is going to believe this act of yours over here, Celeste." He jacked his leg away from my grip and walked up to Seraphina.
"C'mon, let's get out of here."
"Blake. I beg of you, don't leave me in this condition. I am not pulling up an act, I swear on our baby," I cried harder.
He paused, then hesitantly turned to me. His mouth opened, about to scold me again, until his gaze fell to the puddle of fluid spreading across the floor.
“Blake…” My lips trembled. “Please… help me…”
For a heartbeat, silence filled the room. Then, with a curse, he bent down and scooped me into his arms.
“Seraphina,” he muttered apologetically over his shoulder, “I’ll be back. I don’t have a choice.”
She didn’t answer. But as he carried me out the door, I caught it. The flicker of unhidden loathing in her eyes, masked by crocodile tears as she tried to stop Blake from listening to my cries, but he didn't pay attention to her as we got into his car. I was sure that it had badly hurt her ego.
My body convulsed with another contraction, forcing a scream out of me. My hands clutched desperately at Blake’s shirt as the world blurred past us.
I didn’t know if he carried me out of duty, or pity, or guilt. But I knew one thing: whether or not he hated me, I was about to bring his child into this world. And nothing would ever be the same again. I thought, hoping for some difference.
****
When we finally arrived, nurses rushed me into a ward on a stretcher. My legs trembled as they placed me on the bed, strapping monitors to my belly.
“She’s two centimeters dilated,” the nurse said quickly. “But her contractions are irregular. We’ll monitor closely.”
Blake hovered by the door, stiff as a statue. He wouldn’t come near me, wouldn’t touch me, but I still searched for his gaze like a fool. My husband. My torment. A man who was out of my reach.
Seraphina walked into the room soon after. She wore a look of exaggerated concern, not for me, but for Blake as she pressed a hand to his arm...too close, and I could do absolutely nothing. It's not like I had the right to stop her anyway.
“She’s exaggerating again, Blake. She always does this to get your attention. I mean, really—her water broke the moment I touched her? How convenient.” she clicked her tongue.
“I’m not lying…” I whispered, clutching my swollen belly as another wave of pain hit.
Seraphina smirked, her voice dripping with sweetness. “Don’t strain yourself, sister. Everyone knows you’ve always been jealous of me. Using the baby to tie Blake down is the lowest thing you could have done.”
“Seraphina, enough,” Blake muttered in a tired voice, but he didn’t look at me. He just rubbed her arm as though soothing her.
I bit back a sob. Even here, even now, Seraphina was the one he wanted to protect and care for.
So stupid of me. What the hell was I expecting though? She was his first love anyway, and she still is. I thought to myself bitterly.
