chapter 1

Two months after I was kidnapped and brought home, I found out I was pregnant.

I was over the moon, clutching the test results as I ran to find Caleb Morgan.

But the second he saw the paper, his face went cold. He tossed it on the floor and snapped, “Get rid of it.”

I froze in disbelief and asked, “What did you just say?”

Caleb let out a low, bitter laugh. He said, “You got kidnapped last month and spent the night with that kidnapper. Who the hell knows whose kid that is? The Morgans don’t take in dirty blood.”

Tears streamed down my face. I cried, “I told you already! That guy was hired by Lila. She did it to break us up. Why won’t you believe me?

“Nothing happened between me and the kidnapper. I swear.”

His expression shifted. Then he shouted, “Enough! Can you stop blaming everything on Lila?”

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water.

Yeah, I had been kidnapped a month ago.

The guy didn’t want money. And he didn’t lay a hand on me.

He just took me, kept me locked up in some hidden spot overnight, then let me go.

He even told me straight up Lila Bennett, Caleb’s beloved first love, had hired him.

When I made it back the next morning, Caleb ran up, all panicked, asking if I was okay.

But the second he saw I wasn’t hurt and had only lost a jacket, his face changed.

I didn’t think much of it at the time. I just cried and told him Lila had set the whole thing up.

But Caleb shut me down cold.

“Enough. I know you don’t like Lila, but you can’t accuse her like that. If this gets out, she could go to jail.”

Hearing Caleb take Lila’s side and refuse to believe me completely broke me.

I was sobbing uncontrollably, helpless and desperate, asking him over and over why he didn’t trust me.

Maybe it was because he’d never seen me lose it before. He finally softened a little and said, “Just get some rest, okay? I’ll have someone look into it.”

But he never did. He thought the whole thing was just too embarrassing.

I tried digging into it myself, but I had nothing to go on. The guy had vanished into thin air.

No leads, no proof, nothing to tie it back to Lila.

I knew exactly what she wanted—to plant a seed of doubt in Caleb’s head and destroy us.

So I kept telling Caleb nothing happened, that the guy never touched me.

Caleb always said he believed me.

But his actions said otherwise. He kept making excuses to avoid getting close to me. Started spending more and more time at Lila’s place.

It was like he was purposely keeping his distance.

I kept telling myself that if he said he trusted me, he must mean it.

But now I finally saw it for what it was. In his eyes, I’d been tainted a long time ago.

Choking on my sobs, I begged him, “Didn’t you say you believed me? This is our baby. You know how hard it was for me to even get pregnant…”

I’d always been in poor health. The doctors said I might never have kids.

Caleb used to want a baby so badly. He took me to every doctor he could find, hoping someone could help.

We dated for three years. Married for another three. This was our first child.

He reached out and took my hand, then he said, “Sweetheart, be good. Just end this one. We’ll try again.”

I yanked my hand back and shook my head.

“No. I won’t. This baby is really yours.”

His face turned to stone.

He was about to say something when his phone rang.

He picked it up. Lila’s teary voice came through, “Caleb, where are you? Our little kitten’s gone.”