Lemira realized immediately that she'd said the wrong thing and hurried to change the subject. “Um, it's getting late—I should go."

In her panic, she hung up the phone in a rush. The moment she recalled what she'd said, she couldn't help but cover her face with her hands in embarrassment.

Was she out of her mind just now?

How could she possibly have answered like that?

Rolling over on her bed, she heard her phone buzz. She buried her head deeper into her pillow, utterly mortified.

Her phone buzzed again-clearly another message had come through.

After waiting a few moments, Lemira finally picked up her phone and saw it was a message from Orion.

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The next message: "I can support you in anything, but not what you just said."

Two messages in all.

Seeing the last one, Lemira locked her screen without replying. Mainly because she honestly didn't know what to say. She had just meant it as a joke.

Now, though, all her bravado had evaporated.

On the other end, Orion kept staring at his phone until the screen finally dimmed, still with no reply from her.

He pressed his tongue against his cheek-what a sly little fox.

Flirt and run? Who taught her that move?

The next morning, Lemira got up, changed, and went straight down to the main hall.

There, she saw Evelina in new clothes, lounging luxuriously on the sofa as she said to the butler, “I feel a bit nauseous. I don't want any of this. From now on, don't put these dishes on the table again."

The newly-hired butler hesitated before saying, "These are all Ms. Lemira's favorites. If you'd prefer something else, I can prepare that for you."

It was clear what he meant: Ms. Lemira's favorites weren't going anywhere.

Evelina's face fell at once. She turned to Evander and complained, "Evander, I'm pregnant and can hardly eat anything—am I supposed to be treated like this, even by a butler?"

Evander snapped, "You're the butler-do as you're told! I don't want to see these dishes again in this house. Got it?"

After all, Evelina was carrying his child.

At this, Lemira came down the stairs and spoke coldly, “I've honestly never seen people as shameless as the two of you. This is my house-I'll eat whatever I like. If you don't like it, feel free to leave."

When Evelina saw Lemira, a smug smile appeared on her face.

The night before, Evelina had been exceptionally nervous. She wasn't sure if the baby was Evander's, or even exactly when she d conceived her periods were notoriously irregular, sometimes disappearing for months at a time.

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But after last night's checkup, the baby was estimated to be about two months along.

A paternity test wasn't possible yet, but at least the dates lined up.

Having narrowly come out "alive" from this, Evelina certainly wasn't about to let things go.

Evander glared at Lemira and demanded, “Evelina is pregnant and you still dare to talk to her like that?"

Lemira rolled her eyes at him. "I don't even care about you-why would I give a damn about the bastard in her belly?"

"Lemira, watch your mouth! Bastard? That's my son!"

"You haven't even done a paternity test yet. How can you be so sure?" Lemira scoffed.

Evander hesitated before replying, "But we checked when she conceived. It's been about two months-it matches up perfectly."

"Did you forget about the Waverlies' party during that exact same time? When Evelina and Mr. Langston from the Draven family put on their little scene for everyone I think that was right around then, wasn't it?"

At those words, Evander looked like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.

Right, how had he forgotten that detail?

Seeing his reaction, Evelina hurried to explain, "Lemira, stop with these rumors. That incident with Dorian was just for show-nothing actually happened between us. And even if it had, Dorian's always careful, he would never sup up like that. There's no way I could be pregnant from him."

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The thought made Evelina grit her teeth.

If it weren't for Grace Draven's constant wariness, Evelina would've tried to get

pregnant by Dorian long ago. That child would have secured her position.

But that night at the Waverlies' party everything happened suddenly-Dorian hadn't

brought protection, and that time they hadn't been careful at all.

So, even Evelina had her doubts-the baby could very well be Dorian's.

But she would never admit that now. After all, this child might end up being her only lifeline.