Chapter 136: Set Up A Meeting
The evening sun dipped lower into the sky, painting soft orange hues across the bedroom walls. The quiet inside the house was almost too loud, a silence that felt thick and heavy, pressing against the walls like it was trying to make her speak. But Ruby said nothing. She hadn’t said much all day.
She was still in bed, tucked under her light blanket though the room wasn’t cold. Her back rested against the headboard, one hand gently placed over the small, almost unnoticeable bump beneath her shirt. It was barely there, but she could feel it—tiny, warm, and alive. A part of her. A part of Stefan.
Her eyes stared at the ceiling, yet her mind was far from it. Rayna’s words from that morning circled her thoughts like a quiet storm. Every sentence, every sigh, every moment of truth had carved itself into her heart, forcing her to face things she hadn’t been ready to admit.
She had felt betrayed by Rayna. But what hurt more than anything was the truth in Rayna’s voice. Stefan didn’t know the full story. He hadn’t known she wasn’t Ivy. He hadn’t known that the woman he was falling for was someone entirely different, someone who had been pushed into pretending but had fallen hard for him.
But she knew. Ruby had known all along. And she hadn’t told him. She had a lot of chances but she never did. Every time, she would shy away from it and postpone it until that day.
A deep breath left her lips as her fingers lightly traced slow circles over her belly. "I’m sorry," she whispered, not sure if the apology was meant for the baby, for Stefan, or for herself.
She wasn’t just angry at Stefan. That was the truth now. Her anger had layers, and buried deep beneath them was the guilt she had been carrying quietly. Guilt for not telling him the truth when she should have. Guilt for staying silent when her heart had wanted to scream. Guilt for letting fear lead her.
If she had told him who she was that night, after realizing she was pregnant or after he started trusting her, maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe he would have still chosen Ivy. Maybe he would have walked away. But at least she would have known. At least she would have given herself the chance to be truly loved—or not.
She turned her face to the window. The sun had sunk lower now, almost out of sight. Shadows danced across the floor in gentle strokes.
The creak of the front door snapped her out of her thoughts.