The Comments Said My Baby Was Worth A Billion-Dollar Empire Chapter 05

The Comments Said My Baby Was Worth A Billion-Dollar Empire Chapter 05

Victor eased the slippers onto my feet. “Go back to your room.”

I didn’t move. “I want to see this.”

He looked at me for a beat, then grabbed his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. The door opened.

My parents stood in the hallway. Julian was with them.

Julian was in a dark coat, his face drawn, exhaustion tugging at his features when he saw me.

“Chloe.”

There was a time when just hearing him say my name could get me through the whole day. Now all I wanted was to hide behind Victor.

Mom’s eyes filled the second she saw me in Victor’s jacket. “Come here.”

I shook my head. Dad’s face had gone stormy.

“Victor, the Sterlings and the Hayes family are already discussing an engagement. Do you really want a war with both families over this?”

Victor leaned against the doorframe, unmoved. “Chloe doesn’t want to go.”

Julian’s stare burned into me. “Chloe. You told me you wanted to marry me.”

My throat tightened. He wasn’t wrong.

I’d written him love letters, bought him absurdly expensive gifts, humiliated myself in front of Lily more times than I could count. But the comments had shown me how that story ended. I chased Julian until there was no one left beside me, and at my funeral, all he’d brought was a bouquet of white roses.

I looked at Julian, and my stomach turned. “I had terrible taste back then.”

Julian’s jaw locked. Mom jumped in.

“Chloe, you don’t mean that.”

I wrapped my arm through Victor’s. “I’m carrying his baby.”

Dad raised his hand to strike me. Victor yanked me behind him and took the hit himself.

The crack echoed through the hallway. Even Dad froze.

Victor’s head snapped to the side, a split opening at the corner of his mouth. Something in my chest cracked.

“Dad!”

Victor caught my wrist. “Don’t.”

My vision blurred. “Why would you do that?”

He looked down at me. “You’re pregnant.”

The comments scrolled past.

[It’s over. Chloe is catching feelings.]

[Julian’s face omg I can’t]

[Lily tipped off the branch families btw. Next wave of drama incoming.]

The elevator doors slid open again. A group of men in tailored suits stepped out.

The man in front, older and sharp-eyed, glanced at my stomach.

“Victor. Something this big, and you didn’t think to call your uncle?”

Victor’s stare could have frozen glass. “Since when do I report to you?”

His uncle’s expression hardened.

“A Vance heir doesn’t live outside the family gates. She moves to the estate.”

My parents looked like they’d been slapped. Julian stepped forward.

“There’s no proof yet that the baby is even his.”

Victor’s uncle smiled thinly. “Then test it.”

I pressed closer to Victor. Every pair of eyes in the room was locked on my stomach.

Some of them looked at it like treasure. Others looked at it like something they could divide up.

Victor swung the door wide. “Living room. Now.”

His fingers laced through mine. His voice dropped to something only I could hear.

“Don’t be scared.”

But the second I sat down, the comments lit up in red around the cup of warm milk a maid had set in front of me.

[DON’T DRINK IT.]

[There’s something in it.]