Chapter 169

"Curious to know?" Isabella smirked victoriously.

Sophia glared at her coldly. "Who is he?"

"Take a guess?"

"A convict? A death row inmate?" Sophia couldn't imagine any other possibility. That day in the detention center, the man had clearly been imprisoned.

Isabella shook her head, her smile widening. "Oh Sophia, you'll never guess. So let me tell you—tomorrow morning, seven sharp, at The Morning Sun Café nearby. I'll reveal everything then. Deal?"

"Why not now?" Sophia demanded.

Isabella patted her barely visible bump. "It's getting late, darling. And this precious cargo—Ethan's heir—needs proper rest. I can't risk staying out after dark. If you want the truth, meet me at sunrise. The Morning Sun Café. Don't be late."

Sophia's jaw tightened. "What game are you playing?"

Isabella's laughter tinkled like broken glass. "Game? With your train leaving in two days? Please. I could crush you like a bug without lifting a finger. Why bother with games?"

Sophia's nails dug into her palms. The venomous truth in those words burned.

One day. That's all she had left in this city. If there was even a sliver of truth about the father of her child being alive... She owed her unborn baby that much.

"Fine," Sophia agreed through clenched teeth. "What's your price?"

Isabella's eyes gleamed. "That emerald bracelet Ethan's mother gave you. The one worth half a million."

Sophia nearly laughed. Even now, with Ethan discarding her, Isabella still coveted Shanna's blessing? The bracelet symbolized more than money—it was the last warmth from the only mother figure she'd known.

"Deal," Sophia lied smoothly. "Tomorrow. After you talk."

Isabella's triumphant exit left the apartment vibrating with malice.

That night, Sophia didn't sleep. The cheap motel mattress might as well have been made of needles. Dawn found her at The Morning Sun Café's entrance precisely at seven.

Isabella was already there, sipping soy milk like a queen holding court. "The bracelet?"

Sophia slapped the velvet box on the table but kept her palm over it. "Talk."

"First, congratulations are in order." Isabella's smile could curdle milk. "I'm getting married today."

Sophia's blood turned to ice. "Who. Is. He?"

"Your baby's father is Ethan Blackwood." Isabella savored each syllable like fine wine.

The world tilted. Sophia gripped the table edge as the café's chatter faded to white noise. "That's... impossible. He's dead. That man died—"

"Did he?" Isabella leaned forward, her perfume choking the air between them. "Or did the most powerful man in Harborview simply erase one night's mistake?"

Sophia's entire body trembled. The child she'd cherished as her only light in this cruel world—conceived not with some anonymous dying man, but with Ethan? The same man who'd coldly cast her aside?

Isabella's phone chimed. She glanced at the diamond-encrusted watch on her wrist—a twin to the one Ethan always wore. "Oh look, time for my wedding preparations. Pity you can't attend." She snatched the bracelet box. "But do enjoy the irony—your child will grow up calling me Mommy while you rot in some backwater town."

Sophia sat paralyzed long after Isabella's limousine disappeared. The truth was worse than any lie. Because now she knew—the man who owned her heart had also broken it beyond repair.

And the worst part? She still loved him.