Unexpected Consequences

SIENNA'S POV

My feet ache fiercely. The dull, relentless throbbing in my heels serves as a bitter reminder of the past two hours spent standing in this stuffy boardroom. It is also a reminder of this mundane secretary job Derek arranged for me two years ago.

Back then, he sat me down with that charming smile and claimed that working at his own company would mix business with pleasure. He insisted it would look bad for his image. So, he pushed me into this secondary firm while deliberately offering the coveted executive position at his company to Viviana. I accepted his logic without a fight. I trusted Viviana with my life. We grew up together. We shared everything.

Right now, standing near the mahogany conference table, I feel utterly stupid.

The low hum of voices dies down as the remaining executives file out of the room. I look up and realize my boss, Mr. Preston, is standing right in front of me. I am blocking his path to the exit. He has his hands stuffed into his tailored pockets, staring down at me with a look of pure arrogance. He is Derek’s age, they used to be classmates, and they share the same entitled, snobbish mannerisms.

I take a quick step back and bow my head. "Sorry, sir."

Preston lets out a loud, mocking snort and walks past me. I gather the thick stack of investor files and trail behind him through the hallway. We enter his spacious corner office. He slumps into his oversized leather chair and loosens his expensive silk tie.

I step forward and drop the heavy folders onto the glass surface of his desk. "Here is the list of potential investors. Just as you asked for."

"Good." Preston leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers.

I offer a polite nod and turn toward the door. "Excuse me, sir. I should get back to my desk."

"I heard you and Derek broke up."

His casual words freeze my blood. My hand hovers over the brass doorknob. Hot, stinging tears prick the corners of my eyes as the raw, gaping wound in my chest is ripped open all over again. It has been a month since that horrific night. Thirty agonizing days since I woke up with a stranger’s bite mark on my neck and lost my entire world.

I spent weeks trying to fix my mistake. I was so desperate to save my relationship with Derek that I was willing to beg for his forgiveness. I sent him hundreds of text messages. I left desperate voicemails. None of them went through. He blocked my number and erased me from his social media. He even moved to a new apartment just to ensure I could never find him.

Viviana did the exact same thing. She vanished. She never returned to our shared apartment. She left all her old clothes hanging in the closet and never answered a single phone call. They cut me off. They locked me out in the cold. And yet, a pathetic, desperate part of my brain still wants to forgive them. I have spent the last month crying myself to sleep, hugging my knees in the dark, wishing they would just come back and tell me it was all a bad dream.

Preston clears his throat, pulling me out of my misery. I turn around to face him. He is grinning. It is a predatory, amused smirk. My private life is none of his business, and he has no right to discuss it with such insulting glee.

"Are you available now?" Preston asks, his dark eyes raking up and down my body.

I stare at him in sheer confusion. "What do you mean?"

Preston rolls his eyes and lets out a dry chuckle. "Oh, do not play dumb, Sienna. You know I have been on your case for a year. You brushed me off because you were dating Derek. So, yeah? Are you available now that he dumped your ass?"

My chest tightens. The tears threaten to spill over my lashes, and I fight a miserable, trembling battle to keep them down. I grip the edge of the glass desk until my knuckles turn white.

"He did not dump my ass." I force the words through a tight, choking throat.

Preston flashes a wide, malicious smile. "Are you sure about that?"

He reaches into his suit jacket, pulls out his sleek phone, and slides it across the smooth desk. It stops right near my trembling hands.

"Then why is he getting married today?" Preston asks, tilting his head. "To another woman?"

Blood drains from my face. The room spins in a sickening lurch. My lungs forget how to pull in air. I stare at the dark screen of the phone, dreading the answer, but the morbid curiosity overrides my terror.

I pick up the device. The screen displays a digital, lavish wedding invitation. Elegant gold cursive letters jump out at me.

Derek and Viviana.

Today's date.

A private luxury venue owned by Derek’s wealthy family.

My breath hitches in a ragged gasp. He is marrying Viviana. Today. Right now.

"You are a dumb bitch, Sienna." Preston laughs out loud, a cruel, echoing sound that bounces off the office walls. He checks the gold Rolex on his wrist. "Right now, he must be taking his vows. And you had no clue."

I do not wait for him to finish his taunts. The phone slips from my fingers and clatters onto the desk.

"Excuse me." I gasp out the words and spin on my heels.

I dash out of his office. I sprint past the rows of cubicles, ignoring the confused stares of my coworkers. I grab my purse from my desk and run out of the glass building. The scorching midday heat hits me the moment I step onto the pavement. I blindly flag down a yellow taxi, throw myself into the backseat, and shout the address of the venue.

The entire ride is a blur of panic. My heart hammers against my ribs like a trapped bird. This cannot be real. Viviana drugged me. She set me up with a stranger. She stole my boyfriend, and now she is marrying him.

The taxi screeches to a halt outside the massive wrought-iron gates of the private venue. I shove a crumpled bill at the driver and stumble out of the car. The estate is sprawling and beautiful. Expensive luxury cars line the paved driveway. Faint, elegant instrumental music drifts through the warm air.

I run toward the entrance, my heels clicking frantically against the stone path.

Before my hand can even touch the ornate brass doorknob of the main doors, two burly guards step into my path. They are massive men in dark suits, their expressions carved from stone.

"No, Miss. You cannot enter." One of them blocks my way with a thick arm. His voice is a terrifying, hoarse rasp. "You are not on the invitation list."

"I know I am not on the list!" I cry out, stepping forward in a desperate attempt to push past him. "But Viviana is my best friend! And Derek... I just need to see them!"

The guard shoves me back with effortless force. He glares down at me, his jaw clenching. "Miss Viviana gave specific orders not to let you inside. I am sorry, but you need to leave."

The words strike my chest like a physical blow. The last fragile piece of my shattered heart disintegrates into dust.

Viviana gave orders to keep me out. She orchestrated my ruin, stole the man I loved, and now she treats me like trash left on the curb. How could she be so ruthless? What did I ever do to deserve this? All I ever did was love her, protect her, and treat her like my own flesh and blood.

I stumble backward, my legs suddenly turning to jelly. I trudge away from the doors and collapse onto the cold concrete of the sidewalk outside the gates. The tears come in a violent, unending flood. I sob profusely, curling my arms around my stomach as the agony rips through my veins. Breathing becomes an impossible task. I am gasping for air, choking on my own despair.

Suddenly, a dizzying twirl overtakes my head. The bright sunlight fractures into dark, spinning shadows. The heavy wrought-iron gates blur into nothingness. My vision goes black, and my body collides harshly with the unforgiving ground.

***

A rhythmic, sterile beeping sound drags me out of the darkness.

I slowly pry my eyes open. The harsh white lights of a hospital ceiling blind me for a second. The distinct smell of bleach and antiseptic fills my nose. My muscles ache, and a dull throb pulses at my temples, reminding me of how hard my head hit the pavement. I am lying in a narrow hospital bed, an IV taped to the back of my hand.

How did I get here?

Before panic can fully set in, the door to the private room clicks open.

A tall man steps inside. He is dressed impeccably in a sharp, black Italian suit with a crisp white shirt and a black bow tie. I blink a few times, trying to focus my blurry vision.

Trevor. Derek’s best friend.

"Hello, Sienna." Trevor smiles faintly, slipping his hands into his tailored pockets. "It is nice to see that you are okay. I was getting worried."

I stare at his suit. The pristine, expensive fabric. The white boutonnière pinned to his lapel. The best man attire.

"Trevor." My voice cracks, dry and hoarse. "You brought me here?"

"Yes." He steps closer to the foot of the bed, his expression sobering. "Fortunately, I saw you when you fainted outside the venue. What were you doing there, Sienna? You know better than showing up to a place like that today."

The memories crash over me all at once. The guards. The rejection. The music playing while they took their vows.

I break down. Fresh, hot tears spill down my cheeks, soaking the white hospital pillow.

"He is marrying my best friend!" I sob uncontrollably, gripping the thin white sheets. "How could they both be so cruel? How could they do this to me?"

Trevor sighs heavily. His tone shifts from sympathetic to firm. "I do not know the answers to that. But you need to get your shit together. You need to move on."

"I do not know how!" I cry out in pure anguish.

"Then figure it out." Trevor steps right up to the side of the bed, looking down at me with hard, commanding eyes. "Do it for yourself. And do it for your child. The doctor said you are a few weeks pregnant."

The words explode inside my skull like a ticking timebomb.

The tears instantly stop falling. My breath catches in my throat. The sterile room starts spinning all over again. My trembling hand drifts down, moving beneath the hospital blanket to rest instinctively flat against my lower stomach.

"I am pregnant?" I whisper the words, my voice hollow and laced with pure terror.

"Yes. You are." Trevor nods, his broad shoulders relaxing slightly. "That is why you need to get a new life. You can leave this city. Leave this Pack. Go somewhere else, far away from them. I can take care of the funding for your new life. Whatever it is you need, I will provide it."

I stare at him in disbelief. My mind scrambles to make sense of his sudden generosity. "Why? Why would you go through such stress for me? Do you want me out of Derek’s life for good? Do you think I am going to try and ruin his new marriage with this pregnancy?"

"No. Fuck no." Trevor shakes his head adamantly. "Just so we are clear, Derek might be my best friend, but I do not agree with how he treated you. If I am willing to go out of my way to help you right now, it is solely because that child is his. I am excited about it. I want to play the big, supportive uncle to this kid."

Trevor pauses, narrowing his eyes as he studies my pale face.

"It is his child, right?" Trevor asks, his tone pointed and heavy with expectation.

The question paralyzes me.

The raw, unfiltered memory of that drunken night at the club cascades into my mind. The flashing strobe lights. The intoxicating scent of danger. Alessandro. The ruthless mafia stranger who pinned me down and took what he wanted.

He had driven his hard, thick cock deep inside my wet cunt, pounding into me with a feral intensity. He had not worn a condom. He had not pulled out. I remember the exact moment he groaned, his hips snapping forward as he unleashed a heavy, scorching load of thick semen deep into my womb. He bred me like an animal. He filled me with his seed, and I had been too dizzy and overwhelmed by Viviana's drugs to stop him.

Oh, dear goddess.

This is Alessandro’s baby. I am carrying the child of a dangerous, terrifying stranger.

Panic washes over my face, turning my skin to ice. My heart hammers a frantic, chaotic rhythm against my ribs.

"Is there something wrong?" Trevor asks, his brow furrowing in deep worry as he watches my expression change.

I look at Trevor. I look at the expensive suit, the confident posture, the immense wealth he represents. He is offering me a way out. He is offering me money, safety, and a chance to escape the wreckage of my life.

But I know the truth. I cannot tell Trevor about Alessandro. I cannot tell him about the club. Trevor just admitted he is only doing this because he believes the baby carries Derek’s bloodline. If I tell him the truth, he will turn his back on me and leave me here to rot. I have lost my boyfriend. I have lost my best friend. I just walked out on my job. I have zero money and nowhere to go.

I cannot afford to lose this one critical financial lifeline. I have to survive.

I swallow the heavy, sickening lump of guilt in my throat. I force my facial muscles to relax. I look Trevor directly in the eyes.

"I am fine." I say, my voice steady despite the chaos inside my head. "And yes, it is his child."

It is a necessary lie.

Trevor lets out a long breath, a bright, relieved smile spreading across his face.

"Good." Trevor reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sleek black card, placing it on the bedside table. "You can leave in my private jet. I will send you to New York. I already have a secured apartment waiting for you there, and a new job lined up. All you have to do is tell me when you want to leave."

I take a deep breath. I stare at the sterile white wall, leaving my old life behind in the ashes.

"Tonight."