Chapter 99

Hannah emerged from the bathroom,toweling off her damp hair, and found Vincent rooted to the spot. One of her bags had toppled over by his feet, but she barely glanced at him as she scooped it up. She realized he'd already packed away her skincare, so she quickly tossed in a few more essentials.

"We're good to go. Come on," Hannah said breezily.

Vincent remained motionless, his jaw clenched,icy eyes fixed on her.

Only now did Hannah register the stony tension in his face. She paused, brows knitting. "What's wrong?"

A dry, almost bitter laugh escaped Vincent. "What's wrong?" he repeated, his voice simmering with barely concealed anger. "You really don't know?"

Hannah's eyes narrowed, all patience gone. "If you've got something to say, just say it. I'm not interested in playing mind games right now."

His voice turned rough, barely controlled. "You're really going to act clueless? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, would you have kept pretending nothing was going on?"

A sharp current ran through the room. Hannah's pulse skipped-had he found the divorce agreement?But she quickly steadied herself. Well, it was better that way. They wouldn't have to wait until the ski trip to talk. They could deal with it here and now.

Her tone stayed even, measured. "I wasn't trying to keep it from you."

He shot her a look of disbelief. "Not trying to keep it?" His laugh was cold and sharp. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

Vincent clenched his jaw, anger flickering in his eyes.They'd agreed to start a family-mostly for his grandmother, who kept hinting about a great-grandchild. But now, the truth hit him like a punch to the gut: Hannah had been quietly taking birth control all along.

"I acknowledge that I should've just told you about it sooner," Hannah replied, her voice steady, almost detached. "If you're on board, let's just get the divorce finalized."

He suddenly stepped in, looming over her with a stormy expression. "So that's it? You're popping pills behind my back because you want a divorce?"

She went utterly still. Pills? Her eyes flicked to his hand, her pulse skipping-he was clutching her birth control pills. She met his gaze, chin lifted."Yeah."

A fresh wave of anger surged through Vincent.He seized her wrist, his grip iron-tight. "When did you start taking them?"

"Just two days back." She jerked her arm free and backed away, forcing distance between them.

Vincent blinked. Just two day/s back, immediately after he'd taken her by force. His mind reeled.

Suddenly, all those years without a child came rushing back, sharper than ever. His grandmother had long assumed it was a fertility problem, even going so far as to urge them to get checked. But now the truth crashed downon him-it had been her, all along. She'd been taking birth control the entire time.

He let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Two days back?Haven't you been taking the pills all this time? No wonder we've gone five years without a kid."

Hannah's breath caught in her throat. Her nails pressed so hard into her palm that they nearly broke skin. This was what it all came down to? A bottle of pills, and suddenly, he decided the blame for their childless marriage belonged solely to her.

A dull ache radiated through her chest, sharper than any argument. Unbidden, the memory of that tiny life she'd lost-gone barely a month in-flashed behind her eyes. She swallowed her pain and managed a brittle laugh. "You don't have the right to talk about children." He hadn't even known his own child had once existed. And he sure as hell didn't deserve to be a father now.

"I don't have the right?" His voice was rough, the words clipped with fury. A vein pulsed visibly at his temple as he let out a cold, hollow laugh. "I'm your husbànd. Who could possibly be more entitled than me?"

Disappointment flickered in his eyes, sharp as glass."You know how much Grandma cherished you. After everything, isn't it the least you can do? All she's ever dreamed of is seeing her great-grandchild."

Hannah stood silent for a heartbeat, wrestling with the truth of his words. If she owed anyone in the Jones family, it was Sharon. But what stung most wasn't the thought of failing to produce a child-it was knowing she'd denied Sharon the chance to keep her as a granddaughter-in-law. None of this was ever about the child. They were already on the verge of divorce-there was no sense dragging a baby into the wreckage of their marriage.

Hannah met his gaze with steady resolve. "So what?

Isn't that all she wants anyway-a great-grandchild?

If I can't give her one, let Brinley do it. She'd probably jump at the chance to carry on the Jones family name."

She tossed out the words like they meant nothing,her tone so casual that it cut straight through him.

Vincent's eyes flashed, a burning intensity in his stare that threatened to scorch everything in its path.She just kept pushing him toward another woman,over and over, treating him as if he were something disposable-an afterthought to be handed off without a second glance. Her coldness pressed in on him,suffocating.

His voice dropped to a rough, throaty whisper. "You really want another woman to have my child?"