For forty-eight hours, I’d been drafting and deleting emails to the research institute. How do I tell the director I accidentally pregnant by my soon-to-be-ex husband? My fingers hovered over the keyboard when my phone buzzed.

Michael: Boss wants to see you at the gates.

Since when did James send his right-man as a messenger boy?

I spotted James leaning casually against his Mercedes, the morning sunlight softening his sharp features in a way that made my breath catch for a moment. The way the light traced his jawline, the slight crinkle at the corners of his eyes as he noticed my approach – it was unfair how my pulse still quickened at the sight of him after everything.

I quickly looked away, fingers fumbling with my backpack strap as if it demanded all my attention. Four years of marriage, and my traitorous body still reacted to him like we were newlyweds. The heat that rose to my cheeks, the way my skin remembered his touch – biological betrayals I refused to acknowledge. Old habits, I told myself firmly. Just muscle memory, nothing more.

“Sophia.” He removed his glasses, revealing those dark eyes that used to make my knees weak. “Dinner tomorrow. Dante’s. Eight o’clock.”

Dante’s. The name alone sent acid creeping up my throat. That was where I’d sat for six hours on our anniversary, staring at cold osso buco while James “handled business” with Vicky.

“I’ll be there,” I heard myself say, the words leaping from my lips before I could temper them. The automatic response surprised even me—why so eager to sit across from the man who’d chosen Vicky over me at every turn?

But hesitation would raise suspicions. James could smell weakness like blood in the water. If I was going to keep this baby—and I had every intention to—I needed to do things right. Hiding the pregnancy meant nothing if I didn’t first sever all legal ties between us. James Moretti wasn’t the type to let anything slip through his fingers, least of all a child. And if he ever found out I’d kept his heir from him…

No. The divorce had to come first. Clean. Official. Irreversible.