Chapter 49: Chapter FORTY NINE: The Party Is Over
Christy’s POV
The silence after Mira’s voice carried through the hall was deafening.
Her words, "you must be careful as you are pregnant," echoed again and again inside my head, louder than the music, louder than the laughter that had just filled this hall moments ago.
The chandeliers sparkled above me, but all I could feel was the weight of a thousand eyes stabbing into me from every direction.
And then, like venom spilling from an open wound, the whispers began.
"She’s pregnant?"
"Did you hear what the girl said? Pregnant?"
"Whose child could it be?"
"Oh God, after that video?"
"What a shame, such disgrace on the family name."
Each word slammed into me like stones. My body stiffened, my lungs burned for air, my hands shook violently though I tried to keep them still. I could feel the heat of my shame crawling up my neck, flushing my skin red.
Mira’s satisfied little smirk was the final dagger.
"Mira!" Mason’s voice exploded through the chaos like a clap of thunder.
Everyone froze.
He stormed toward her with fire raging in his eyes, his fists curled so tightly at his sides I thought he might break his own bones. His tall frame cast a dark shadow over her smaller one, and he loomed with the fury of a storm barely contained.
"How dare you?" he growled, his voice vibrating with a dangerous energy that silenced even the boldest whispers. "Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?"
Mira’s eyes widened, her lips trembling as she instantly donned the mask of innocence she wore so well.
"I... I didn’t mean it like that," she stammered, though her sweetened tone betrayed her glee. "I only wanted to remind my sister to be careful. She’s fragile, she’s recovering, and well it’s not like I lied, is it?"
Her words were knives dipped in honey.
The crowd gasped again, their whispers flaring hotter, spreading across the golden-lit hall like wildfire.
Mason’s rage only deepened. He took a threatening step closer, his voice rising, "You conniving little... "
"Mason!" my mother hissed, her face pale as she tried to pull him back. But he was immovable.
"Don’t you dare act like some saint," Mason spat, pointing a finger at Mira’s chest. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you opened that poisonous mouth. You wanted this... you wanted to humiliate her in front of everyone!"
Before Mira could answer, her mother, Lydia, swept forward, the sound of her heels like hammer blows against the marble. The suffocating perfume of her presence hit me before her voice did.
"That’s enough!" she snapped, seizing Mira’s arm. Her sharp glare fixed on Mason with the intensity of a blade. "Do not raise your voice at my daughter, Mason. She has done nothing wrong!"
"Nothing wrong?" Mason’s fury cracked through the hall, his voice dark, menacing. "She just broadcasted Christy’s private matters to every single person in this room, and you think that’s nothing wrong?"
Lydia’s lip curled, her chin lifted high in arrogant defiance. "If Christy truly is with child, then Mira only voiced concern, as family should. If this brings shame, perhaps you should ask why shame exists in the first place."
The words slapped me harder than any physical blow could.
My knees wobbled, and I gripped the edge of the nearby table to steady myself.
The whispers swelled louder again, cruel and merciless.
"A child? So it’s true..."
"Then who’s the father?"
"What will the council say?"
"Doesn’t this ruin everything? Their name, their reputation?"
My vision blurred.
It was happening again, the same humiliation, the same stripping away of dignity, just like that night at the engagement banquet when Celeste released the video.
My body shook violently, my chest heaving, as though I were drowning in the middle of a crowd.
"Enough!" My father’s voice roared suddenly, cutting through the noise. His tone silenced every whisper instantly.
The musicians had long since stopped playing, servants stood frozen like statues against the walls, and the once beautiful hall felt like a cage.
My grandfather, seated in his high-backed chair, rose slowly. His presence was enough to silence even the boldest voices. His glare cut through the chaos, his words like iron.
"The party is over," he said coldly. "Leave. All of you."
The guests gasped in disappointment, but none dared to disobey. Slowly, carefully, they began filing out of the hall, but their gazes lingered on me with a hunger for scandal, their whispers refusing to die.
By the time the last of them had gone, the hall was quiet, too quiet. The golden chandeliers cast their glow over a battlefield of emotions.
I stood frozen in place, clutching my trembling hands together, my gown shimmering mockingly in the light.
Celeste was the first to break the silence. She rushed toward Mason, panic etched across her delicate features.
"Mason," she whispered urgently, her voice tight with fear, "you must tell me, who is responsible for this pregnancy?"
My heart slammed against my ribs. The ground beneath me felt like it was splitting open.
Before Mason could respond, another voice broke through, deep and cold, one that made my entire body stiffen.
"I want to know too."
Kendrick.
He stepped forward from the shadows, his tall figure imposing, his gaze locked on Mason with a fire that threatened to devour everything in its path.
"Who is the father?" he asked again, each word sharp as steel.
The air thickened.
My heart stopped.
No.. No, this couldn’t be happening.
His eyes burned into me, demanding, searching, stripping away every defense I tried to build.
Celeste gasped, stumbling back as though she might collapse. My mother tried to hold her ground, but even she faltered under the weight of Kendrick’s fury.
My chest tightened, panic clawing at my lungs until I couldn’t breathe. The room spun violently around me, and before I could stop it, my vision went black.
And I collapsed.
Or at least, I pretended to.
The last thing I heard before slipping into that deliberate void was chaos breaking loose.
My mother screaming my name, Mason barking orders, Lydia’s smug voice rising, and Kendrick’s tone, deep and desperate.
*****
Kendrick’s POV
The moment she fell, my world shattered.
"No... Christy!" I lunged forward, catching her limp body in my arms before she hit the marble floor. Her face was pale, too pale, her body too light, too fragile in my hold.
"Christy, open your eyes," I whispered, my voice cracking as I shook her gently. "Don’t you dare do this to me, not now."
Mason’s voice exploded beside me. "Get your filthy hands off her!"
He tore me back with a strength born of fury, his chest heaving as he placed himself between me and Christy like a shield.
"Don’t touch her," he growled, his eyes blood-red with rage.
My chest heaved as I stood my ground. "She’s carrying my child," I snarled, the words ripping from my throat before I could stop them.
Gasps filled the air. My mother, Celeste, and even Jasper froze at my declaration.
Mason’s jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it might snap. His fists curled at his sides, and for a moment, I thought he might lunge at me.
"You think you can just say that?" Mason hissed, his voice low and dangerous. "You think claiming her like that makes it true?"
"It is true," I roared, stepping forward, refusing to let him silence me. "You know it as well as I do. She is mine. That child is mine."
The words shook the hall like thunder.
Mason’s glare could have killed me on the spot. But before fists could fly, Jasper appeared, sliding between us, his presence calm yet commanding.
"She needs rest," Jasper said firmly. His arms slipped around Christy, lifting her limp body with a gentleness that cut me deeper than any blade. "Fighting will not help her."
I froze. My chest ached as I watched him hold her as though she belonged to him. The beast in me howled, clawed, begging me to rip her from his arms, to shout the truth until the world believed it.
But then... her eyelids fluttered.
Her lashes trembled, her lips parted, and her eyes finally opened.
"Christy..." I breathed, my heart stopping as her gaze focused.
But she wasn’t looking at me.
Her trembling hand reached for Jasper’s sleeve, clutching it like a lifeline. Her voice, weak and broken, sliced through me.
"I was so scared," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "I thought I’d lose our child."
Our child?.
The word shattered every part of me.
She wasn’t looking at me. She wasn’t holding on to me. She was clinging to Jasper as though he were the only man who mattered.
Every cell in my body screamed in protest.
No. No, that child was mine. She was mine.
But when I looked into her eyes, I saw the confusion, the shadows of broken memories, the fragility of someone barely piecing herself together.
If I told her now,
if I forced the truth... she might break completely.
So I swallowed the roar clawing at my throat.
I said nothing.
But my silence didn’t mean surrender.
This wasn’t over.
She was mine and the child was also mine.
And no one, Mason, Jasper, or fate itself would take them from me.