Chapter Nineteen

Hunter’s POV

“What is this?” My voice came out low, controlled, despite the rage building inside me like a pressure cooker about to blow. The bathroom steam clung to my skin, making everything feel more suffocating, the expensive marble walls closing in around me. The package in my hand felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

Helena’s perfect smile faltered as her eyes locked onto the pills in my hand. For just a second, something flickered across her face - panic, maybe guilt, definitely fear. But then it was gone, replaced by that smooth mask she wore so well, the one I was starting to fear had been there all along. The one I’d seen her practice in front of mirrors when she thought no one was watching.

“Oh, those?” She turned off the shower before reaching for her towel, wrapping it around herself with practiced casualness. Water beaded on her shoulders, running down skin that suddenly seemed too polished, too deliberate, like everything else about her. The designer perfume she always wore mingled with the steam, making me feel sick. “They’re old. From before we decided to have a baby.” She then looked at me with hurt eyes, the same ones she used at charity galas when she wanted something. “Then I found out I didn’t need them anyway.”

My fingers tightened around the package until the edges dug into my palm, the sharp pain grounding me. “These aren’t old, Helena. The expiration date is current.” The date burned into my vision like an accusation, mocking everything I thought I knew about my marriage.

She stepped out of the shower, water dripping onto the Italian marble tile. The sound echoed in the massive bathroom, each drop like a countdown to something I couldn’t stop. “Hunter, darling,” her voice was sort of patronizing, like she was talking to a child who’d disappointed her. “Birth control pills have very long expiry dates. Ask anyone, they will tell you that. You’re making something out of nothing.”

“Am I?” The words came out sharp enough to cut. My chest felt tight, memories of Grace’s pale face when we asked her to be our surrogate flashing through my mind. “Because from where I’m standing, my supposedly infertile wife is hiding birth control pills in her drawer. Like she’s got something to hide. Why didn’t you throw them away?”

Helena’s expression hardened just slightly, a crack in her perfect veneer. The bathroom light caught the diamond drops in her ears - another gift I’d given her, believing her lies. “You’re going through my things now?” Her chin tilted up in that defensive way I’d seen a thousand times before, usually right before she turned everything around on me.

“Don’t.” My jaw clenched so hard it ached, tension radiating down my neck. “Don’t try to turn this around. Why do you have these?”

She moved closer, reaching for me with manicured fingers that had never known a day of real work, but I stepped back. Her hand dropped, and something dangerous flashed in her eyes - something that reminded me of a cornered animal.

“They’re for hormonal balance, if you must know,” she said smoothly, too smoothly, like reading from a script she’d prepared. “My doctor prescribed them. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. But you are welcome to embarrass me and come with me to my next visit if you like and ask the doctor yourself.”

But something didn’t feel right with her answer. The timing. The secrecy. The way she’d pushed so hard for Grace to be our surrogate. Grace, who looked like she was carrying the weight of the world every time I saw her, those deep blue eyes holding secrets I couldn’t read. Or was I just being thoughtless here and jumping to the wrong conclusion?

“Your doctor.” My voice calming down a little because what if I was wrong? What if I was destroying everything over nothing? “The same doctor who told us you couldn’t have children?”

Helena’s eyes narrowed to crystal blue slits, reminding me of a cat about to strike. “What exactly are you implying?”

“I don’t know, Helena. Why don’t you tell me?” I held up the pills like evidence in a trial, the fluorescent bathroom lights making the foil packaging gleam accusingly. “Because right now, why you didn’t tell me something so small like a hormonal imbalance but telling me you couldn’t have kids came easy.”

She let out a sharp laugh that bounced off the marble walls, the sound brittle as breaking glass. “You’re being ridiculous. After everything we’ve been through, you’re questioning me over some silly little pills?”

“Your sister could be carrying our child because you said you couldn’t have kids that’s what I’m talking about.” The words tasted like ash in my mouth, and I couldn’t help but think of Grace again, of how small she looked sitting in that fertility clinic. “I just want to make sure I have all the facts. Before I look your sister in the eye.”

“And I can’t have babies.” Her voice rose, hitting that pitch in-between tears and hysteria which would usually make me back down. “Do you think I would lie about that? That I would put Grace through this if I could have children myself? Do you know how hurtful it is that you are questioning me about this? I’m the one that can’t have our baby. There was no problem with your body. How can you be so cruel.”

It sounded right but there was something in her eyes, just a flash of something she couldn’t hide. Something that made my stomach turn.

“Wouldn’t you?” The words came out before I could stop them, heavy with accusation. The words hung there. I couldn’t take them back. That was the problem with fighting during a heated moment. Saying something before you could think it through.

Helena went still. Her face smoothed into something cold, calculated. Gone was the loving wife, replaced by someone I wasn’t sure I’d ever really known. “Be very careful what you say next, Hunter.”

I stepped closer, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Tell me the truth. Can you have children?”

She met my stare, unflinching. “No.”

“Do you have a report from your doctor?” I hadn’t asked to see it before believing Helena. Was I being unreasonable now? Was I really calling my wife a liar?

She didn’t respond right away. Just stood there, water dripping from her expertly highlighted hair, her expression unreadable as a marble statue.

Then, finally, “No, but I can get her to print something out for you.”

The challenge in her voice made my blood run cold. Because she knew - she knew I couldn’t prove anything and there was no guarantee the report she gave me would be legit, anyway.

Fuck, was I really blowing up over this because of finding a pack of pills in her underwear drawer? Yes! Because something felt wrong. Off.

I turned, throwing the pills in the waste bin near the door on my way out of the bathroom. I needed out of here and away from my wife. I needed some air.

Behind me, Helena called out, “Hunter!”

I didn’t stop; I needed distance. I needed answers and it didn’t look like I would get them from Helena. But who could I go to? Would Grace know anything?