Abandoned by All I Took It All Back novel Chapter 1

The night was a soft, dark embrace.

The room was pitch black.

Janina Holt lay on her side, her right hand resting on her flat stomach.

Under the covers, a smile blossomed on her lips, soft and gentle as a spring breeze.

After two long years, she was finally pregnant.

The moment she saw the test results at the hospital today, it was as if the whole world had gone silent, leaving only her and the tiny new life inside her.

She had waited two years for this child.

She wanted to tell her husband the good news immediately.

She picked up her phone, then put it back down.

Janina felt that a moment so sacred should be shared in person, so they could witness this symbol of their love together.

By eleven o'clock, her husband still wasn't home.

Janina suppressed her anxiety, waiting with joyful anticipation.

Lying in bed, her mind wandered to the life that awaited them-a child's laughter, her husband's tender gaze, the cozy warmth of a family of three.

Wrapped in those thoughts, she drifted into a light sleep.

Her dreams were filled with the same beautiful scenes.

Perhaps because her mind was so preoccupied, she remained in a shallow sleep, occasionally turning over and murmuring.

It wasn't until she felt a man's chest press against her back, his body heat seeping through her thin nightgown, that she groggily awoke.

"Honey..." Janina's whisper was a little hoarse, lazy and soft like a kitten's purr.

"Mm," Julius Aurelius responded, his voice low and husky.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer into his embrace.

His hot breath fanned across the back of her ear, and a tingling, ticklish desire made her shrink her neck.

But then she caught a whiff of perfume that wasn't hers, and Janina's mind snapped awake.

The last time they'd been together was two months ago. Julius was never usually this forward.

She had fallen for him at sixteen.

Confessed her love at twenty.

At twenty-four, they were married.

Now, at twenty-six, two years into her marriage with Julius, this was the first time she had ever rejected him.

Feeling Janina's resistance, Julius suddenly lost interest. He stopped.

He rolled off her without a word, letting out only a low, frustrated sigh.

Then he headed into the bathroom. Soon, the sound of running water filled the quiet room.

All of Janina's sleepiness was gone.

She lay with her eyes open, staring out the dark window as her thoughts raced.

Was she overthinking things, or was Julius seeing someone else?