The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 370

Callum’s POV

The pregnancy test felt heavier than a leaden weight in my palms.

Two lines.

Pregnant.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there staring at it. Time was moving at a crawl, and everything felt far away and muffled, like drowning.

Bianca was pregnant.

One night. That was all it had taken. One mistake, a few hours of bad choices that I didn’t even remember, and now… A little life was growing inside her belly.

“Callum?” Her voice was soft. Sweet. Trembling.

Slowly, I dragged my gaze upward to look at her. Bianca was standing a couple feet away from me, wringing her hands nervously. Tears shimmered in her eyes, catching the afternoon sunlight that was streaming through my dorm room window.

If these were normal circumstances, any man would have pulled her close and held her and told her that everything would be okay. That we would figure this out, together, and she didn’t need to worry about anything.

But all I could do was sit there and stare and wonder where my life had gone so wrong that I was actually considering saying the words out loud that had slammed into my mind the moment I saw those two dark lines.

Abort it, I wanted to say. Or give it up for adoption—anything. Anything but this.

I didn’t say those things, of course. It was her choice at the end of the day, and I wasn’t going to try to sway her in any direction. Despite everything, I wasn’t that type of guy.

That was the part that sucked the most. Because I knew I would do the right thing, and now there was no backing out.

“Callum—” Bianca called after me, said something else, but I didn’t hear it. I was already out the door.

By the time I arrived at my parents’ mansion, the sun was already beginning to set. I pulled up the pebbled drive and parked, then sat in the driver’s seat for a moment, breathing deeply to steady myself.

My parents had emerged and were standing on the front steps when I climbed out. They had seen me coming and weren’t going to let me inside. I knew that.

“Well, well,” my father said, folding his arms as I approached. “Have you come crawling back at last?”

My wolf howled. This was pathetic, what I was about to do, but I had no choice. There was a child on the way, one who was completely innocent of its parents’ and grandparents’ sins, and I didn’t care if I had to swallow my pride if it meant providing a better life.

I walked up to the base of the steps and dropped to my knees. The pebbles bit into my skin through my pants, but I didn’t care. I pressed my palms against the ground and bowed my head until my forehead touched the step.

“Please take me back,” I said.