Sapphire doubled over laughing, clutching her stomach like she'd just heard the joke of the century. "CEO of the Mason Group? Why don't you take a good look at yourself! Morton already drew up his will—the whole company goes to the baby in my belly! If he were really just some live-in husband, where would he get a company to leave to my child?"
Every muscle in my body locked. The blood in my veins turned to ice.
"...You're pregnant?"
At that moment, Morton shoved the door open and barged in, flustered and panicked.
"Sapphire, what's going on? What's all the commotion? Why are the bodyguards in here?"
The second he saw me, the color drained from his face. His feet stopped dead.
I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I didn't lunge at him.
I just stood there, my gaze scraping across his face inch by inch, my voice cold enough to freeze the air between us.
"Morton Finley. The will. The baby. The bodyguards. This house."
"Would you like to explain? Personally?"
Morton's pupils contracted sharply. The panic lasted only a heartbeat before something hardened behind his eyes, like he'd made a decision. His expression turned stone-cold, and the way he looked at me was so foreign it cut to the bone.
He stepped forward, shielding Sapphire behind him, and barked at me with a voice stripped of every trace of the man I'd known. "Who the hell is this tramp, barging in here and causing a scene? Security! Get her out of here. If she upsets my wife and my child, it'll be your heads!"
I froze, almost certain I'd misheard him.
"Morton, have you lost your mind?"
This was the same man who, just moments ago, had been groveling before me at the sales office. Now, for the sake of another woman, he didn't even bother keeping up the act.
Sapphire immediately nestled into his arms, her eyes rimming red on cue as she tugged pitifully at his sleeve. "Morton, she hit me. She pretended to be your wife and said this house was hers. I was so scared..."
Morton's gaze hardened, and whatever hesitation remained vanished entirely.
He strode forward, seized me by the collar, and half-dragged, half-threw me into the yard.
Every movement was brutal. Every look, glacial. Like he was dealing with an enemy.
He leaned close, his voice low enough that only I could hear. "Teresa. Don't push your luck."