Married to my Baby Daddy

Stories

### Chapter 1: Chapter-7

Later that evening, I was arranging fresh towels in the upstairs hallway when I heard Daniel's voice coming from his study. “I'm not signing anything else until my lawyer reviews it.” I stopped moving. A second voice answered him. It was the man from Victoria's bedroom. “You don't have that luxury, Daniel.” My blood ran cold. Daniel sounded furious. “Don't threaten me in my own house.” “Then stop pretending you have control over this situation. Your father's mistakes are about to become public knowledge. If the investigation proceeds, you could lose more than the company.” There was a pause. Then Daniel spoke again. “Leave Ethan out of this.” I pressed the towels against my chest. The same words he had used on the phone days earlier. Don't touch Ethan. The man laughed quietly. “Your son is precisely why this arrangement must be completed. Once you're married, the legal structure can be reviewed. Until then, his trust remains protected by restrictions your father put i

I spent the next hour cleaning the sitting room, although my mind remained upstairs.Who was that man?Why had he asked about Ethan?And what exactly did Victoria mean when she said everything would become easier once my son was out of the way?I had heard enough to know this wasn't simply a case of a woman disliking her fiancé's child.Victoria was planning something.Something serious.I wiped the same table for the third time before Martha appeared beside me.“Child, are you trying to remove the polish from that table?”I jumped.“I'm sorry.”Martha studied me. “You look frightened. Did something happen?”I glanced towards the staircase.“Can we talk somewhere private?”Her expression changed immediately.Without asking another question, she led me into the small pantry beside the kitchen and closed the door.“What is it?”“Victoria had a visitor upstairs.”Martha's face went still.“A man?”I nodded.“Did you see his face?”“Not clearly. But I heard them talking about Ethan.”She

The first night I slept in Daniel's house as Lily, I barely slept at all. Every sound made me open my eyes. A door closing. Footsteps in the hallway. The sound of water running somewhere downstairs. I kept thinking about what Victoria had said to Ethan. Your mother won't always be here to save you. She had said it casually, almost playfully. But I had seen something in her eyes. She meant it. At six the next morning, I got out of bed and put on the plain uniform Martha had given me. It felt strange wearing clothes that made me almost invisible. That was exactly what I needed. As Claire, everyone noticed me. As Lily, nobody cared. I walked downstairs and found Ethan sitting alone at the kitchen table. His breakfast was in front of him, but he wasn't eating. “Good morning,” I whispered. His face brightened immediately. “Lily!” I looked toward the hallway before walking over. “Why aren't you eating?” He pushed the plate away. “I don't like it.” I look

Three days later, I met Martha.She had worked for Daniel's family for almost twenty years, long enough to know every corner of the estate and almost every secret hidden behind its walls.And she was the first person to confirm what I had already begun to suspect.Victoria was not the woman Daniel thought she was.We sat in a small café across from the family estate. Martha kept glancing toward the windows before speaking, as if she was afraid someone might be watching us.“Miss Claire, you need to be careful.”“I am.”“No.” She lowered her voice. “You don't understand.”I put my cup down.“What don't I understand?”“Mrs. Victoria has been asking questions about Ethan's inheritance.”My fingers tightened around the cup.“What kind of questions?”“Who controls it. What happens if Ethan dies. What happens if he is declared unfit to inherit.”My stomach turned.“Did Daniel hear this?”“No.”“Why didn't you tell him?”Martha looked down at her hands.“Because whenever I tried, Mrs. Victor

I waited until Daniel returned home before confronting him.I didn't care how late it was. I didn't care if he was angry. Someone had threatened Ethan, and that was enough.I stood in his living room when he walked through the door.He stopped the moment he saw me. “Claire?”“Who threatened Ethan?”His face went blank. For a second, he didn't even breathe. Then I watched the color drain from his face.“What are you talking about?”“Don't.” I walked toward him. “I heard you.”His eyes moved around the room. “Where?”“That doesn't matter.”“Claire—”“Who threatened our son?”Silence.Daniel slowly removed his jacket and placed it over the back of a chair. “You shouldn't have followed me.”“So you admit it.”“I admit nothing.”“Then tell me I'm wrong.”He couldn't.That was my answer.“Daniel.”He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, something had changed. He looked tired. Not the normal kind of tired, but the kind that came from carrying a secret for so long that it had become a

I didn't sleep that night.Daniel's words kept replaying in my head.I'll tell you eventually.Eventually.That wasn't something Daniel said.Not to me.We had never kept secrets from each other.At least, I thought we hadn't.The next morning, I called him.He didn't answer.I called again.Nothing.By noon, I was angry.By three, I was worried.By six, I was standing outside his office.His assistant looked surprised when she saw me.“Miss Claire?”“Is Daniel inside?”She hesitated.“Yes.”“Then I'll go in.”“Actually, he—”I opened the door before she could finish.Daniel looked up from behind his desk.The moment he saw me, his expression hardened.“Claire.”“Why aren't you answering my calls?”“I was busy.”“For an entire day?”He leaned back in his chair.“I had meetings.”I crossed my arms.“Don't lie to me.”He stared at me.For several seconds, neither of us spoke.Then he sighed.“What's wrong?”“You.”He almost smiled.“That's vague.”“You're hiding something.”The smile di

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