The Heiress's Comeback-Chapter 248: [ Volume 1] Chaper -Damn it why are you...
For four days, Esme shut herself away in her office, cloaking her emotions behind the walls of her solitude. Files piled up around her desk, papers covered in notes and scribbles, yet her mind drifted from her work. It wasn’t sadness, nor anger, that kept her locked away.
The truth was, she was overwhelmed by a feeling she hadn’t let herself fully embrace: joy. Pure, unfiltered joy, which stirred within her like the softest flutter of wings. A new life, tied to her by blood, was coming into this world—a child who would carry both her strength and Ray’s, their combined power, their legacy.
But this joy was shadowed by a painful reality. She couldn’t shake the looming thought of the contract she’d signed long ago, a binding agreement that demanded she dissolve her marriage once the child was born. The thought tore at her, wrapping around her happiness like a cold, unforgiving chain. How could she let go of Ray? Or of Jay, Kai, and Ryan—their lives so deeply intertwined now that the idea of separating felt like tearing out a part of herself. She had never wanted anything more in her life than to stay, to be part of this family, to raise their child together.
Meanwhile, Ray’s own emotions were in turmoil. He had been elated upon hearing the news, envisioning the child, a part of him and Esme, growing stronger each day. But as the days without Esme passed, his joy began to mingle with worry, then sadness, and finally, a restless kind of frustration. He found himself pacing, his emotions shifting so quickly it felt as though he couldn’t recognize his own mind.
Ray sought clarity from Ryan, who explained, with a mixture of scientific curiosity and sibling concern, the rare dynamics at play. Both he and Esme were beast users, powerful enough individually—but together, their combined strength had created a force within Ray that was beyond what his body was used to handling. The child was already potent with both of their abilities, a small, fierce life with instincts and energy he could barely comprehend. As the child grew, so did Ray’s shifts in emotion, sometimes bright and light-hearted, other times weary and solemn. Ryan tried to reassure him, though, that it wasn’t something to fear. Yet there was an underlying warning: the pregnancy could be complex, unpredictable, even dangerous.
As much as Esme yearned to rush back to Ray’s side, to comfort him, to share in this chaotic beauty with him, the contract weighed heavily on her mind. She wondered if he knew, if he’d feel betrayed once he discovered she’d kept this looming truth from him. Sitting alone in her office, her mind wandered to what life might look like after the birth—cold, hollow, without the family she’d come to love. Her hands trembled as she reached for a pen, only to drop it again, unable to focus.
At some point, her strength gave way, and she buried her face in her hands, breathing deeply, as if to anchor herself. The fierce joy she felt was matched by a sorrow she couldn’t fully name, a tugging pain that whispered she would soon have to make the hardest choice of her life. Would she be forced to walk away from them all, from Ray, from their child, after so much happiness had finally come into her life?
And yet, amidst her grief, a resolve started to form, quiet but growing. She had faced difficult decisions before, but nothing like this. Still, if there was any way to change her fate, to rewrite this contract and stay with the ones she loved, she knew she would find it. She wasn’t prepared to lose them—not Ray, not the family they’d become, not the child who was her miracle. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Esme was lost in thought, her mind swirling with the weight of her worries, when the door suddenly slammed open, jolting her back to the present. She whipped her head up, eyes narrowing as she saw Aron stride into her office, his expression thunderous.
Before she could even voice her irritation, he was already in front of her, grabbing her by the collar with a grip so tight it nearly choked her.
"You damn fool!" he spat, his face inches from hers, the heat of his anger palpable. Then, without warning, he drove his fist into her stomach. The force of the punch made her gasp, and she staggered back, clutching her abdomen.
"Damn it, Aron! What the hell is wrong with you?" she managed to say, gritting her teeth as she glared at him, the pain throbbing through her body.
But Aron didn’t back down; he merely squared up, fists clenched, ready for more. Esme, already in a bad mood, had no intention of letting him get away with this. Her face twisted with irritation, she put one foot on her desk, using it as leverage, and launched herself over to the other side, landing with a fierce kick to Aron’s chest that sent him stumbling backward. He barely had time to steady himself before she was on him again, throwing a punch aimed directly at his jaw.
Aron dodged, narrowly avoiding her hit, and retaliated with a swipe of his own, their movements a chaotic dance of fury and frustration. Each strike came faster, more brutal, as they traded blows, neither willing to back down.
But just as they both raised their legs to land a final, decisive kick, something unexpected happened—both their legs were caught mid-air, suspended and immobile. They glanced down, and there she was: Helga, holding them in a vice grip, her face utterly devoid of amusement.
"Ouch! Helga! Let go!" Esme yelped, the pressure on her leg intensifying as Helga’s grip tightened.
"Yeah, yeah, we’re sorry!" Aron chimed in, wincing from the growing pain as he tried to pry her hand off his leg. "Come on, Helga, let’s talk about this..."
Helga’s expression didn’t soften in the slightest. She looked at them both with a gaze as sharp as a blade.
