My Vitamins Were Swapped For Contraceptives

“I'm so sorry, Chris. I never should've told you about Gage. It's caused nothing but trouble, and that's on me. But don't worry—I'm going to take Gage and leave. I wouldn't want to mess up what you have with Eliana.”

“Let's not do this now, Octavia. Gage is my son. You're not taking him anywhere. I'll handle everything. Just focus on taking care of him.”

Eliana stood by the elevator, too far away to hear what Christopher and Octavia were saying. All she could see was Christopher gripping Octavia's trembling shoulders, his face tight with worry and tenderness.

Eliana forced herself to act like she hadn't seen a thing and headed for her car. But at the door, she realized her keys were gone.

Her purse was a mess, so she knelt and dumped everything onto the ground, searching carefully. Suddenly, a pair of polished black dress shoes stopped in front of her.

“Looking for this?”

Eliana looked up. Christopher was holding her keys. She'd forgotten she'd taken them out in the elevator and dropped them by the doorway—right where he could find them.

“Thanks.”

She stood and reached for the keys, but her fingers only caught the keychain. Christopher didn't let go.

Eliana met his cold, piercing gaze again.

“Eliana, I get that this thing with Gage is hard for you to accept. But if you're going to be angry, be angry at me.”

His tone was calm, but his words were a warning, plain and simple.

Ha.

A mocking smile flickered across Eliana's lips. How ironic. She was the one who'd been lied to and hurt, and yet she was being cast as the villain.

“Christopher, you've got it wrong. There's nothing I can't accept.”

“Oh, and don't forget to sign the divorce papers. I'll see you at the solicitor's office next Monday.”

Steeling herself, Eliana finally pried the keys from Christopher's hand. Christopher watched her drive off without looking back, his expression hardening to ice.

Three years of marriage, and Eliana had always been gentle, kind, considerate. She'd stayed composed in front of him, never once storming off the way she had today.

Instead of going home, Eliana went to her friend Zora's apartment. Zora was working the night shift and had left warm dinner rolls out for her, but Eliana couldn't eat.

Exhausted, she curled up on the sofa and didn't move. The ache in her chest dulled into numbness—she felt nothing. All she wanted was to get out of the city as soon as possible.

She'd already made plans with her adoptive brother, Bradley, to work at his media company overseas as a screenwriter, helping him out wherever she could.

In college, a script she'd written had been picked up by a famous director and turned into a hit drama series. After graduation, several top production companies offered her jobs. But the Harvey family accepted the Petersons' proposal for an arranged marriage, and she married Christopher right after graduation.

Now, as she planned her exit from the Harvey family, she could finally chase the career she'd always wanted.

But before she could move on, she had loose ends to tie. One of them: finding the person who'd been swapping her vitamins for birth control pills over the past three years.

Two days later, the results came back:

“Eliana, we found him. Just like you thought. The guy who swapped out your imported vitamins was a courier named Liam Stone. He's already left the delivery company.”

“But I did some digging. Liam's ex-girlfriend used to work as Octavia Jensen's assistant.”

“Octavia!”

Zora's words hit Eliana like a jolt. She hadn't expected any of this to trace back to that woman.

“So it's possible Octavia secretly paid her assistant—and her assistant's ex—to make sure I couldn't get pregnant. That way, she'd have a better shot at bringing her child into the Harvey family.”

Eliana's grip tightened around her coffee mug.

Christopher had hidden that woman and child from her. She could accept that. She wouldn't fight or argue. She was even willing to step aside. But if Octavia was behind the vitamin switch, Eliana couldn't swallow her rage.

Around noon, Eliana went to a luxury hotel. When she knocked on the presidential suite, Octavia opened the door, looking surprised:

“Eliana?”

“I have something to ask you.”

Eliana skipped the pleasantries and walked right in. With no one else around, she cut straight to the point:

“Do you know Liam Stone?”

A flicker crossed Octavia's perfectly made-up face before she shook her head, playing dumb:

“No, I don't know him. Who is he?”

“You really don't know?”

“I don't think I've ever heard that name.”

“Well, he was your former assistant's boyfriend. From what I hear, your former assistant, Tammy Chen, tried to kill herself over Liam while she was working for you.”

“So, Ms. Jensen, you're sure you don't know him?”

Eliana's piercing gaze locked onto Octavia's innocent act. Life wasn't some story full of dramatic coincidences.

Octavia's fingers curled tighter instinctively, but her face stayed locked in that mask of innocence:

“Eliana, I really didn't know Tammy's ex-boyfriend was named Liam Stone. My relationship with Tammy was strictly professional. I don't pry into people's private lives.”

“And what about Iris Rhodes?”

Eliana pressed on. Iris Rhodes was the one who'd first recommended the imported vitamins to her. She, Octavia, and Iris had all been classmates at the same university. Iris and Octavia had been close friends in the theater program.

“Octavia, surely you remember Iris Rhodes?”

Eliana stepped closer, her sharp gaze fixed on the subtle shifts in Octavia's expression. She'd already caught a flicker of guilt in Octavia's shrewd eyes when Liam's name first came up. Now, as she asked about Iris, Octavia's gaze wavered.

“Mama!”

Before Octavia could answer, a child's voice rang out from the doorway. Eliana looked over and saw Christopher walk in with a small child in his arms—presumably his and Octavia's child.

“Eliana, what are you doing here?”

Christopher's face darkened the second he saw Eliana with Octavia.

“Chris, it's fine. Eliana just came by for a casual chat.”

Octavia rushed to explain before Eliana could get a word out. But as she tried to reassure him, Christopher noticed Octavia's eyes welling up. His expression turned even colder as he strode over and grabbed Eliana:

“Come with me.”

“Let go!”

Eliana shook him off hard and pulled the vitamin bottle from her bag:

“Christopher, I came here because of this…”