Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN ROOM 999
Christian Ryder had survived three assassination attempts, a car bombing, and six months in a coma.
He had never been afraid of another human being.
But the pregnant cleaner bothered him.
Not because she was beautiful.
Because she looked at him as though he had already destroyed her life.
That evening, his cousin Henry arranged a private celebration in the club's penthouse.
“Christian, you need to relax.”
Christian poured himself a glass of whiskey.
“I need you to stop arranging women for me.”
Henry smiled.
“You're thirty-three. Your mother is searching the entire city for that contract wife. You need someone who actually wants you.”
“I don't need anyone.”
“Not even the cleaner downstairs?”
Christian's jaw tightened.
Henry laughed.
“I saw you watching her.”
“Watch your mouth.”
But Henry had already made a decision.
He slipped a sedative into Christian's drink, intending to leave him vulnerable to a staged encounter with Scarlett Vale, a beautiful socialite who desperately wanted the Ryder name.
Christian noticed something was wrong twenty minutes later.
His vision blurred.
His heartbeat accelerated.
He grabbed Henry by the collar.
“What did you give me?”
Henry's smile vanished.
“Christian—”
“What did you put in my drink?”
Before Henry could answer, Christian shoved him away and stumbled toward the elevator.
Amelia was preparing to leave when the front desk called.
“Room 666. Immediate housekeeping.”
She glanced at the clock.
Her shift had ended.
“Can someone else handle it?”
“Do you want to lose your final paycheck?”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“No.”
She took the service elevator upstairs.
But the hallway signs were confusing.
One had been removed.
Another pointed toward the private suites.
She opened the wrong door.
Room 999.
Christian stood beside the window.
His jacket was on the floor.
His face was pale.
When Amelia entered, he turned sharply.
“You.”
She froze.
“I'm sorry. I was sent to clean—”
“Henry sent you?”
“No.”
Christian laughed bitterly.
“Of course. He sends a pregnant woman into my room. That's a new low.”
Amelia gripped the cleaning cart.
“Please let me leave.”
He moved toward her.
She stepped backward.
“Don't touch me.”
Something in her voice stopped him.
Not fear alone.
Recognition.
Christian stared at her.
“Why do you always look at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you know exactly what kind of man I am.”
Amelia's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I do.”
He reached for the doorframe to steady himself.
She noticed his trembling hands.
“You've been drugged.”
Christian looked at her.
“Get out.”
“You need a doctor.”
“I said get out.”
Amelia hesitated.
Then she took out her phone.
“I'm calling medical assistance.”
Christian stared at her as though he had forgotten how kindness worked.
“Why would you help me?”
She looked at the wedding ring hanging from a thin chain beneath her uniform.
“Because someone should have helped me.”
Downstairs, Scarlett Vale discovered that Christian had locked himself in his suite with another woman.
A pregnant housekeeper.
She was furious.
When Amelia finally left the penthouse, Scarlett was waiting near the service elevator.
“So you're the woman he chose.”
Amelia tried to walk past.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Scarlett grabbed her hair.
“You think you can steal Christian Ryder from me?”
“Let go!”
Scarlett shoved her against the wall.
Amelia's stomach struck the edge of a cleaning cart.
Pain exploded through her abdomen.
She gasped.
Then looked down.
Blood was spreading across her uniform.
“No.”
She pressed both hands against her stomach.
“Please. Not my babies.”
Scarlett stared at the blood.
For a second, fear crossed her face.
Then she pointed toward the storage room.
“Get her out of sight.”
Two security guards hesitated.
“Miss Vale, she's pregnant.”
“I don't care.”
They dragged Amelia into the janitor's closet.
She fell against the wall.
Her phone slipped from her pocket.
With shaking fingers, she found the number she had promised herself never to call.
Her husband.
Christian answered on the fourth ring.
“What?”
“Please,” she whispered.
He went silent.
“Who is this?”
“It's Amelia.”
Christian's expression hardened.
His missing contract wife.
After eight months.
“What do you want?”
“I'm bleeding.”
He stood.
“What?”
“Please save my babies.”
Christian felt something cold move through his chest.
“Where are you?”
“The club. Top floor. Storage room.”
Then the phone went dead.
Christian turned toward his guards.
“Lock down the building.”
“Sir?”
“Every exit.”
He grabbed his jacket.
“And find me a doctor.”
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Because the woman he had spent eight months calling a gold digger had just told him something impossible.
She was pregnant with his children.
