I should have known he wouldn't let me hide it.
By noon, the entire Nottingham mansion is buzzing, maids are carrying fresh flowers to our bedroom, the chef is asking what I want to eat, and Matthew is in his office making calls with the door open so he can still see me on the bed.
He hasn't let me out of his sight since the doctor left.
At three PM, he walks in holding a black velvet box.
"Matthew, what is that?" I ask, sitting up, my hand instinctively going to my stomach. It's a habit now, after only a few hours.
He sits beside me and opens it. Inside is a necklace, a thin chain with a single large diamond, and beneath it, a smaller diamond that looks like a teardrop.
"It was my mother's," he says quietly, his fingers brushing it, "She wore it when she was pregnant with Ryan. Now it's yours."
My throat tightens.
"Matthew, I can't, it's too much, what if?"
"What if what, Elise?" His eyes narrow, that possessive darkness returning. "What if you don't deserve it? What if you are not really my wife? You are carrying my child, you are wearing my ring, you will wear my mother's necklace, so everyone who sees you knows exactly who you belong to."
He fastens it around my neck, his fingers linger on my skin, and the diamonds feel heavy and cold and perfect against my chest.
"There," he whispers, his lips touching the spot just below the necklace, "Now you look like what you are, a Nottingham."
Before I can answer, his phone rings. He looks at the screen and his jaw tightens.
"It's the family dinner," he says, "My mother is demanding we come tonight, she heard from Dr. Evans."
My stomach drops. The family dinner. The one where Ryan will be there. With Vivienne.
"I don't want to go," I say quickly, my hand gripping his, "Matthew, please, I can't see them, not today, not like this."
He cups my face, his thumb stroking my cheek.
"Listen to me, amore mio," he says, his voice calm but with that steel underneath that makes everyone obey him, "You are not going there as the girl Ryan left, you are going there as my wife, as the mother of my heir. You will walk in with your head high, wearing my diamonds, holding my hand, and you will let me destroy them for you. Do you trust me?"
I look into his eyes and I nod, because I do trust him, in a way that scares me.
"I trust you," I whisper.
"Good girl."
The Nottingham dining room is the same as I remember it, long and cold and full of old money, but everything feels different now.
Everyone is already there when we enter. Matthew's mother, Eleanor, who looks shocked when she sees me, Ryan, who goes pale, and Vivienne, my ex best friend, sitting in what used to be my chair, wearing a tight dress, her hand on Ryan's arm.
The conversation stops.
Matthew's hand is on my lower back, firm and possessive, guiding me forward.
"Sorry we are late, Elise wasn't feeling well this morning, you know how it is in early pregnancy."
Silence.
Eleanor's wine glass freezes halfway to her mouth.
Ryan stands up so fast his chair screeches.
"What did you say?" he says, staring at me, at my stomach, at the necklace on my neck, "Elise, what is he talking about?"
Vivienne's fake smile cracks.
Matthew pulls out a chair for me, right across from them, and helps me sit like I am something precious and fragile, then he stands behind me, his hands on my shoulders.
"We have news," he says, looking straight at his son, his own son, with no mercy at all, "Elise and I are expecting a child. My heir. Your new sibling, Ryan."
I feel Ryan's eyes on me, full of disbelief and hurt and something that looks like regret, but I don't look away. I let Matthew's hands keep me grounded.
"You married her?" Ryan's voice is broken now, "Dad, you married my fiancee?"
"I married my wife," Matthew corrects him coldly, "The woman you cheated on and threw away like trash the day before your wedding. I picked her up, I cleaned her tears, and I made her a Nottingham, a real Nottingham, not a joke you could betray with her best friend."
Vivienne makes a small choked sound.
"Elise, is this true?" she whispers, looking at me with tears in her eyes, playing innocent as always, "Are you really pregnant, with his baby?"
I finally find my voice. My hand goes to the diamond on my neck, to my stomach.
"Yes," I say, and my voice is quiet but it doesn't shake, not anymore, "I'm pregnant, Vivienne, and I'm married, to Matthew. So you can have Ryan, you can have everything you stole from me, because I have something better now."
Matthew leans down, his lips brushing my ear, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Tell them, wife, tell them who you belong to now."
I look up at him, at the man who is dangerous and obsessed and completely mine, and I say the words that seal my fate forever.
"I belong to Matthew Nottingham, and this baby belongs to him too, and he will never let us go."