Dreams Shattered

Olivia's body twisted in the silken sheets, a restless dance of frustration and anger. She had envisioned herself as the undisputed queen of the Knight estate, her womb carrying the heir that would cement her place beside Xavier. But now, Cathleen's swelling belly mocked her dreams, threatening to unravel everything.

"Damn you, Cathleen," she hissed into the darkness, her voice a serrated whisper cutting through the silence. "How did you manage this?" The walls of the opulent guestroom seemed to close in on her, each breath being a simmering cauldron of schemes gone awry.

In another wing of the sprawling mansion, Dora lay awake, her mind a whirlwind of calculations and conniving. The plush mattress beneath her felt like a battleground where futures would be decided. Cathleen was ahead; her pregnancy was more advanced than Olivia's—a fact not lost on Dora's calculating gaze.

"Who will bear the first Knight heir?" she muttered, tracing the patterns on the bedspread with a manicured nail