![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybook.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/46549846548464.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re giving birth next month at your parents\u2019 place in Montbrun. Costs me three times less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She blinked hard.
\u201cVictor\u2026 I\u2019m almost eight months. That trip is long. What if something\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll be fine,\u201d he snapped, waving her away like a nuisance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two days later, Nora boarded a train to Montbrun with red eyes but a raised chin. Her mother, Madame Delmas, wrapped her in warm arms the second she stepped off the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile Victor rushed to Lina Marek\u2014his young assistant\u2014believing she would finally give him the son he felt entitled to. He paid for the elite package at Val-Blanc Clinic, ready to play the role of \u201cproud father\u201d in a story he scripted himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The day arrived. He announced the birth of his \u201cheir\u201d to anyone who would listen. But minutes later, a nurse summoned him to sign papers. He strutted down the hall, chest lifted, ego blazing\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until the door opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And everything inside him froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The doctor looked up, her expression steady, almost too calm.
\u201cMr. Leroux\u2026 congratulations. You have a healthy baby girl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word slammed into him. His breath hitched. His thoughts spun\u2014money spent, promises made, secrets arranged. All for nothing.
And then the most brutal realization hit him: Lina must have known. She tricked him, played him, used him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At that same hour, miles away in Montbrun, Nora lay in a lavender-scented delivery room. She clutched her mother\u2019s hand as her baby\u2019s cry broke open the silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a girl,\u201d the midwife whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A girl.
But unlike Victor, Nora smiled through her tears.
\u201cI knew it,\u201d she breathed. \u201cI felt it all along.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The door flew open. Her father\u2014usually strict, reserved\u2014stood there panting from running. One look at the tiny face in Nora\u2019s arms, and the man crumbled. Tears streamed freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWelcome to the world\u2026 little Amelie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the name first.
No one argued. It simply fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back at Val-Blanc, Victor remained in the hallway, staring blankly at the floor. All his plans, all his calculations\u2014ruined by nature\u2019s simple truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wanted a son.
Life gave him two daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And fate wasn\u2019t done with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A nurse ran out of the neonatal unit, panic written across her face.
\u201cMr. Leroux\u2014please come quickly. There\u2019s a complication. Your baby needs to be transferred to intensive care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His heart slammed against his ribs. Once. Twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the first time in his life, he realized he wasn\u2019t in control.
Money couldn\u2019t save him.
Lies couldn\u2019t protect him.
Plans couldn\u2019t shield him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had stepped into the trap himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n