The Surrogate He Discarded

Kristoff stood rooted where he was, his gaze following Isobel and Richard as they disappeared down the corridor toward their private room. Richard’s hand rested casually on her shoulder, a gesture so effortless and familiar that it sent an inexplicable ache through him. They looked... comfortable together. Intimate.

Isobel was smiling.

Not the polite smile she offered strangers or the restrained one she wore out of courtesy, but a genuine, radiant smile that transformed her entire face. Her eyes shimmered with warmth whenever they settled on Richard, as though she had forgotten the rest of the world existed.

A memory stirred within him.

Had she ever looked at him that way?

He searched his recollection desperately. Indeed she looked at him with eyes full of love and longing.

And yet... something about the way she regarded Richard felt different. There was a depth in her gaze, a quiet tenderness he couldn’t quite define. He couldn’t name it, but he knew it was there.

The realization twisted something deep inside his chest.

He pressed a hand against the dull, persistent ache, confused by the intensity of it. Why did seeing Isobel beside another man unsettle him so profoundly?

At first, it was Morgan, and now Richard stood at her side. Each time, it felt as though an invisible blade had slipped between his ribs, carving out a pain he neither understood nor wished to acknowledge.

Perhaps it was inevitable.

Isobel possessed the kind of beauty that lingered long after she had left a room. She drew people’s eyes without trying, her grace and quiet charm impossible to ignore. Any man would find himself captivated by her... bewitched before he even realized he had fallen.

...

When Isobel excused herself to use the restroom, Richard watched her disappear down the hallway.

He tried to return his attention to the food at the table, but an odd sense of unease settled over him.

He couldn’t explain it. It wasn’t suspicion. Just... instinct.

Something urged him to follow.

After a moment’s hesitation, he rose from his seat and headed in the same direction, telling himself he simply wanted to make sure she was all right.

As he rounded the corner, his instincts proved right.

Kristoff had just stepped into the hallway, his eyes fixed on the path leading to the ladies’ restroom. Richard didn’t need anyone to tell him where the man was going.

His pace quickened. Just as Isobel emerged from the restroom, Richard reached her first.

”There you are,” he said easily, as though he had been looking for her all along. ”I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost.”

Isobel laughed softly.

”I think I can find my way to a restroom.”

”I’m relieved to hear it,” Richard replied with a grin. ”Come on. The food is starting to get cold.”

Without giving her the chance to linger, he naturally fell into step beside her, guiding her back toward their private room.

Behind them, Kristoff stopped in his tracks.

His gaze lingered on the pair as they walked away together, Richard’s hand resting on Isobel’s shoulder while they chatted and laughed as though no one else existed.

A muscle tightened in Kristoff’s jaw.

He had been only a few moments too late. The opportunity to speak with Isobel had slipped through his fingers.

...

Charlotte sat alone in the private room, the silence growing heavier with every passing minute.

Her fingers tightened around the porcelain teacup before her, though the tea had long since gone cold.

Several minutes had passed and Kristoff still had not returned.

That was all it had taken for unease to creep into her heart and blossom into something far uglier.

No. Not unease but fear.

The very fear she had tried to suppress all these years. Her worst nightmare was unfolding right before her eyes. She closed her eyes, but the memory surfaced anyway.

The day Alexander was born.

Kristoff had been happier than she had ever seen him. He had rushed to her with excitement, his eyes alight with relief.

”We can finally get married.”

Those words had been etched into her heart ever since.

”I have an heir now.”

He said it with such certainty, as though nothing in the world could stand between them anymore.

So what had changed? Why had he hesitated when the subject of marriage came up now?

Why had there been doubt in his voice?

The answer was painfully obvious.

Isobel.

Everything had changed because of Isobel.

Charlotte’s jaw tightened.

That woman had somehow wormed his way into Kristoff ’s heart without even trying. Time and again, she appeared in front of Kristoff and within days, she had managed to shake the very foundation Charlotte had spent years building.

She had stolen his attention. His concern. His thoughts. Perhaps even... his heart.

The realization burned.

No.

Charlotte refused to believe she had come this far only to lose everything.

Her gaze hardened.

And then there was Alexander.

That baby.

As long as he lived, Kristoff and Isobel would never truly be strangers to one another.

Alexander was more than their son. He was the invisible thread binding them together, one that could never be cut by time, distance, or another marriage.

Every decision involving the boy would become another excuse for Kristoff to see Isobel. Another chance for old feelings to awaken.

Charlotte felt bile rise in her throat.

No...

That bond had to be broken. It had to disappear. Severed completely.

Then her mind drifted to the man from the orphanage.

What was his name?

Yes, Richard.

She had noticed the way he looked at Isobel. The admiration in his eyes had been impossible to miss.

Men were predictable.

It wasn’t just admiration but devotion. And if Richard loved Isobel...

If Isobel accepted him...

Then perhaps Kristoff would finally let go.

Perhaps seeing her happily devoted to another man would force him to close that Chapter of his life forever.

A slow smile tugged at Charlotte’s lips. She wouldn’t have to dirty her own hands. Sometimes all it took was a gentle nudge.

A few carefully chosen words. A handful of convenient opportunities.

People were remarkably easy to guide when they believed they were following their own hearts.

Yes...

If Isobel belonged to another man, Kristoff would have no choice but to give her up.

And once that happened...

Nothing would stand between Charlotte and the future she had waited years to claim.