Ruin Me Slowly

Chapter 15

Jane POV

“We need to get engaged.”

I blinked. Hard.

I almost dropped the glass of water in my hand. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

Carter stood in the middle of my small apartment, completely serious, arms folded like he had just announced something totally reasonable. Like it wasn’t the most ridiculous thing I’d heard all week.

“We need to get engaged,” he repeated, slower this time.

I stared at him like he’d lost his damn mind.

“Are you crazy?” I asked, setting the glass down so it wouldn’t slip from my hand. “I’m already homeless and pregnant, and now you want me to get engaged? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Carter stepped closer, calm and unfazed. “Jane, listen to me. This is the only way things can go well—for you, for the baby. I need to protect you.”

“I didn’t ask to be protected,” I snapped. “I asked you to know.”

“And now I do,” he said, voice low but firm. “And I’m not walking away. But this situation? It’s messy. My name, your name… the press will eat you alive. You think my sister won’t go to war over this? The only way to shut it all down is to get ahead of it.”

“So your solution is what? A fake proposal?”

“No,” he said quickly. “It’s real. I mean it. You’ll be treated like my wife, even if we’re not married yet.”

I crossed my arms, heart pounding. “Carter… this doesn’t make sense.”

“It makes perfect sense,” he argued. “Think about it. If you’re my fiancée, the media can’t spin it. It’s not a scandal. It’s a love story.”

I laughed bitterly. “A love story? Really? Because your sister definitely threw me out of Empire like I was garbage.”

He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. Rosie’s… a lot. But I don’t care what she thinks.”

“Your whole family hates me.”

“So?” he shrugged. “Who cares about them? Don’t you think about the baby? That’s the only thing important right now. Our focus is the baby.”

His words hit me in the chest.

Because I was thinking about the baby. Every second of every day.

Where we’d live. How I’d survive. If I’d even make it to the hospital in time without proper care. I’d applied for insurance and support programs, but I knew how slow the system worked.

And Carter—whether I trusted him or not—was right about one thing.

He could provide.

“The only way I can give you top notch health care and treatment,” he continued, “is when you’re my fiancée. Otherwise it will go down as a scandal, Jane. My name will be dragged through the mud, and yours too. I can’t risk that right now.”

I swallowed hard.

“And,” he added, stepping closer, “you can’t afford that either.”

My knees felt weak. I sank onto the edge of the couch, staring at the floor.

He was right. I hated it, but he was right.

A baby with the King name? The press would twist that into something ugly if we didn’t get ahead of it. Headlines would explode. Rumors. Speculation. I could already hear it—

Gold-digger daughter of Ellis traps King heir.

I didn’t want that for my child.

But getting engaged?

This wasn’t supposed to be my life.

I rubbed my temples and let out a shaky sigh.

“No,” I said quietly.

Carter’s shoulders tensed. “What?”

“No, I don’t want it to be a scandal,” I clarified. “I don’t want my baby to grow up in the middle of chaos. I don’t want people calling him or her a mistake.”

“I just want to make sure you’re safe. That the baby’s safe.”

I looked up at him.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Fine. We get engaged.”