His Regret Can No Longer Touch My Heart Chapter 01
I was the long-lost true Principessa of the Hayes Family, just brought back to the family estate.
Fake daughter Delilah’s eyes turned red as she said she’d return the Moretti Family marriage alliance to me.
I touched my belly, just confirmed pregnant, and declined quietly.
“No need. I already have someone I love.”
Right then, footsteps sounded behind me.
Delilah wiped her tears and hurried over. “Caleb, this is my elder sister, Hailey.”
“Our marriage alliance should’ve been hers.”
I turned and met a pair of familiar eyes.
The man who took care of me for five years.
Also the father of my baby.
……
Caleb Moretti saw me, a flicker of shock crossing his eyes.
But only for a second.
Instantly, his expression hardened back to ice.
He sneered.
“You think any trash can marry into my family?”
Then he grabbed Delilah’s wrist and pulled her close.
His gaze swept the Hayes Family drawing room, his voice low and absolute.
“This alliance was Delilah’s from the start. Who dares swap brides now!”
Dead silence filled the room.
No one dared breathe too loud, terrified of getting burned by the Moretti heir’s fury.
Under the pressure, I drew a steady breath.
“Mr. Moretti, no one’s trying to swap brides.”
“The Hayes-Moretti alliance has always been Delilah’s. She’s always been your fiancée.”
Caleb clearly didn’t expect that response.
He shot me a look, warning and calculation laced in his stare.
Of course, I could expose our five-year secret affair and use this pregnancy to force his hand.
But I refused to stoop that low.
My birth mother, Donna Rachel, pressed me further.
“Hailey, you said you have someone you love? How far along are you two?”
The room fell silent.
The entire Hayes Family—Don Hunter, the consigliere, the guards—locked their eyes on me.
I glanced at Caleb.
His face remained impassive, radiating that signature arrogance of a man who owned the world.
Five years together taught me to read the thoughts behind his eyes:
Say one wrong word, and you won’t live to see tomorrow’s sun.
I forced a bitter smile.
“We’ve reached…”
“The point where he went home for his family alliance, and I got dumped.”
Dead silence.
Delilah shattered the quiet.
“Hailey, do you really not want the engagement?”
“No.”
My answer came swift and sharp, without a trace of regret.
“Since Caleb only wants you, then it naturally belongs to you.”
Not just Caleb—Donna Rachel and Don Hunter wanted only her too.
They put my room at the end of the corridor in the estate’s annex.
I pushed open the door to a cramped, freezing space with a north-facing window that let in zero sunlight.
Even the kitchenette and bathroom were crammed into one tiny corner.
Donna Rachel’s tone was dismissive.
“You’ll stay here for now.”
“Delilah’s been the Principessa for twenty years. She’s delicate. We can’t make her move.”
Don Hunter stood at the door and added coldly.
“Delilah’s been frail and sensitive since childhood. Don’t cross her.”
“Don’t let outsiders think the Hayes Family plays favorites.”
The recognition ceremony ended fast. I went back to my room.
Soon after, a knock came.
Caleb stood in the doorway.
His eyes were cold as a loaded gun.
“Hailey, watch your mouth.”
He lowered his voice.
“Those five years? Nothing but a transaction. My momentary pity. Charity.”
“Don’t mistake a deal for love. Know your place.”
“Delilah is the woman I’m marrying.”
Something inside my chest clenched violently.
I touched my belly.
Yesterday’s pregnancy test results were still in my pocket.
I once believed that returning to the Hayes Family would erase the class gap between us and let me finally stand openly as his woman.
I was wrong.
Every fantasy I had just died.
I looked up at him.
“Caleb, we’re done here.”
He laughed like I’d told a joke, his voice sinking dangerously.
“Since when do you get to call it quits with me?”
“This game ends only when I say it ends.”
I held his stare.
Then I smiled.
“Then remember this.”
“I’m not your game.