Chapter Twenty-One: A Different Tomorrow

Sophia's POV

By the time I got home, the city had settled into its usual nighttime rhythm.

The traffic outside my apartment had thinned, and the distant glow of streetlights filtered through my curtains, painting long shadows across the living room. Tomorrow. The word echoed relentlessly in my mind. Tomorrow I will leave this apartment. Tomorrow I will move into Ethan Blackwell's penthouse. Tomorrow I would officially step into a life that had never belonged to me.

I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, releasing a slow breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. For the first time since signing the contract, the reality of it all felt suffocating. Two years. Two years pretending to be someone else's fiancée. Someone else's wife. Two years of smiling for cameras, attending parties, and convincing the world that Ethan Blackwell loved me.

I shut my eyes. "I don't want this," I whispered into the empty apartment. But wanting had nothing to do with it anymore. I had signed the papers. I had accepted the money. And with that signature, my freedom no longer belonged entirely to me. After changing into something comfortable, I grabbed my handbag and left again.

There was one place I wanted to visit before my life changed forever. The hospital. The familiar scent of antiseptic greeted me the moment I stepped inside. I wasn't there to see my mother this time.

Instead, I quietly made my way to the obstetrics department.

The doctor reviewed my results, asked me a few routine questions, then handed me a small paper bag.

"These are prenatal vitamins," she said gently. "Take one every day. Eat well, avoid unnecessary stress, and come back in four weeks for another check-up."

I nodded, barely trusting my voice. "Thank you."

As I walked out of the hospital, I looked down at the small bag in my hands. It was so light. Yet it somehow carried the weight of an entire future.

Back at my apartment, I placed the medication carefully inside my bedside drawer, hiding it beneath a stack of folded clothes.

No one could know. Not yet. Especially not Ethan.

My phone vibrated against the mattress. A message. Ethan Blackwell

> The driver will pick you up tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. Be ready.

Short. Direct. Exactly like him. There wasn't even a period at the end.

I stared at the screen for several seconds before locking my phone. No "good night." No "see you tomorrow." Just another instruction.

Another reminder that this arrangement was still a contract. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I climbed onto my bed and lay staring at the ceiling. My breathing felt uneven.

How could two years suddenly feel like a lifetime? I wasn't moving because I wanted to. I wasn't moving because I had fallen in love. I was moving because I had run out of choices. For my mother. For Leo. For our future.

I repeated those words until I almost believed them. Yet another thought refused to leave me alone. Ethan had changed. Not dramatically. Not enough for anyone else to notice. But I had. He carried my suitcase without asking. He opened doors for me. He complimented the way I looked. He had even smiled. A real smile. Small. Brief.

Almost impossible to catch. Still… It had been there.

"No," I muttered, shaking my head. "Don't be stupid, Sophia."

He wasn't changing. He was performing. Just like I was.

We were simply learning our roles before stepping onto a much larger stage. Nothing about it was real. Nothing.

My phone buzzed again. This time, Mimi's name appeared on the screen. I answered immediately. She didn't ask difficult questions. She didn't mention Ethan.

Instead, she told me about a customer who had accidentally spilled coffee over himself at work and tried to blame the coffee machine.

I laughed harder than I had in days.

"You finally sound like yourself," she said.

"I needed that."

"I know."

We talked until neither of us realized how late it had become.

Before hanging up, she grew quiet. "Promise me something."

"What?"

"If things ever become too much... call me."

My throat tightened. "I promise."

After the call ended, silence filled the apartment once again. I looked around at the little place that had been my refuge through every hardship.

Tomorrow, it would no longer be my home. I turned off the bedside lamp and pulled the blanket over myself. Sleep didn't come easily.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the towering penthouse waiting for me. And the man waiting inside it. Tomorrow… The performance would begin again. Only this time, there would be no curtain to hide behind.