Chapter 31: Mother Finds Out

My mother's summons came via text: My house. Now. We need to talk.

There were no emojis. No pleasantries. Just a command from the general to her least favorite soldier.

I stared at the screen, my hand resting instinctively over my stomach. I should have known Sienna couldn't keep a secret that useful. She had held onto the ultrasound photo for exactly one week—long enough to feel powerful, short enough to ensure maximum damage before the wedding.

The drive to the Stone estate usually filled me with a low-level anxiety. Today, it felt like driving to my own execution.

I pulled my beat-up sedan into the circular driveway, parking behind my father’s pristine Bentley. The house loomed above me—a sprawling, manicured testament to my family's obsession with appearances. It was beautiful, cold, and utterly hollow.

I took a deep breath. For the baby, I told myself. You’re strong enough for this.

I didn't bother knocking. I used my key, the heavy oak door swinging open to reveal the silent, cavernous foyer.

"In the drawing room, Aria," my mother's voice echoed from the left.

I walked in.

Elena Stone was standing by the fireplace, her posture rigid, wearing a cream cashmere cardigan that probably cost more than my car. She didn't turn around as I entered.

On the marble coffee table, sitting alone like an accusation, was the ultrasound photo.

My heart hammered against my ribs. There it was. The tiny, black-and-white proof of my "sin."

"Please tell me this is a joke," Elena said, finally turning to face me. Her face was a mask of cold, controlled fury. "Please tell me this is some kind of sick prank you and your sister are playing."

I looked at the photo, then at her. There was no point in lying. Sienna had clearly laid out the evidence.

"It's not a joke," I said, my voice tired but steady.

Elena closed her eyes, inhaling sharply through her nose. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I'm having a baby, Mom. I didn't commit a felony."

"You might as well have!" she snapped, her eyes flying open. "Unwed. Pregnant. Just weeks before your sister's wedding to one of the most prominent men in the city. Do you have any idea what this will do to the family reputation? The whispers? The scandal?"

I waited for a question about my health. About how I was feeling. About the grandchild growing inside me.

It didn't come.

"Who is the father?" she demanded, stepping closer. "Is it someone respectable? Or some... gamer you met online?"

I flinched at the venom in her voice. "That's private."

"Private?" She let out a harsh, incredulous laugh. "You lost the right to privacy when you brought this shame to my doorstep. Does he know? Are you getting married?"

"He knows," I said, keeping my chin high. "And no, we aren't getting married right now."

"Of course not," she sneered. "So you're just going to be a single mother. dragging a bastard child around while your sister builds a dynasty."

"Don't call my baby that," I said, my voice shaking with sudden rage.

"I will call it what it is! A mistake. A complication." She paced the room, wringing her hands. "I will not let you embarrass this family, Aria. I will not have people looking at Sienna on her wedding day and whispering about her trashy sister."

"Sienna," I said bitterly. "It always comes back to Sienna."

"Your sister is getting married properly!" Elena shouted. "She did everything right. She found a good man, she courted him, she planned a wedding. And you? You couldn't just let her have her moment. You had to go and get yourself knocked up."

"It wasn't on purpose," I argued, though I knew it was futile. "And frankly, Mom, I would think a new grandchild would be something to celebrate. But of course... Sienna's perfect wedding matters more than my actual life."

"Don't make this about favoritism," Elena warned, her eyes narrowing.

I laughed. It was a dry, broken sound. "That's all it's ever been about. Since we were five years old. Sienna is the diamond, and I'm the coal."

"You make yourself the coal!" she spat. "By making choices like this!"

The door to the study opened, and my father walked in. Richard Stone looked older than I remembered. He wore his smoking jacket, holding a tumbler of scotch.

He looked from Elena’s flushed face to me, then down at the ultrasound photo.

"So," he said heavily. "It's true."

"Hi, Dad," I whispered.

He walked over to the table and picked up the photo. He stared at it for a long moment. I braced myself for his anger, for his disappointment.

"Who is the father, Aria?" he asked, not looking up.

"I can't say."

He sighed, setting the photo down gently. "Will he do right by you?"

I blinked, surprised. It wasn't warmth, exactly, but it was concern. Practical concern.

"I... yes," I said, thinking of Noah’s fierceness, his demand for 50/50 custody, the way he held my hair when I was sick. "He wants to be involved. He's a good man."

"A good man would have put a ring on your finger before putting a baby in your belly," my mother interjected sharply.

Richard looked at her. "Elena, enough. It's done."

He turned back to me. "If the father isn't stepping up financially, we will handle it. A Stone doesn't go without."

"I don't need money," I said quickly. "I have my job. And the father... he has means. The baby will be taken care of."

"Your job," Elena scoffed. "That ridiculous game studio. Playing with toys."

She straightened her cardigan, her face settling into a mask of grim determination. She had a plan. I could see the wheels turning.

"Here is what is going to happen," she announced. "You will resign from that company immediately."

"Excuse me?"

"You will quit," she repeated. "You will come work for the family foundation. We can control the narrative there. We'll say you're taking a sabbatical for health reasons. We'll send you to the estate in Connecticut until the baby is born. We can pass it off as a private adoption later, or—"

"No," I interrupted, my voice ringing out in the quiet room.

Elena stopped. She looked stunned that I had spoken while she was planning my erasure.

"No?"

"I'm not quitting my career," I said, my hands balling into fists at my sides. "I'm not moving to Connecticut. And I am certainly not hiding this baby like it's a dirty secret."

"You will do as you are told!" Elena screeched, her composure finally cracking. "You live under this family's name!"

"I live in Brooklyn," I corrected her. "I pay my own rent. I built my own career. And I am keeping my baby. Here. In my life."

I looked at my father. He was watching me with a strange expression. Was it... respect?

"You're making a mistake," my mother hissed. "If you walk out that door without agreeing to my terms, don't expect any support from us. No money. No nursery. Nothing."

"Elena," my father warned low in his throat.

"No, Richard! She needs to learn!" She glared at me. " choose, Aria. Your pride, or your family."

I looked around the room. At the expensive furniture, the cold marble, the parents who saw me as a problem to be managed.

"I never had your support, Mom," I said softly. "Not really. You supported the version of me you wanted—the one who looked like Sienna. But you never supported me."

I reached out and took the ultrasound photo from the table. I slipped it into my pocket, close to my body.

"I choose my baby," I said. "And I choose myself."

I turned and walked toward the door.

"If you leave," my mother shouted after me, her voice shrill, "don't bother coming to the wedding! You'll just be a distraction!"

I paused with my hand on the doorknob. The threat hung in the air.

"That's up to Sienna," I said without turning back. "Not you."

I walked out.

The Lonely Freedom

The walk to my car felt miles long. My legs were shaking so badly I wasn't sure they would hold me up.

I got into the driver's seat and locked the doors.

The silence of the car wrapped around me.

It was done. The band-aid was ripped off. I had been disowned, essentially. Cut off.

I should have been devastated.

And I was. There was a gaping hole in my chest where my family should have been. The rejection burned like acid.

But underneath the pain, there was something else.

Lightness.

I didn't have to hide anymore. I didn't have to pretend to be the good daughter. I didn't have to suck in my stomach or lie about antibiotics.

I was free. Lonely, terrified, and broke... but free.

I put the key in the ignition, but before I could turn it, my phone rang through the Bluetooth speakers.

Incoming Call: Noah West

The name on the screen made my breath hitch.

I stared at it for a second, then pressed the button on the steering wheel.

"Hello?"

"Aria?" His voice filled the small space of the car. It was deep, steady, and laced with immediate concern. "Are you okay? You sound upset."

He knew. Just from one word.

The tears I had held back in the drawing room finally spilled over.

"I told them," I choked out.

"Where are you?" he asked instantly. "Are you at the house?"

"I'm in the driveway. I'm leaving."

"Did they..." He hesitated. "How bad was it?"

"Bad," I sobbed, letting the facade crumble. "She wants me to hide in Connecticut. She told me to quit my job. She said... she said I was an embarrassment."

I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end. Then, a low, dangerous growl.

"Stay there," he said.

"Noah, no—"

"I'm ten minutes away," he said. "I was driving around, waiting for you to call. Stay there. I'm coming to get you."

"I can drive," I said, wiping my face. "I'm fine. I just needed to hear your voice."

There was a pause. The silence on the line felt heavy, charged with everything we hadn't said yet.

"You have me," he said fiercely. "You hear me, Aria? You have me. You aren't doing this alone. They can go to hell."

"They basically told me to," I laughed wetly.

"Drive to my place," he commanded gently. "Don't go to Brooklyn. Come to the penthouse. I'll meet you there."

"Noah..."

"Please," he said. "I don't want you alone tonight."

I looked back at the mansion. The lights in the drawing room were still on. I could imagine my mother pacing, my father pouring another drink.

I looked forward, through the windshield, to the dark road leading back to the city.

"Okay," I whispered. "I'm coming home."

"Drive safe," he said. "I'll be waiting."

I hung up.

I put the car in gear and drove away from the Stone estate. I didn't look in the rearview mirror.

I had lost my past tonight. But as I drove toward the city lights, toward the man who was waiting for me, I knew I was driving toward my future.