Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

I shoved the door shut with my foot, the lock clicking into place. The sound echoed through the small apartment, followed immediately by muffled voices from Lila's bedroom.

I heard breathless moans and a man's low groan.

Perfect timing.

I froze, one hand gripping my bleeding shoulder, the other pressed protectively over my belly. Pain radiated down my arm in sharp, angry waves.

"Lila." My voice came out weaker than I intended.

The noises stopped, followed by hurried shuffling, then a muttered curse before the door cracked open and Lila's face appeared with her hair wild, cheeks flushed, shirt buttoned wrong.

"Oh my God." She wrenched the door open fully as soon as she saw me. "What the hell happened?"

I tried to wave her off, but my legs trembled and suddenly Lila's hands were on my elbow, steadying me before I could pretend I was fine.

Behind her, a half-dressed man grabbed his jacket, avoiding eye contact.

"I should—uh—go," he mumbled.

"Yeah." Lila didn't even glance at him. "Go."

The door slammed, leaving us in silence except for my ragged breathing.

Lila guided me to the couch, her hands surprisingly gentle as her eyes looked at every scrape and bruise. I couldn't tell her about the rogue, neither could I tell her I'd been attacked. Her protective instincts would flare and she'd try and hunt him down, putting herself in danger again because of me.

I wouldn't let that happen.

"Sit and don't argue." She was already grabbing the first-aid kit from under the coffee table. "You're bleeding."

"It's not that bad."

Lila shot me a look that could strip paint. "You're pregnant, Amaris. Everything is that bad."

She knelt before me, carefully rolling up my sleeve. The fabric stuck to the wound, and I hissed as she peeled it away. Angry red scraped across my skin, still seeping blood.

Lila sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Did you fall?"

I hesitated. "I got pushed."

She raised a brow. "Pushed?"

"It was an accident. Wrong place, wrong time."

"You're always in the wrong place." Lila's voice softened as she cleaned the wound. "Did you get lost on the way back from the doctor?" I shook my head.

She worked in silence for a moment, her touch tender despite her usual rough edges. I flinched when the antiseptic hit raw skin.

"Sorry," she murmured. "I know it hurts."

I leaned back against the couch, exhaustion crashing over me now that I was safe. The baby shifted inside me—a small, reassuring flutter that made my throat tight.

Lila noticed. She always noticed. "What did the doctor say? Is the baby okay?"

"Yes." The word came out rough. "The baby's fine. I just need to reduce my stress."

Lila sat back on her heels, studying me with those too-knowing eyes. "Federic isn't the devil, you know."

There it was. The man she'd been trying to set me up with for weeks. The "solution" to all my problems.

I couldn't, I mean just the thought of being with anyone who wasn't...

I shoved that thought down hard. "He's not a saint either."

"So what?" she shot back. "Neither are you. Neither am I. He's offering support, Amaris. Real support. The kind you really need right now."

"Everyone seems to be offering that lately." Bitterness crept into my voice.

"You don't get to be picky right now."

"I get to protect myself," I said quietly. "And my child."

"And how exactly are you doing that?" her voice rose. "By coming home bleeding? By jumping every time someone knocks on the door? By working yourself to the ground at a job that barely pays rent?"

Silence stretched between us, heavy and sharp.

Then her expression softened. "I'm not saying marry him neither did I say you should sleep with him. I'm saying let him help Amaris. For God's sake, let someone help."

I looked down at my hands, at the tremor I couldn't quite control anymore. I hated that she could see through me. Hated more that part of me knew she was right.

"I won't trade one cage for another."

"You always think someone trying to cage you."

"Because they are."

She didn't push further because I was already so tired so she let me be.

The next morning, I dressed slowly, deliberately. Every movement pulled at the bruise along my ribs, a dull ache that wouldn't let me forget yesterday no matter how hard I tried.

I chose a loose sweater that wouldn't press against my stomach and a long skirt that hid the swelling in my ankles.

I was tying my shoes when Lila appeared in the doorway, arms crossed. "Don't tell me you're going to work."

I didn't look up. "Ok, I won't." I chuckled.

"Absolutely not."

I straightened slowly, meeting her gaze. "Lila..."

"The doctor said no stress." She stepped into the room. "She didn't say 'no stress unless rent is due' or 'no stress unless you really feel like it.' She said no stress."

"I'm not planning on getting stressed."

A short humourless laugh escaped Lila's throat. "You work in a bookstore that barely pays you, with a manager who thinks you're unreliable, and customers who ask invasive questions about your stomach. Stress is literally the job description."

I grabbed my bag. "I need to go."

She blocked my path. "I'll give you the money for today, I will give you for the week if you want. You can rest and let your body do what it needs to do."

My grip tightened on the bag strap. "I don't want your money."

"It's not charity."

"It feels like it," I said quietly. "And I can't afford to feel like that right now."

Her voice dropped. "You don't have to prove anything to me."

"Well , I do to myself."

I moved past her, but she followed me into the small kitchen.

"You've already missed too many shifts," she continued not dropping this at all. "They don't care that you're pregnant. They don't care that you got hurt. They care that the register is covered."

"That's exactly why I have to go." I turned to face her. "If I miss today, they'll fire me. I can feel it."

Lila opened her mouth to say something but her frustration gave way to reluctant understanding.

"You're impossible, you know that right?" she muttered.

I managed a small, tired smile. "And that's why you love me so much."

"Against my better judgment." She grabbed her jacket from the hook and pressed it into my hands. "Fine, you can go but you call me if anything feels off and I mean anything. Be it pain, dizziness, some creep looking at you wrong, I don't care how small it is."

"I will." I chuckled giving her a kiss on the cheek.

I watched her eyes narrow. "I mean it. No heroic nonsense."

"I promise."

If only she knew I was lying.