Chapter 1

**Celeste POV**

The test lay on the bathroom sink like it was mocking me. Two faint pink lines, not one.

I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and checked again. As if the result might magically change if I looked long enough. But it didn’t. Two lines, sharp as blades, cutting my life into a before and after.

Pregnant.

My throat closed. The word clawed through my mind, heavy and suffocating. Pregnant. How? Well, I knew how. One reckless night, one man whose name I didn’t even know. A stranger with blue eyes and a smile that had stripped away all my defenses. I had been so stupid.

I slid down onto the cold tile floor, pressing my back against the wall. My legs wouldn’t stop trembling.

My hands shook as I covered my mouth, muffling a sob before it broke free. This couldn’t be real. Not me. Not now. I was barely twenty. I had no job, no savings, no family to run to. My life was already a fragile mess, and this, this was the final blow.

Tears burned down my cheeks, hot and merciless. I hated myself for that night. For letting Maya drag me to that club, for drinking too much, for letting myself fall into the arms of a stranger whose touch had felt like salvation.

But salvation had left me alone in this bathroom, clutching a pregnancy test like it was a death sentence.

I pressed a trembling hand to my stomach. It was flat, normal, but the knowledge hit me like a punch. There was life inside me. A part of me. A part of him.

“What am I supposed to do?” I whispered.

Abortion.

The word cut through my thoughts like ice. It seemed like the easy way out. No baby, no wrecked life, no awkward questions about the father.

But just thinking about it made me sick. I couldn't do it. I wasn't sure why, but I just couldn’t do it. This wasn't a mistake I could just fix with a quick visit to the doctor. This was... mine.

My front door burst open.

“Celeste!”

My head snapped up, panic tightening in my chest. Only one person barged into my apartment like it was hers.

Maya.

Before I could move, she was already in my bedroom doorway, her sharp brown eyes darting from my red face to the bathroom. She spotted the test instantly.

Her mouth fell open. “Oh my God.”

I froze, caught between hiding it and throwing it in the trash. But Maya was faster. She swooped in, grabbed the test, and held it up like it was Exhibit A in a courtroom.

“Pregnant?” she demanded.

I swallowed hard, fresh tears blurring my vision. “Maya—”

“You’re pregnant?” Her voice cracked, but her grip on the stick was steady, her reporter instincts already taking over. “With who?”

The question sliced through me. Who. Like I even had an answer.

I dropped my face into my hands. “I don’t know his last name. I don’t know anything. Just… Lucian.”

The silence stretched for half a second. Then Maya exhaled, long and sharp. “Lucian. Blue eyes, dark hair, black suit? The guy from the club?”

I nodded miserably.

Maya's jaw clenched, and she totally changed. I could almost see her brain working hard. She wasn't just my best friend. She was an investigative reporter, the sort who could find secrets no one else could.

She crouched in front of me, gripping my shoulders. “Listen to me. You are not doing this alone. We’ll find him.”

I shook my head violently. “No. Maya, I can’t. He’s…he’s probably married, or a criminal, or worse…”

“Or rich,” she cut in, her eyes sharp. “Very rich. Do you remember how people looked at him that night? How did the bouncers practically bowed?”

I bit my lip, remembering. He hadn’t fit in that club. He had stood out like a king walking into a dive bar.

Maya leaned closer. “Celeste, this isn’t just some random guy. I’ll find out who he is, what he does, everything. That’s my job.”

My stomach knotted. “And then what? March up to him and say, ‘Surprise, you’re a dad!’? No. I can’t. He won’t want this baby. No man like that would.”

“Maybe he won’t,” Maya admitted, softer now. “But maybe he will. You don’t know. And right now, you can’t afford not to know.”

I stared at her, my heart pounding. I hated how logical she sounded. I hated how much hope she was planting in me, tiny and dangerous.

“Maya…” My voice cracked. “What if his world swallows me whole? What if it swallows the baby?”

Her eyes softened, and for once, she didn’t argue. She pulled me into her arms, holding me against her heartbeat. “Then I’ll be right there with you. Always.”

I clung to her, sobbing quietly, the test still clutched in her hand.

For a long moment, we just sat there, two girls on a bed that suddenly felt too small for the storm looming over us.

Finally, Maya pulled back, determination burning in her gaze. “I’m going to dig. Give me some time. I’ll know who he is, where he works, what he eats for breakfast.”

I groaned, half laughing through the tears. “You’re insane.”

“No,” she corrected. “I’m brilliant. And you’re pregnant with the child of a man who could change everything.”

I pressed my hand to my stomach again, my tears drying into a strange mix of fear and reluctant hope.

Maya was already pulling out her phone, thumbs flying. “Step one: Lucian. Club sighting. Blue eyes. Black suit. We’ll trace him. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” I whispered, almost laughing. “Maya, my life just exploded.”

She smirked, the fire in her eyes unshakable. “Good. Explosions make the best headlines.”

Her words rang in the silence, both terrifying and intoxicating.

And as I lay back, staring at the ceiling, one truth sank into me like stone: whether I wanted it or not, my life had just been rewritten.

Forever.