The office was quiet, unusually quiet for the mid-morning bustle, and I felt every creak of the floor beneath my shoes. My nerves were taut; even with Eli’s security measures in place at home, the lingering sense of being watched gnawed at me.
My phone buzzed again, a new message from an unknown number. I hesitated before opening it.“She’s watching you. We’re watching you. Leave Atlas alone or face the consequences. She isn’t kind.”My stomach twisted. The words were chillingly clear, yet frustratingly vague. Someone Atlas knew was orchestrating this, someone willing to manipulate, threaten, and intimidate. My mind immediately leapt to Jessica. It had to be her. But I needed proof. I couldn’t confront her blindly.I tried to focus on work, pouring myself into spreadsheets and emails, but my thoughts kept drifting back to the message. Jessica’s presence lingered like a shadow I couldn’t shake. I scanned the office subtly, noting her movements as she flitted betweenCalliope had hoped that working from her safe apartment would finally allow her a few days of calm. But calm was a fragile illusion, one shattered by the persistent storm that was Jessica.She sat at her desk, her laptop open, trying to focus on a report for work, when a sharp ping from her news alert made her stomach twist. Groaning softly, she clicked it, only to freeze.The headline was designed to grab attention: “Calliope Blackwood Spotted With Mystery Man at Hospital—Affair Rumors Fly.”Her heart raced. Her pulse spiked. She scrolled down, and her stomach sank. There it was—a photo from the hospital. Eli had been with her, but the angle of the shot conveniently left his face obscured. To the public, it looked like she was with someone else entirely, someone unknown.A low growl escaped her lips. Jessica had done this. No one else had access to her life at the hospital, no one else could have leaked that photo. She could practically hear Jess
Calliope woke to the sterile hum of the hospital room, the morning light filtering weakly through the blinds. Her body still ached from the collapse, her muscles stiff, her stomach tender. But for the first time since the last confrontation, she felt a faint glimmer of control returning. She was alive. The babies were safe. And she had Eli—her anchor in a world that had spun wildly out of control.Eli was already at the chair beside her bed, his laptop open and documents spread across a small side table. He glanced up as she stirred, offering a faint smile. “Morning. You slept a little better than last night. That’s progress.”Calliope forced a small smile in return, even as her hand instinctively rested over her stomach. “How long… how long was I out?” she croaked, voice weak.“Not too long,” Eli said, tilting his head. “You’ve been stable. Just enough to need observation. You pushed yourself too far with the stress. You can’t do that anymore.”S
The ambulance’s wail had barely faded into the night when Calliope’s consciousness began to return in fragments. The world was muted, gray around the edges, her body heavy, and every breath felt like she was pulling through thick water. Her last memory floated in the haze—the heated video call with Atlas, the sharp accusations, the sting of mistrust that had burned into her chest. And then, nothing.Her cheek pressed against the edge of her desk in the small cottage, the hard wood cold against her clammy skin. The dim glow of her laptop screen flickered faintly, Atlas’s face still frozen in the video call frame. She wasn’t awake to see him, but somewhere, his sharp blue eyes mirrored the panic that had driven him to relentless calls and inquiries.Eli’s boots thumped against the floor as he moved toward her. The faint sound of his voice came first, calm and firm, as he checked her pulse and lifted her gently into his arms. Her body sagged like a weight too heavy fo
The video call had ended hours ago, but Calliope sat at her desk, staring at the blank screen as if it still held Atlas’s image. His words replayed in her mind on a loop, every accusation, every sharp edge of doubt cutting deeper than the last. She pressed her trembling hands to her stomach, whispering under her breath as if the triplets could hear, “I’m fine. We’re fine.”But she wasn’t.The stress pressed down like a vice. Every muscle in her body ached from holding in tears, from holding herself upright in front of Atlas. She knew what Jessica was doing, how expertly the woman had woven her lies, but knowing didn’t soften the damage. Atlas believed her.Calliope rose from her chair, her movements slow and stiff, and walked into the kitchen. The cottage Eli had tucked her away in was small but cozy—soft cream walls, exposed beams, and wide windows overlooking the stretch of woods beyond. It should have felt like peace. It should have felt like safety.Instead, it f
The cottage was quiet—too quiet. Calliope had been living here for a week now, a secluded little place nestled against a patch of woods on the outskirts of town. Eli had insisted it was safer, had insisted she needed the distance from the chaos that had swallowed her life whole. No one knew where she was—not even Atlas. Especially not Atlas. And yet, somehow, the stillness didn’t bring the comfort she expected. It only left her alone with her thoughts, with the weight of her unborn children pressing into her every decision, and the suffocating ache of separation from the man she still loved despite everything.The morning sunlight filtered in weakly through lace curtains, painting soft patterns across her desk as she worked. She’d turned the spare room of the cottage into an office, rigging up her laptop and papers, her phone always nearby. The job she once loved now felt like a cage, because working remotely meant every interaction with Atlas was through a screen—sanitized
The cottage was quiet. Too quiet, in a way that made me feel both safe and unnervingly exposed. Trees surrounded the small property, their leaves rustling gently in the evening wind, creating a soft, natural white noise. Eli had done a thorough sweep before leaving me alone. The windows were locked, the doors reinforced, and cameras dotted the perimeter. It was the kind of security I had never imagined needing, yet here I was, feeling the strange comfort of knowing that someone had thought of everything.I dropped my bag onto the sofa, letting the leather hit the cushions with a dull thump. The stillness pressed in around me, and I realized I hadn’t even unpacked a single thing. Part of me wanted to curl up under a blanket and pretend the world outside didn’t exist, but the other part—a stubborn, unrelenting part—knew I had work to do.“Alright,” I whispered to myself, taking a deep breath, “time to focus.”I powered up my laptop, logging into the company