Everything Falls Apart

TWO WEEKS LATER

The morning sickness started three days ago ...

I lean over the toilet ... throwing up nothing but bile. My body is like a traitor ... it wants to tell my secret. But I don't let it.

When I finally stand up ... my hands are shaking. My face in the mirror looks like a ghost.

"Elena?" Martha's voice comes from the kitchen. "You will be late for work."

I wash my mouth and walk to the hallway. She is standing by the small TV. She has a spatula in her hand ... and her face looks very worried.

"I'm fine," I say ... like always.

"You have been saying that for two weeks." She turns back to the stove ... but her eyes keep looking at the TV. "Look."

I look at the TV. A news man is talking. There is video of a big glass building. "Voss Group's stock keeps going up under CEO Adrian Voss ... and people say his family wants him to marry a rich heiress ..."

Then his face fills the screen.

Adrian.

He walks out of a building. Guards are all around him. His face looks like ice. The camera only shows him for a few seconds ... but that is enough. The same strong jaw. The same gray eyes that used to look at me like I was the only person in the room.

Now my stomach hurts for a different reason.

"That's him," Martha says quietly. "Right?"

I nod. I cannot speak.

"He is getting married," she says. She points to the words at the bottom of the screen ... VOSS HEIR RUMORED TO WED LAURENT DAUGHTER.

My chest feels tight. "It's just a rumor."

"Is it?" She turns to look at me. "Elena ... you need to hear me. Men like that do not marry waitresses. They marry women who bring money and power. And if they have a secret that could ruin their plans ..." She stops talking. But I know what she means.

"I'm not telling him," I say. "I already decided."

"Good." She gives me a piece of toast. "Eat. You are eating for two now."

I take a bite ... even though my stomach says no. "I need a better job. The diner is not enough money ... not with a baby coming."

Martha is quiet for a moment. Then she says, "There is something I never told you."

I look up.

"Your mother ... she was not from nothing." Martha's voice is slow and careful. "She came from a family with money. Real money. She left it all behind when she met your father."

I freeze. "What?"

"I don't know the details. She never talked about them after she left. But maybe there are people you could ask for help ..."

"No." The word comes out hard. "I am not going to some rich family I have never met ... begging for help. I will do this myself."

Martha's eyes look sad. But she nods. "Then you need a better job. I saw an ad today ... Voss Group is hiring office workers. Entry level. Good pay."

My blood turns cold. "I can't work for him."

"You won't work for him. You will be in a small office on a low floor. He will never even know you are there." She holds my hand. "And the health insurance alone is worth it ... for the baby."

I think about the doctor visits I cannot pay for. The vitamins I have been skipping because money is tight. The future that is coming fast ... whether I am ready or not.

"I will think about it," I say.

But when I walk out the door and go to the bus stop ... I already know I have no choice.

I need the money. I need the insurance. And if I am careful ... if I keep my head down and my mouth shut ... Adrian Voss will never know I am alive.

The bus passes a big sign with his face on it. I turn away.

But I can still feel his eyes on me.