Masuk
“Miss, are you sure about this?” The doctor stared deeply into my eyes hoping to see if I was joking or would change my mind.
“Yes, I haven't been as sure as I am now.” My voice came out steadier than I expected. She set her pen down slowly. “Mrs Whitmore” she folded her hands. “You don't need to decide today. It's only 3 weeks,” She paused. “ Your uterine lining shows signs of significant weakness. The fact that this pregnancy succeeded— ." She exhaled. “—Is frankly a miracle. There's no guarantee your body will allow this again”.Her voice dropped low. “This may be your only chance.” The words shot a pain through my chest. With tight trembling hands I responded, “No qualms, I don't intend on giving birth anyway” I interjected. Especially not for a man like him. She studied me for a moment and nodded in defeat. “Okay, I will prepare you for the necessary procedures.” She confirmed and glanced back at the monitor. “You'll need a minimum of three days to recover. I suggest you plan on staying here for those few days “ “Noted.” My appointment for the abortion was scheduled and that was the first part of it. I gathered my bag, thanked the doctor and got up ready to leave. But paused to look over the appointment card slipped into my hand. A frown settled on my face. The earlier the better. “Erm doctor, I'm sorry but can't you move this date forward?” I paused as I explained further cause the look on her face was more of confusion . “I do have an engagement on that day, I'd rather I finish and recover fast before it happens. “ She looked up, and for a second, something flashed across her face. Was it pity ? “Alright Miss, I can shift it to two days from today.” “That'll be fine with me,” I managed a small nod. “Thank you” was my last word before I left her office as the door clicked shut behind me. I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding. The child isn't at fault. A part of me still felt sad. I knew that. With one hand pressed flat against my tummy, I let my thoughts take over. The baby was innocent. Completely innocent. But I also knew what kind of world I would be pushing it into. A world where its father's hands belonged to another woman. Where it would grow up either ignorant of the truth or destroyed by it. I won't do that to it. I won't give birth to a child just to watch it be swallowed by that world. For three good years, Damien and I have tried for a baby. God, in the beginning he was everything. He was sweet , showered me with gifts and showed me that I was really born to be loved. He never for once took a glance at another woman. Anytime I looked into his eyes, all I saw was the raw desire for me. On our very first anniversary, he made love to me . And that was the best day of my life. He made my life whole and no man was closer to that. Everything was okay, until I noticed his sudden change. He became moody and a little aggressive. And even stopped making love to me, but when he did, it was the gentle thing we used to share. It was rough like he poured anger into it. At least he hasn't laid a finger on me. He recently started leaving early for work and getting back home very late and when I ask about it, the only thing he says is, “I'm tired, we'll talk about it tomorrow,” “Had a meeting” “I need peace to work” I gave him peace, the space he asked for and still gave him the benefit of doubt. I was very patient though it did break my heart. I thought he always worked hard and was too drained or had rough days at work. But I was wrong all this while. Until the night he looked me up with coldness in the eyes, stomped the table with a fist and said to me , “You have no right to question my lateness. It is none of your business” For the very first time in the years we've been together, he rejected my food like it had poison in it. Fresh air hit my skin, making me relax a bit. It was nothing like what I felt earlier. My feet moved on their own. Though with burning knees, my feet still wouldn't stop moving. My phone vibrated in my bag. I pulled it out and picked it up when I saw the caller ID. “Hello, Lawyer Lawrence here. Am I speaking to Mrs ….” “Oh hi , Mr Lawrence. Yes that's me “ my voice came out normal which surprised me a bit. Not that I expected to sound like how I was looking at the moment. “My assistant mentioned you came to my office this morning. My apologies, i had a hearing on a different case ” Typical of a Lawyer. “How can I help you?” I hesitated for a while before I continued, “I did. Can you please help me draft a divorce. I don't think I can continue with it any longer “ “A divorce ?” “Yes. I want to divorce my husband “Serena When Damien saw the micro-beacon Fray had planted, the quiet exhaustion in his eyes turned into white-hot rage. There was no second to waste. Within twenty minutes, Damien had contacted his most trusted security detail to take Eli—our son—to a dark, unlisted safe house outside state lines, completely stripped of any electronics or outside gear Fray could track. By the time the sun came up, Damien and I were standing outside the federal courthouse, flanked by senior trial partners. We knew this trial was our only shot to break Rose's legal chokehold once and for all. But walking into courtroom and sitting down at the petitioner’s table, listening to Rose’s recorded voice echo through the court speakers, still felt like having cold water poured directly into an open wound. I had lived in terror. I had jumped at the sound of heavy footsteps outside my apartment door. I had changed my name, wiped my digital footprints, lived in drafty, single-room flats in coastal towns, and
Rose The wooden steps of the witness stand felt like an executioner’s block beneath my heels, but I refused to let the chills run down my spine. I adjusted the gold-threaded cuffs of my wrinkled jacket, staring straight ahead through the blinding glare of the courtroom floodlights. The court-appointed public defender standing at the mahogany lectern was a nervous, sweat-stained man named Yawson whose ill-fitting suit cost less than my daily driver's allowance. He was visibly trembling as he shuffled his yellow legal pads. He was terrified. The entire gallery was terrified. They were looking at a fallen titan, waiting to see if I would bleed like a mortal or burn the room down with me. In the second row of the public gallery, seated behind a reinforced oak partition, sat four-year-old Elias—my son, our son. My nanny held his small, soft hand, keeping him quiet with a plastic toy car. The boy had my high cheekbones, my dark, calculating eyes, and the distinct set of the Holt ch
Zara The cold marble floor echoed beneath the sharp, rhythmic strike of my heels. Outside the heavy oak doors of Courtroom, I paused, taking a slow, calculated breath to let the chill settle into my veins. It had been long years since I had stepped into a courtroom under the Hale name, but today was not about vanity or revenge. It was about containment. Through the reinforced glass panels, I could see the circus inside. Flashbulbs were going off in steady, blinding bursts from the press gallery. At the defense table, Rose sat flanked by two court-appointed public defenders, her high-priced legal team having abandoned her at dawn the moment her personal ledgers were frozen by federal investigator She looked grey, stripped of her corporate arrogance, her tailored jacket wrinkled, her dark hair pulled back into a loose, unwashed knot. I adjusted the lapels of my cream suit jacket, smoothing down the silk lining. Everyone in that room thought the war ended when the boardroom door
Serena The red neon sign in the window of the 24-hour diner was clouded with a low, irregular hum, casting a soft, warm glow across the booth. Outside, the city was dead silent. The storm had passed, leaving behind wet asphalt that reflected the yellow streetlights like a dark mirror. Inside, the air smelled of stale coffee, burnt grease, and copper—a stark, grounding contrast to the sterile, scented air of the executive tower we had fled hours ago. Across the table, Eli was fast asleep. He had crumbled the second we slid into the booth, his small body exhausted by the long, terrifying night. He was curled up on his side on the red vinyl, his head resting on my rolled-up denim jacket, his dark eyelashes casting soft shadows against his cheeks. One of his tiny hands was still loosely wrapped around a plastic diner spoon he had insisted on holding before his eyes drifted shut. Damien sat across from me, his hands wrapped around a thick ceramic mug of untouched black coffee. With
Damien The silence in Arthur Holt’s former office was absolute, heavy enough to feel like a physical weight resting on my chest. I stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, looking out over the sprawling skyline below. The storm had finally slackened into a light, misting drizzle, washing over the endless grid of amber streetlights and reflecting off the wet asphalt fifty-four floors down. Behind me, the room was being systematically picked apart, piece by piece, by men in dark windbreakers. They weren't taking furniture. They were taking the soul of the company. Technicians wearing thick rubber gloves were unbolting the server racks built directly into the executive mahogany walls, their power tools whirring with sharp, industrial whines. The custom-built terminals that had once monitored trading floors in London, Tokyo, and New York were dark and lifeless, their monitors stripped of power cords, their blue status lights dead. Every file cabinet stood open, wide
Lawrence The whine of the twin jet engines vibrated through the floorboards, a steady, deafening hum that should have felt like freedom. Inside the cabin, the leather was rich and warm, smelling of polished mahogany and vintage cognac. On the flight deck console, the transponder blinked green, waiting for the tower’s final clearance to enter the trans-Atlantic corridor. I checked my watch and realized it was 02:14 AM. Three minutes. In three minutes, the wheels would leave the tarmac, and the jurisdiction of the federal district court would dissolve into thirty thousand feet of clouds and ocean. And my hard work will pay off so well. I poured myself two fingers of tzepao, my hand steady despite the ruin unfolding back in the city. Rose was done. I knew it the second the automated satellite ping bounced back with a forced disconnect. She had always been too arrogant, too obsessed with the physical vanity of taking Arthur’s chair in that glass tower. She wanted to stand ove
Serena Victor had been a little off. The Victor I had known this short period was the giddy type. He had good days and bad days, and the good days were so good that they made the bad days harder to absorb. And I'm sure this is one of the odd ones. On the good day, he was sharp and demanding and
RoseI rubbed my now visible belly, which had grown into the size of a double football.Satisfaction seeped into my heart thinking about the fact that everything was falling into places just like I wanted.I was twenty-two weeks now. Damien had become a bit distance, but I don't mind. As long as I
Serena's Pov Beeping.That was the first thing.Not pain, not light, not the slow crawl back into consciousness that they show in films where everything is soft and gauzy and someone is holding your hand. Just beeping. Steady and indifferent, like the world had kept running while I was somewhere e
Rose's PovThe moment I heard “mission accomplished" and saw the news on the internet. Every stress in me diminished. It's hard trying to compete when you're as white and pure as a baby horse. This is just the beginning. That night, I remember he came to me sweet and eyes filled with lust but got







