Chapter 6

Anastasia's POV

The rain starts falling just as I step onto the street, each drop feeling like a physical blow against my already battered spirit. I have nowhere to go. No home to return to. No family to run to. Nothing.

My phone vibrates in my purse and I pull it out with trembling fingers. Felicity's name flashes across the screen.

"Ana? Where are you? I've been trying to reach you all morning." Her voice is filled with concern.

"I..." My voice cracks and I swallow hard, trying to find the words. "I need help, Felicity. Can I... can I come over?"

"Of course! Send me your location right now. I'm coming to get you."

Twenty minutes later, Felicity's car pulls up beside me. She takes one look at my face and her expression shifts from concern to pure rage.

"What happened?" She demands as I slide into the passenger seat, but I can't answer.

The tears come faster now, unstoppable. She doesn't push. Instead, she drives us to her apartment in silence, occasionally reaching over to squeeze my hand. Once we're inside, she wraps a warm blanket around my shoulders and hands me a cup of hot tea.

"Talk to me, Ana. Please."

The story spills out of me in broken fragments. The meeting with Blake Pierce. Waking up in a hotel room. Overhearing Liam and Marian's conversation. The divorce papers. Losing my company.

Everything.

By the time I finish, Felicity's face has gone pale with shock and fury.

"Those bastards!" She explodes, pacing across her living room. "We need to go to the police. This is assault, Ana. They drugged you!"

I shake my head weakly. "I have no proof. It's my word against theirs, and Liam... he has evidence of me in that hotel room. If this goes public, I'll be destroyed."

"So what? You're just going to let them get away with this?" Felicity's voice rises, but then she sees the look on my face and her expression softens. She sits beside me, pulling me into her arms. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry this happened to you."

We sit like that for a long time, her holding me while I cry. Eventually, exhaustion takes over and I drift into a fitful sleep on her couch.

Three days pass in a blur. I barely eat, barely sleep. Felicity tries her best to take care of me, but I can see the worry etched into every line of her face.

On the fourth day, I force myself to get up and shower. As I'm getting dressed, a wave of nausea hits me so hard I barely make it to the bathroom. I spend the next ten minutes hunched over the toilet, my body shaking.

"Ana?" Felicity knocks on the door. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lie, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Just... stress, I think."

But the nausea doesn't stop. It comes every morning for a week, accompanied by exhaustion so deep I can barely function.

Felicity watches me with growing concern until finally, she corners me in the kitchen.

"When was your last period?" She asks bluntly.

My stomach drops. "I... I don't know. With everything that's happened, I haven't been paying attention."

"Ana." She grabs my shoulders, forcing me to meet her eyes. "You need to take a test."

"No." I shake my head frantically. "No, it can't be. That's impossible."

"Is it?" Her voice is gentle but firm. "You told me what happened in that hotel. Ana, you need to know."

The pregnancy test sits on the bathroom counter like a ticking time bomb. I can't bring myself to look at it, so Felicity does.

The sharp intake of her breath tells me everything I need to know.

"It's positive," she whispers.

The world tilts beneath my feet. I grip the edge of the sink, my knuckles white. Pregnant. I'm pregnant with a stranger's child. A man whose face I can't even remember clearly through the drug-induced haze of that night.

"What am I going to do?" The words come out as barely a whisper.

Felicity wraps her arms around me from behind, meeting my eyes in the mirror.

"Whatever you decide, I'm here for you. You're not alone in this, Ana. I promise."

Two weeks later, I've made my decision. I'm keeping the baby. Despite everything, despite the circumstances, I can't bring myself to end this life growing inside me. It's the only thing I have left that's truly mine.