Chapter 4

Aurelia POV:

The sterile scent of disinfectant clung to the air in the doctor' s office. I lay on the examination table, my swollen belly exposed, the rhythmic thump-thump of my baby' s heartbeat echoing through the room from the ultrasound machine. This was my last prenatal check-up, just weeks before my due date.

"Everything looks perfect, Aurelia," Dr. Lee said, her voice warm and reassuring. Her finger traced a tiny leg on the screen. "Your baby is strong, healthy. A fighter, just like their mother." She smiled, but I couldn't return it. A knot of dread tightened in my stomach.

"Dr. Lee," I began, my voice barely a whisper, "If a woman... if she were to terminate a pregnancy this late, what would... what would be the impact on the baby?" The words tasted like ash, a confession of a desperate thought that still haunted the edges of my mind. The abortion appointment I'd canceled, the one born of pure despair, still felt like a looming shadow.

Dr. Lee paused, her smile fading. She looked at me, her gaze gentle but firm. "Aurelia, at this stage, it's not a 'termination.' It's an induced labor. The baby is fully formed, viable. They would be born, simply premature. It would be a living child, Aurelia." Her words hung in the air, weighted with unspoken meaning. "And this baby, yours, is particularly robust. They have a strong will to live."

My breath hitched. A living child. The thought was a sharp, agonizing stab to my heart. How could I even consider such a thing, after feeling those tiny kicks, after seeing that strong heartbeat? The desperation that had driven me to consider it felt like a monstrous part of myself, a dark shadow I was trying to escape. The moral dilemma ripped through me, tearing at the edges of my already frayed sanity. My baby deserved life, love, protection. Not to be erased to solve my problems.

As I walked out of the clinic, my mind a turbulent storm of guilt and protective rage, a familiar figure materialized from behind a parked car. My blood ran cold. Jacob.

"Aurelia!" His voice, usually so controlled, was raw, desperate. He lunged forward, his hand reaching for my arm.

I recoiled, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Don't touch me!" I hissed, clutching my belly protectively. My voice was low, laced with venom. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed you," he admitted, his eyes wild. "I saw your car. I know you're still pregnant. Thank God. You didn't do anything foolish." He tried to pull me towards his waiting car, a sleek black sedan. "We need to talk. We need to go home."

My stomach clenched. "Home? Jacob, I don't have a home with you. And I'm certainly not going anywhere with you." I dug my heels in, resisting his pull. "Do you have any idea what you've done? What kind of man are you?"

He sighed, his grip tightening. "This again? The postnup? It was a legal maneuver, Aurelia. A strategy to protect my assets from potential business risks. Kaleigh's name being on it was a technicality. You're blowing this out of proportion." His dismissiveness infuriated me. He still saw me as irrational, emotional, incapable of understanding his "complexities."

"A technicality?" I scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "A technicality that would have left me destitute, Jacob! While billions floated into Kaleigh's accounts? Was it also a technicality that you spent my entire pregnancy whispering sweet nothings in Kaleigh's ear? Was it a technicality that you were sleeping in her bed, while I was alone, day after day, week after week?" My voice rose, raw with years of suppressed anger. "Was it a technicality that you dismissed my calls, ignored my needs, while you were building a new life with her? I saw the texts, Jacob. I heard the voice note. I saw the pictures!"

His desperate face twisted in surprise. "You... you saw them?" His grip loosened, his eyes wide. He hadn't expected me to know. He hadn't expected me to fight back.

"I wasn't blind, Jacob. Just a fool," I retorted, tears pricking my eyes. "I chose to believe your lies, your convenient excuses. I chose to see you as the man I loved, not the calculating monster you truly are. But no more. I'm awake now. Wide awake." My eyes, I knew, were burning with a cold fury.

He actually looked... ashamed. A flicker of remorse crossed his face, quickly replaced by a desperate plea. "Aurelia, I... I made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. But our child... this changes everything. We can fix this. Please. Come home." He looked at my belly, a strange mixture of longing and fear in his eyes.

"This child changes nothing for us, Jacob," I said, my voice firm and resolute. "I am having this baby. But this baby will have nothing to do with you or your corrupted world. You forfeited that right the moment you put Kaleigh's name on that agreement, the moment you betrayed every promise you ever made."

I shoved him away, his hands dropping from my arm. "This child is mine. And you will never touch them." With that, I turned and walked away, not looking back, my heart pounding with a fierce, protective resolve. He didn't follow.

For the next few days, I acted swiftly. I changed my phone number, deleted all my social media accounts, and instructed Ms. Davies to cease all contact with Jacob' s legal team. I wanted to disappear, to sever every last tie to the man who had systematically destroyed my life.

Ms. Davies called me three days later, her voice tight with concern. "Aurelia, Jacob has refused to sign the divorce papers. He's contesting everything. He says he wants you back."

My blood ran cold. "He wants the baby, Ms. Davies. Not me."

"He's claiming parental rights, Aurelia," she confirmed, her voice grim. "He's threatening to fight for full custody once the baby is born. Given his influence, his wealth... a protracted legal battle could be devastating. He has unlimited resources."

My stomach clenched. Jacob's power was immense. He could crush me, politically, financially, socially. He could drag my name through the mud, paint me as an unfit mother. The thought of him taking my child, raising them in that toxic environment, with Kaleigh as a surrogate mother figure, sent a shiver of pure terror down my spine.

"How long would a custody battle take?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. The baby was due any day.

"Months. Potentially years," Ms. Davies replied, her voice filled with sympathy. "He could easily drag this out. And during that time, he could leverage his influence, make your life a living hell."

Years. I couldn't wait years. My baby would be born into this war. This child, my only hope, my only joy, would be a pawn in Jacob's twisted game. The thought was unbearable. He would use my child, sculpt them into Kaleigh's image, complete his perfect, perverse family with his true love. I pictured my innocent baby, a substitute, a replacement, growing up without knowing their true mother, raised by the woman who had orchestrated my downfall. It was a nightmare.

No. I wouldn't let him win. I wouldn't let him touch my child. I would fight, but not on his terms. My resolve hardened, clear and cold. I would make him agree to the divorce. I would make him let go. But I couldn't do it through legal channels. I needed a different plan. A desperate plan.

A plan that would make me disappear entirely. And take my child with me.