Chapter 4

I woke up in a private hospital room.

Sunlight streamed through the window, too bright.

A doctor I didn't know informed me I was pregnant.

Pregnant.

With Ethan' s child.

The news hit me like a physical blow, a cruel joke played by fate.

Ethan visited briefly, his face a mixture of annoyance and something I couldn't decipher.

"Rest," he said, his tone clipped. "We'll talk later."

Then he rushed off, muttering about a charity gala Tiffany insisted they attend.

He left a guard outside my door. I was still his prisoner.

A nurse, a kind woman with tired eyes, saw the despair in mine.

She helped me slip out, a quiet act of rebellion against the powerful man who paid her salary.

"Go," she whispered. "Be free."

I needed my passport, my escape route.

But something drew me to that gala. I had to see.

From the shadows of a service entrance, I saw them.

Ethan, beaming, Tiffany on his arm, preening for the cameras.

Around Tiffany' s neck was a bespoke diamond necklace.

I knew it instantly.

Ethan had commissioned it for me, years ago, when things were still... good.

It was meant to symbolize "eternal devotion."

The sight of it on her, a symbol of everything he had broken, was a fresh stab of pain.

As I turned to leave the hospital grounds, I overheard two staff members talking near the emergency exit.

"...Mr. Cole' s wife... scheduling an abortion... poor thing, doesn' t even know..."

An abortion.

Without my consent.

My blood ran cold. He wouldn' t just take my blood, my freedom, he would take my child too.

That was the final straw.

I made my way back to the condo, a desperate plan forming.

I needed my passport, whatever cash I had hidden.

They were there, Ethan and Tiffany, lounging in the living room.

Tiffany saw me first. She feigned sympathy, her eyes glittering with malice.

"Anya, darling, you look terrible. We were so worried."

Then, her voice dropped, laced with venom.

"Such a shame about Elijah. A fall, they said. Trying to stop the construction. So tragic."

My heart stopped. Elijah. Dead.

I looked at Ethan, searching his face for any sign of remorse, of humanity.

He confirmed it with chilling indifference.

"Unfortunate accident. He was trespassing."

The world swam. Elijah, my mentor, my friend, gone because of Ethan' s greed.