Chapter 2

Liam' s words echoed in my head all night, a cruel loop of rejection. "Just a fun distraction." I tossed and turned in the bed we shared, the sheets feeling cold and foreign without him.

He didn't come home.

I wasn't surprised. After the scene I made, he was probably with Sophia, laughing about the naive little diner girl who actually thought he cared. The thought made my stomach churn with a sick mixture of anger and pain.

Staring at the ceiling of his sleek, minimalist apartment, I finally saw everything clearly. It wasn't just about love. It was about class. I was a project for him, a novelty. The working-class girl he could show off to prove how down-to-earth he was, before inevitably returning to his own kind.

How could I have been so stupid? I had ignored all the signs. The way his friends, especially Sophia and her vicious friend Brittany, looked at me with thinly veiled contempt. They saw me as a gold-digger, a temporary stain on their perfect, wealthy world. I had always brushed it off, telling myself their approval didn't matter as long as I had Liam.

But Liam' s approval was a lie. He was one of them. He was the worst of them because he pretended not to be.

My hand drifted down to my still-flat stomach. A wave of complicated emotions washed over me. This baby, our baby, was conceived in a fantasy. Now, it felt like a trap. How could I bring a child into a world where its father saw its mother as a temporary amusement?

I had planned to tell him the news with a specially cooked breakfast, to see the joy spread across his face. The thought now seemed pathetic. Sharing this news with him would only give him more power over me, another way to humiliate me.

The tears that had flowed so freely last night were gone. In their place was a hollow ache. I got out of bed, my movements robotic. I showered, dressed, and looked at my reflection in the mirror. The girl staring back looked tired and broken, but there was a flicker of something else in her eyes. Resolve.

I couldn't stay here. I couldn't have this baby. Not his baby.

My hands were shaking as I picked up my phone. I scrolled through my contacts, past Liam' s name, and found the one person I could trust.

"Jess?" my voice was hoarse.

"Chloe? What's wrong? You sound awful."

Jessica had been my best friend since we were kids. She worked at the same diner and knew my whole story with Liam. She had always been cautiously optimistic, happy for me but worried. I guess her worry was justified.

The story tumbled out of me, the words choked with a fresh wave of pain. The club, the things he said, Sophia' s smug smile.

"I'm coming over," she said, her voice firm. There was no judgment, just support.

"No, don't," I said quickly. "I need you to do something for me. Can you... can you help me find a clinic? For an... an abortion."

There was a silence on the other end of the line. I could picture her face, creased with concern.

"Chloe, are you sure?"

"I'm sure," I whispered. "This was a mistake. All of it."