When did that happen? When did revenge turn into this?
My phone buzzes. One minute down.
I can’t have a baby. I can’t bring a child into this mess. How would I even explain it to Robert?
“Hi, Dad, remember that revenge plan you’ve been coaching me on for over a year? Well, I’m pregnant by the three men I was supposed to be gathering intelligence on. Surprise!”
He’d lose his mind.
He’d tell me I betrayed Mom’s memory. That I let myself get distracted and manipulated. That I’m weak and stupid and everything he trained me not to be.
And he’d be right.
Two minutes.
But what if they didn’t destroy Mom’s business? What if Robert lied about that, like he might have lied about other things?
The thought has been growing in my mind for weeks. Little inconsistencies. Things that don’t add up.
Grant doesn’t act like someone who crushes small businesses for sport. He’s ruthless, strategic, and calculated. He doesn’t destroy things without reason.
And Mom never talked about the Hales. Not once. If they’d really ruined her life, wouldn’t she have mentioned them? Warned me? Something?
Unless Robert made the whole thing up.
Unless he manipulated my grief and rage and pointed me at innocent people because he needed me to get close to them for his own reasons.
Three minutes.
The timer goes off. I stand on shaking legs and look at the test.
Two lines.
I’m pregnant.
The bathroom spins, and I grab the edge of the sink to steady myself.
I can’t be pregnant. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to gather information, get out, and make them pay for what they did to my mother.
My stomach lurches. I barely make it to the toilet before I’m throwing up.
When I’m done, I sit on the cold tile floor and cry.
I can’t have this baby. How can I bring a child into this situation? A child conceived during a revenge plot that I abandoned? A child who would be evidence of my betrayal to Robert and my lies to the Hales?
But the alternative—ending the pregnancy—feels impossible too. This baby is part of me. Part of them. Part of this life I want so desperately to keep.
I’m trapped.
Trapped between who I was supposed to be and who I’ve become, between revenge and love. Between the daughter Robert expects and the woman the Hales think I am.
And now there’s a baby. A real, actual baby growing inside me.
I pick up the test again and stare at those two lines.
This changes everything.
Or maybe it doesn’t change anything because everything was already broken. I lied to get here. I stayed under false pretenses. I fell in love with men I was supposed to hate.
