elivered a single key card and an address to a luxury apartment downt

had not seen Holland si

Fiona sat on the edge of the paper-covered bed, her feet dangling inches from the polished floor. This was one of the many stipulations in

s with warm eyes, looked over the tablet in

a nervous flutter.

e and giving her a gentle, searching look. "Have y

mornings, which she'd dismissed as a side effect of stress and the cheap

of pressure," she said, a ha

re clinical. "Your bloodwork shows some anomalies.

thing to her. "HCG?

eans you're pregnant. Based on these levels,

ensical syllables. Then they crashed down on her, a lightning st

impossible. I've been... I took the pill." The shame of that night

her medication history, her finger pausing on one entry. It was a mild herbal supplement prescrib

reen. "Are you taking this?

nodded

s a known interaction that can significantly reduce the effectiveness of h

he had been forced to swallow had been neutralized by the very medication she took to cope with the situatio

flat stomach. A life. A tiny, impo

e echoed in her memory, each word a threat. I wil

be the final, irrefutable evidence that she was exactly the manipulative, conniving woman he believed her to be. S

ying spiral. "Are you alright? Is there anyone yo

the doctor's surprise and lowered her voice, trying to reg

d with understanding. She nodde

re was only one option. She had to hide it. For as long as s

alumnus, talking about architectural innovation. He was brilliant, passionate, and so captivating that she'd found herself sket

carrying that s

or, a tiny, fierce spark of something else ignited. A pr

uld be honored. She took the printed copies of her results, refusing

are. She stood on the busy sidewalk, the city's cacophony a dull roar in her

letely and u

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