Episode 2: Hide the Baby, Bury the Past
The silence in the bathroom was deafening.
Evan gripped the sink with both hands, her reflection in the cracked mirror pale and shaking.
Two pink lines.
She blinked again. Still there.
Pregnant.
"No. No, no, no…" she whispered, pacing backward like she could outrun it.
It had been one night. One stupid, shameful, unforgettable night.
She had told herself it was a test.
A test for the job.
A test of her courage.
A test of her dignity.
But now the consequences were real.
Growing inside her.
---
Two Weeks Later
Evan sat on a park bench outside a free clinic in Queens, knees pressed together tightly. In her lap, a stack of pamphlets flapped in the wind.
She didn't need them.
She already knew what she was going to do.
She wasn't going to tell him.
Not Abel.
Not the man who had looked her in the eye and said, "I never promised you anything."
He had used her like a pawn. A symbol of revenge against a father she hadn't spoken to in years.
Why would he care?
And if he found out?
He would take control. He always did.
She'd heard rumors about him—how he crushed competition, how he owned people with money, not love. He wasn't the kind of man who wanted a child. He was the kind who wanted power.
This baby deserved better.
She would disappear.
---
LunaTech Tower – Executive Floor
Abel Luna stood in front of his floor-to-ceiling windows again, hands in his pockets.
Something about the skyline felt… hollow.
Since that night.
Since her.
Evan Dendelion.
He couldn't get her out of his head. Not her scent, not her trembling hands, not the fire behind her shy eyes.
She hadn't reached out once. Not for the internship. Not for anything.
Odd.
Women usually clung. Texted. Flirted.
But Evan?
She vanished.
He wasn't sure if he respected her more for it or hated her for walking away first.
His assistant knocked. "Mr. Luna, legal needs your signature on the Dendelion acquisition paperwork."
His jaw tightened.
So it was final.
Her father's last company—one small tech lab in Boston—was now his too. Completely erased from the market.
A decade of vengeance.
It should have felt like victory.
It didn't.
---
Back in Brooklyn
Evan stared at a cluttered whiteboard filled with sketches and equations. Her tiny apartment looked like a hacker's den—cables, circuit boards, empty coffee cups.
It was the only thing she had left: her project.
A biomedical wearable she'd been developing for years. Originally designed for her mother, who'd passed from undiagnosed cardiac issues. Now… it was her future.
If she couldn't work at LunaTech, she'd build something better.
Even pregnant. Even scared.
Her friend Nori buzzed the door.
"You look like you haven't slept," Nori said, stepping in with takeout.
"I haven't."
"Please tell me you're not still obsessed with that prototype. You need rest. You're growing a whole human, Evan."
"I'm fine," she lied.
Nori raised a brow. "You're two months in. When are you going to see a real doctor instead of Googling everything like a psycho?"
Evan hesitated.
"I can't afford one," she whispered.
Nori's face softened. "He should help you."
Evan went cold. "He's not going to know."
"You sure about that?"
"I don't want his money. Or his power. Or his name."
"But what if the baby does?"
---
Later That Night – Evan's Apartment
She sat in bed, holding her stomach lightly.
It wasn't even a bump yet. But it was real. She could feel the change, even if no one else could see it.
She whispered into the darkness, "It's just you and me, okay? We don't need him."
But her voice cracked at the end.
Because deep down, she knew one thing:
He would find out.
And when he did, nothing would ever be the same.
---
One Week Later – LunaTech Tower
Abel stood in his private elevator, mind lost in silence. His meetings blurred into each other. His team whispered about him being distracted. Colder than usual.
He didn't care.
Until—
"Mr. Luna, we have a situation," Harrison said, rushing in with a tablet. "There's a leak in the tech blogs. Someone mentioned your private incubator interview process. Evan Dendelion's name was flagged."
Abel froze.
"What about her?"
"She never followed up. Didn't even apply for the internship post-interview. And now she's being listed as a whistleblower."
Abel's voice turned razor-sharp. "She leaked information?"
"No proof. Just rumors. But it's gaining traction."
Abel clenched his jaw.
If she had gone to the press…
No. That didn't fit her.
Evan was many things. Reckless wasn't one of them.
Unless she was angry.
Unless she was protecting something.
Or someone.
---
Two Days Later – Clinic in Queens
Evan stepped out of the OB/GYN office, clutching a sealed envelope.
Due date confirmed.
Healthy heartbeat.
Nine weeks, two days.
She felt dizzy. Emotional. Raw.
And then—
"Miss Dendelion?"
Her heart dropped.
She turned slowly.
A tall man in a gray suit stood beside a black SUV. He wore sunglasses even though it was cloudy, and had a LunaTech pin on his collar.
"I work for Mr. Luna," he said quietly. "He requests your presence."
Her fingers curled around her envelope.
"No."
His voice lowered. "It wasn't a request."
---
Later – LunaTech Tower, Private Suite
Abel waited.
She walked in—smaller than he remembered, wrapped in a pale coat, lips pressed tight.
"Did you send your goons to stalk my doctor's office now?" she snapped.
He ignored the sarcasm.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She blinked. "Tell you what?"
His eyes were darker than ever. "That you were pregnant."
The air vanished from her lungs.
She stepped back. "You don't know that."
"I do now."
Silence.
Evan's hands went to her stomach instinctively, as if to shield it.
"I'm not asking for anything," she whispered. "I didn't plan this. I wasn't going to tell you."
"I'm not surprised."
"You shouldn't be."
But then he stepped closer.
His voice dropped, dangerously soft.
"You were going to walk away and never tell me I had a child?"
"You don't want a child," she whispered.
"That's not your call."
"It was my body, my choice."
"You made a choice," he growled, "based on hate, not facts."
"I made a choice based on how you treated me!"
Abel exhaled sharply, stepping back.
The tension between them crackled like fire in a dry field.
Then he said the one thing that shattered everything:
"Then marry me."
She stared.
"What?"
He didn't blink. "Marry me."
Evan's heart slammed against her ribs. "Is this another power move?"
"No. It's protection. For the baby."
"I don't need—"
"But the baby does."
She stepped back. "You're insane."
"I'm responsible. And I always protect what's mine."
Her eyes burned.
"I'm not your possession, Abel."
But his next words cut deeper than any threat.
"You're the mother of my heir. That makes you my responsibility. Whether you like it or not."
---
End of Episode 2
> Next Episode: Will she marry him to protect her baby… or run before he traps her for good?