AVA'S POV
The taxi driver kept looking at me in the rearview mirror.
I couldn't blame him. I looked like exactly what I was—a girl doing the walk of shame at seven in the morning, wearing a torn dress and yesterday's makeup.
"Rough night?" he asked.
"Something like that," I whispered.
Rough didn't cover it. Catastrophic. Life-destroying. Those words fit better.
I clutched the note in my hand. "I'm sorry." Two words that meant everything and nothing. Sorry for what? For sleeping with me? For leaving? For existing?
My phone buzzed for the hundredth time. Dad. Celeste. My stepmother. All wondering where I disappeared to last night. All probably already knowing the answer.
I turned off my phone.
The taxi pulled up to my tiny apartment—the one Dad didn't know about because he thought I still lived at home. I'd moved out six months ago after finding Celeste in my room, reading my journal. She'd laughed when I caught her. "You write like a child," she'd said. "All these feelings. So pathetic."
I paid the driver with shaking hands and stumbled inside.
My reflection in the bathroom mirror stopped me cold.
Bruises on my neck. Not violent ones—gentle ones, the kind that came from someone who wanted to mark you as theirs. My lips were swollen from kissing. My hair was a mess. But my eyes—those were the worst part.
They looked empty.
I'd given something away last night that I could never get back. And I didn't even remember most of it.
The shower water ran cold, but I didn't care. I scrubbed my skin until it hurt, trying to wash away the feeling of hands that weren't mine, of a voice that whispered my name like it meant something.
It didn't mean anything. He left. He left before I woke up, like I was garbage to be thrown away.
Just like everyone else in my life.
Three weeks later, I stared at two pink lines and felt my world end.
"No," I whispered to the empty bathroom. "No, no, no, no, no."
I took three more tests. All positive.
My hands shook so hard I dropped the fourth one in the sink.
Pregnant. I was pregnant with Dominic Kane's baby.
The man who was taking over Dad's company. The man who'd left me alone in a hotel room with nothing but an apology. The man whose face I could barely remember through the drug-induced fog.
I was twenty-two years old. I had three hundred dollars in my bank account. No real job—Dad paid me under the table to keep the company running, but that would end once Kane Industries took over. I lived in a four-hundred-square-foot apartment with a leaky ceiling.
How could I have a baby?
But even as panic clawed through me, something else stirred. Something small and fierce.
This baby was mine. Half me, half some stranger, but mine.
For the first time in my life, I'd have someone who was really mine. Someone I could love who might actually love me back.
"Okay," I told my reflection. "Okay. We can do this."
I had no idea how, but I'd figure it out.
The hard part was deciding what to do about Dominic.
For two weeks, I went back and forth. Tell him. Don't tell him. He deserves to know. He doesn't deserve anything.
My best friend Grace made the decision for me.
"Ava, I love you, but you're being stupid," she said over coffee. Grace never sugarcoated anything. That's why I needed her. "That man is the father. He has a right to know. And more importantly, you need child support. You can't raise a baby on hope and coding jobs."
"He'll think I'm trying to trap him," I argued. "His family is rich. He probably has women trying to baby-trap him all the time."
"So? Let him think whatever he wants. Get a lawyer. Get a paternity test. Get what you and that baby deserve." Grace squeezed my hand. "You can't do this alone, Ava. And you shouldn't have to."
She was right. I knew she was right.
So I called Kane Industries and made an appointment.
"What is this regarding?" his assistant asked.
"It's personal," I said. "Very personal."
The day of the meeting, I threw up twice before leaving my apartment.
Morning sickness. The doctor said it would pass. It didn't feel like it would pass. It felt like it would last forever.
I took the subway to Kane Industries because I couldn't afford a taxi. The building was enormous—all glass and steel and money. Everything I wasn't.
Security made me sign in. The receptionist looked at me like I was dirt on her expensive shoes. The elevator ride to the top floor felt like going to my own execution.
I could still leave. Could still walk away and never tell him.
But Grace's voice echoed in my head: "You deserve support. Your baby deserves a father."
The elevator doors opened.
Dominic's assistant led me to his office. "He's just finishing another meeting. He'll be with you shortly."
I sat in the waiting area, hands pressed to my still-flat stomach. In four months, I wouldn't be able to hide this. In four months, everyone would know.
Better to control the narrative now.
The office door opened. A woman walked out, laughing at something. Beautiful, confident, wearing a suit that cost more than my rent.
Celeste.
My stepsister stopped dead when she saw me. For just a second, something flashed across her face—panic? guilt?—before she smoothed it away.
"Ava? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," I said coldly.
"I work here now. Consultant position. Helping with the Chen Technologies transition." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Dad's so proud. He finally has a daughter working in corporate instead of hiding in the tech department."
Each word was designed to hurt. And they did.
"I need to speak with Mr. Kane," I said. "Privately."
Celeste's smile sharpened. "About what?"
"That's between me and him."
"Ava, whatever you're planning, don't." Her voice dropped low. "You're embarrassing yourself. Everyone knows you threw yourself at him at the gala. He was just being polite when he helped you. Don't make it into something it wasn't."
My face burned. "That's not what happened."
"Isn't it? You got drunk, made a fool of yourself, and now you're here chasing after a man who's way out of your league." She leaned closer. "Take my advice, little sister. Go home. Forget whatever fantasy you've built in your head. Dominic Kane doesn't want you."
Before I could respond, a voice cut through the tension.
"Miss Chen? I can see you now."
Dominic stood in his office doorway. Impossibly handsome in a dark suit. Cold steel-blue eyes that showed no recognition when they landed on me.
Like I was a stranger.
Like that night never happened.
"Mr. Kane," I stood on shaking legs. "Thank you for seeing me."
"Make it quick. I have another meeting in fifteen minutes." He walked back into his office without waiting to see if I followed.
Celeste touched my arm, her nails digging in. "Last chance to walk away," she whispered.
I shook her off and walked into Dominic's office.
He sat behind an enormous desk, already looking at his computer screen like I wasn't worth his full attention.
"What can I do for you, Miss Chen?"
Miss Chen. Not Ava. Like he didn't remember whispering my name in the dark.
I forced myself to speak. "I'm pregnant. The baby is yours."
The words fell like bombs.
Dominic's eyes finally lifted to mine. For one heartbeat, I saw something—shock? fear?—before his expression went ice-cold.
Then he laughed.
It was the cruelest sound I'd ever heard.
"Absolutely not," he said. "I don't know what game you're playing—"
The office door opened. Celeste walked in, holding her phone. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Ava, I think you should see this."
She turned her phone toward me. Flight records. Timestamps. Hotel confirmations.
All showing that Dominic Kane was in Tokyo the night of the gala.
"He wasn't even in the country," Celeste said softly. "Whatever happened to you that night, whoever you slept with, it wasn't him."
I stared at the evidence. Then at Dominic's face—disgusted, angry, completely certain I was lying.
"But—" My voice broke. "I know it was you. I remember your eyes. Your voice. The scar above your eyebrow—"
"Enough." Dominic stood. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I will not be blackmailed. You're clearly confused about what happened at that gala. I suggest you figure out who you actually slept with before making accusations."
"I'm not confused!" Tears burned my eyes. "You carried me to your room. You helped me. We—"
"I carried you?" His eyebrow rose. "Miss Chen, I've never touched you in my life. Celeste, call security."
"Wait!" I pulled out the note from my purse. "You left this. 'I'm sorry.' This is your handwriting—"
"That could be anyone's handwriting." Celeste took the note from my shaking hands. "Ava, honey, I think you need help. Professional help. The stress of the acquisition, Dad's company falling apart—it's obviously affected you."
"I'm not crazy!" I turned back to Dominic. "You know the truth. You know what happened. Why are you lying?"
"Because you're the one lying." His voice could cut glass. "Let me be very clear. I was in Tokyo. I have no idea who you slept with at that gala, but it wasn't me. If you pursue this accusation, I will destroy what's left of your father's reputation and sue you for defamation. Do you understand?"
I understood perfectly.
My sister set me up. Dominic was either in on it or protecting himself. And I was completely, utterly alone.
"Get out," Dominic said. "And don't come back."
I walked out of Kane Industries with my head high and my heart in pieces.
I didn't cry until I reached the subway platform.
That's when Grace called. "How did it go?"
"He denied everything," I whispered. "He says it wasn't him. Celeste had proof."
"What? That's impossible. You said—"
"I know what I said. I know what happened. But they're calling me a liar." My hand went to my stomach. "Grace, what do I do?"
"You leave," she said firmly. "You take that baby and you leave this city. Start over somewhere they can't hurt you."
"I can't just leave. Dad needs me. The company—"
"The company is gone, Ava. Your dad chose his new family over you years ago. And that man just called you a liar to your face. You owe them nothing."
She was right. I owed them nothing.
But my baby deserved everything.
"Okay," I said. "I'll leave."
What I didn't know—what none of us knew—was that Celeste had just made her first big mistake.
She forgot that I was the one who built Chen Technologies' security systems.
And I had access to everything.
Including the real truth about that night.
The truth that would blow all their lies apart.
But first, I had to survive.