Soren stared at her, the silence between them heavy.
"You know how our parents—"
"Soren."
She cut him off before the words could fully form, her fingers tightening around his hand.
"Soren," she repeated, giving a slow shake of her head. "I don't care about the past. You are not our mom."
The words came out sharper than she meant them to, and Serena had to swallow hard against the sudden lump in her throat.
Memories she'd spent a lifetime trying to bury threatened to break through, but she forced them back down.
This wasn't about the ghosts of their childhood. It was about him.
"I..." She hesitated, the admission catching in her throat. "I might not be ready to accept this pregnancy. At least, not yet."
Soren's face fell, the fragile hope in his eyes dimming.
"But," Serena rushed on before he could misinterpret her, her voice trembling—not with doubt, but with fierce, unyielding certainty, "I am absolutely not letting you end up like her."
