Grace Fletcher POV
Grace is on her knees in front of the toilet for the third time this morning.
Her body heaves and there's nothing left inside her but the apartment is still spinning. The bathroom of her tiny flat smells like sickness and regret and she can't remember the last time she felt normal. For two weeks she's been waking up like this. Two weeks of her body betraying her. Two weeks of ignoring what her mind already knows.
She sits back against the cold tile and pulls her knees to her chest.
Isabelle knocks on the bathroom door softly. "Grace? You okay in there?"
Grace can't answer because her throat is raw and her brain won't form words. She's not okay. She's been pretending to be okay but she's not. Everything is falling apart and she can feel the pieces breaking off one by one.
She grabs the box from under the sink. She's been staring at this box for three days, too terrified to use it. The pregnancy test sits in her shaking hands and she thinks about how stupid she is. How careless. How completely she's ruined her own life.
Two minutes. That's all it takes to confirm what she already knows.
Grace sits on the bathroom floor staring at two pink lines and feels her entire world collapse.
She's pregnant.
Oliver Kane's daughter is growing inside her and he has no idea. He's probably with Victoria right now, probably touching her, probably telling her the things he told Grace in the dark. Probably pretending that Grace never existed.
The bathroom door opens and Isabelle stands there with coffee and concern written all over her face. She sees the test in Grace's hands and her expression changes.
"Oh my God," Isabelle whispers.
"Don't," Grace says and her voice sounds broken. "Don't say anything. Don't make this real."
But it's already real. Her body is already changing. Her life is already over.
Isabelle sits down next to her on the bathroom floor and pulls her into a hug. Grace falls apart against her friend and cries in a way she hasn't allowed herself to cry since Oliver pushed her away. She cries for the night that meant everything. She cries for the morning after that destroyed her. She cries for the baby she's going to have to raise alone.
"You have to tell him," Isabelle says finally.
Grace shakes her head. She's already been thinking about this for two weeks. She's already drafted the email a hundred times in her head. Dear Oliver, you have a daughter. She's yours. She has your eyes and your intelligence and she's completely loved by me.
She's deleted it every time because the next day there's a new photo online. Oliver and Victoria at a gallery opening. Oliver and Victoria at a restaurant. Oliver and Victoria like they're a couple. Like Oliver is happy. Like Grace was nothing but a blip, a mistake, a moment of weakness he's already forgotten.
"Look," Isabelle says and she pulls out her phone.
It's a gossip website. The headline reads: "Oliver Kane and Victoria Ashton Spotted at Romantic Dinner Date."
Grace reads the article and feels something inside her turn to ash. There's a photo of Oliver and Victoria with their heads close together. He's smiling at her like she matters. Like she's the person he chose.
He didn't choose Grace.
He chose the woman who destroys people for fun. The woman who manipulates and controls and builds herself up by tearing other people down.
"I can't tell him," Grace says quietly. "If I tell him, he owns me forever. He owns her forever. And he'll take her from me because he has money and lawyers and power and I have nothing."
"You have me," Isabelle says.
"That's not enough," Grace whispers. "That's never enough against men like Oliver Kane."
She goes back to her apartment later and sits at her laptop. She pulls up Oliver's company website. She looks at his face in the profile photo and doesn't recognize the man she spent one night with. That man is gone. This is just the CEO. This is just the machine.
She starts typing an email.
"Dear Oliver. You have a daughter. Her name is Sophie and she's the most important thing in my life. She has your eyes and your stubborn nature and she deserves to know her father. I'm writing to give you the chance to be present for her life before she's born, but if you're not interested, I understand. I'll raise her alone like I've already been preparing to do. Either way, she's mine first."
Grace reads it and knows she'll never send it.
She deletes it.
She closes her laptop and walks to her bedroom and pulls a suitcase from the closet. She opens her dresser and starts throwing clothes into the bag. She moves like she's not really thinking. Like her body is making decisions her mind can't handle.
Isabelle finds her packing.
"What are you doing?" Isabelle asks and her voice is afraid.
"Running," Grace says. "I'm running away and I'm taking my daughter with me and I'm building a life where Oliver Kane doesn't get to matter."
"You can't just disappear."
"Why not?" Grace turns to face her friend. "He disappeared first. He pushed me away like I was nothing and went back to his life like one night with me didn't change anything. He doesn't deserve to know about her. He doesn't deserve to have a say in how she grows up."
Isabelle doesn't argue because they both know Grace is right.
Grace packs through the night. She throws away things she doesn't need. She sells her furniture online for whatever money she can get. She books a car to take her out of London. She doesn't know where she's going yet but anywhere is better than here. Anywhere is better than living in the same city as Oliver Kane while carrying his child.
The next morning there's a knock on her apartment door.
Grace opens it and finds two people in business suits standing there. Her heart stops because for one second she thinks it's Oliver. She thinks he somehow knows. She thinks he's come to take her baby away before her baby even exists.
But it's not Oliver.
It's people from Kane Industries. They have papers. They're asking for her final personal belongings from her desk. They're asking her to sign documents releasing the company from any liability.
Grace signs everything without reading it because nothing matters anymore. She takes the small box with her few personal items and closes the door on that part of her life.
That evening, she sits in her empty apartment with one suitcase and calls her bank. She has enough savings for three months if she's careful. Three months to figure out the rest. Three months to disappear completely.
She's googling countryside cottages when Isabelle comes home with her own suitcase.
"I'm coming with you," Isabelle says. "You can't do this alone."
Grace wants to argue but she can't. She's terrified and alone and carrying a baby and the thought of not having her friend makes her want to cry all over again.
"The Cotswolds," Grace says quietly, pointing at the screen. "Small villages. Quiet. Far from London."
They book it within the hour. A cottage with cheap rent and enough space for two women and a baby. They arrange the move for the following week. Grace gives notice to her landlord. She starts closing down her London life piece by piece.
But on the night before they're supposed to leave, her phone buzzes with a news alert.
It's from the business section of a major newspaper and the headline makes her blood go cold:
"KANE INDUSTRIES CEO OLIVER KANE AWARDED BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD. VICTORIA ASHTON CONFIRMS THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS SERIOUS."
There's a photo of Oliver accepting an award with Victoria at his side, her hand on his arm like she owns him. The article talks about how Victoria has become his official companion. How sources say Oliver is finally ready to settle down.
Grace reads it and feels something break inside her that was already broken.
She's carrying his daughter and he's planning a life with someone else.
That's when her phone rings.
It's an unknown number but something makes her answer it.
"Grace Fletcher?" A woman's voice she doesn't recognize. Professional. Cold. Threatening.
"Yes?"
"This is Victoria Ashton's legal representative. I'm calling to inform you that any attempt to contact Oliver Kane, his company, or any of his associates will result in immediate legal action. You've been terminated from Kane Industries. Any attempt to spread rumors about your employment or make false claims will be considered defamation. Do you understand?"
Grace can't speak.
"Do. You. Understand?" Victoria's lawyer repeats.
"Yes," Grace whispers.
The line goes dead.
Grace sits in her empty apartment and realizes that Victoria knows. Somehow, Victoria knows that something happened between Grace and Oliver. And Victoria is making sure that Grace can never tell him about his daughter.
She looks at her suitcase.
She looks at the cottage reservation confirmation.
She makes her decision right then.
She's going to disappear. She's going to raise her daughter alone. And Oliver Kane will never know what he lost.