It was nearing 7 p.m. The city outside buzzed with neon lights and clicking traffic, but for Sera, the world had narrowed down to a string of unanswered emails, failed interviews, and cold-hearted rejections.
Sera had spent the entire day running from cafes to bookstores to boutiques—hell, she even applied for a dog-walking job and all she got were sympathetic smiles that didn't reach the eyes and polite apologies that tasted like betrayal.
Each "We're sorry, but the position has been filled" started sounding like Evander's voice—calm but infuriatingly powerful.
Sera knew it. He was behind this.
One place turning her away was bad luck. Two? Maybe a coincidence. But every single job? Even the ones that didn't require resumes?
This was him.
Her hands trembled as she stood at the bus stop under flickering street lights. Sera had barely eaten all day, but her stomach churned in a way that had nothing to do with hunger. She stared at her reflection in the cracked glass of the bus shelter.
Pale. Exhausted. Angry. And pregnant.
Sera blinked hard. How did she even get here?
How did he have this much control over her life?
Sera pulled her jacket tighter, shielding herself from the drizzle, but there was no covering up the mess inside her chest. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. With a knot in her throat, she pulled it out.
Evander: Sign the contract.
That was all. No context. No apology. No decency.
Sera let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Are you serious?" she muttered under her breath, attracting a few confused stares from passersby.
She turned the phone off. No. She wasn't going to let him win. If Evander thought he could trap her into playing housewife and mother just to fulfill his corporate fantasy, he was dead wrong.
Dead wrong.
Tears burned the corners of her eyes as she stomped into the nearest pharmacy. Sera barely looked up as she went to the counter. "I need emergency termination pills."
The guy behind the counter didn't blink. He just nodded, slid the small box across the counter, and asked for her ID. Sera's fingers shook as she handed it over.
Back at her room, the silence was crushing. She tossed her phone on the bed like it burned her and sat cross-legged on the floor, staring at the pills in her hand.
Her lips trembled. Sera didn't want to do this.
But what choice did she have?
Evander had pushed her to this point—backed her into a corner until the only power she had left was this. Her body. Her decision.
"I could've kept it," Sera whispered to the room. "if he hadn't ruined everything."
She thought about the baby. The tiny thing growing inside her. The one she hadn't planned for, hadn't dreamed of… but had started to feel, deep down, in the way her body had started changing, in the way she'd instinctively protected her stomach when crossing the road earlier.
A sob tore through her throat. "I'm sorry," Sera sucked under her breath. "But I can't… not like this."
She popped the pill in her mouth and downed it with the water bottle she kept by her bedside. It didn't take effect right away. But the damage, emotional and irreversible had already begun.
Sera curled into herself on the bed, fists clenched in the sheets, as tears soaked the pillow.
She hated him. God, she hated him.
*****
At midnight.
Sera laid curled on her side, the sheets twisted around her legs, damp with sweat. A sharp, twisting pain gripped her lower abdomen, pulling her from the edge of sleep.
She groaned, pressing a hand to her stomach. The cramps had been intensifying over the past hour, but this was different..deeper, more insistent. She shifted, hoping to find a position that would ease the discomfort, but as she moved, a warm, wet sensation spread between her thighs.
Panic surged through her. She threw back the covers and gasped at the sight—blood, dark and pooling, staining the sheets beneath her.
Sera regretted her action instantly. Lily!" she cried out, her voice trembling. "Lily, help!"
Footsteps thudded down the hallway, and moments later, Lily burst into the room, eyes wide with alarm.
"Sera? What's going on?" Lily was basically yawning when her gaze dropped to the bed, and she paled. "Oh my God."
I... I took the termination pills," Sera stammered, her breath hitching. "I didn't think it would be like this."
"Shit, why would you, Sera?" Lily didn't ask questions. She grabbed her phone and dialed emergency services, barking out their address and the situation. Then she turned back to Sera, "Hang in there, okay? Help is on the way."
The minutes stretched into an eternity. Her vision blurred, the edges darkening. The pain was relentless, each wave more intense than the last. She clung to consciousness, focusing on Lily's voice, the distant wail of sirens growing louder.
The paramedics arrived. They lifted her onto a stretcher, securing IV lines and monitoring her vitals. As they wheeled her out, Sera's world tilted, the lights above her blending into a kaleidoscope of colors.
Then, darkness.
The sterile scent of antiseptic filled her nostrils as consciousness returned. Sera blinked against the harsh overhead lights, her body heavy and unresponsive. She was in a hospital room; the beeping of monitors proved her right.