### **Chapter 5: Erased in Plain Sight**
She stares at the test.
Two lines.
Her breath catches, her mind fracturing into sharp, jagged pieces that refuse to fit together.
Pregnant.
She is pregnant.
But not from love. Not from a fleeting mistake or an ill-fated romance.
From **violence**.
The realization is a slow, suffocating thing, wrapping around her throat, pressing down on her lungs.
She grips the sink, fingers whitening, holding herself up against the weight of it.
She thinks of the nights that feel missing, the hours that never quite added up.
Moments she had ignored because the alternative—the truth—was too terrible to name.
Now, there is no ignoring.
She lifts her head, meeting her own reflection.
And for the first time, she doesn't recognize herself.
A stranger stands in front of her, wearing her skin, carrying something she never consented to.
She doesn't know how long she stands there, the silence thick, unyielding.
Then—a knock at the door.
Sharp. Measured.
She doesn't move.
The knock comes again, louder this time.
And when she opens it, she knows.
It's **him**.
The one pulling the strings. The one shaping her life into something she never agreed to. The one who has been erasing her, piece by piece, until only **his version** of her remains.
He doesn't speak, but his gaze tells her everything.
He knows.
And in his eyes, she sees the future he has planned for her.
Silent. Hidden. **His.**
A life where she doesn't exist except to serve **his** obsession.
But something shifts inside her—rage, defiance, survival.
She steps back.
And **for the first time**, she wonders what happens if she refuses to disappear.
What happens if she fights.