The bathroom smelled like bleach and old fear.
Serena sat on the cold tile floor,
knees tucked up to her chest,
staring at the stick in her trembling hands.
Positive.
Two faint pink lines.
Impossible to argue.
She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth,
as if she could physically shove the reality back inside.
It didn't work.
Pregnant.
With Landon's child.
Or maybe...
She closed her eyes.
A flash — Malik's smile, warm and sure, from some long-dead summer afternoon.
The memory stabbed sharper than any blade.
It didn't matter whose it was.
Not really.
Because whichever man had fathered it—
Neither would save her now.
The doorbell buzzed.
She sat frozen for a long moment.
When it buzzed again, sharp and impatient,
she forced herself to stand.
Forced herself to move.
At the door, a man in a grey suit handed her an envelope.
He didn't meet her eyes.
Didn't offer condolences.
Just held out the thick paper and waited.
She took it with numb fingers.
The door clicked shut behind him.
She opened it slowly,
the seal cracking like a gunshot in the silent penthouse.
NOTICE OF SEVERANCE FROM THE CALVERT FAMILY TRUST
"Effective immediately, the Calvert Estate hereby severs all legal, financial, and public ties to Ms. Serena Calvert.
No further obligations will be extended.
All prior privileges and accounts associated with the Calvert name are hereby terminated."
There was no signature from her mother.
No handwritten note.
No apology.
Just cold, sterile legality.
Serena let the paper slip from her fingers,
fluttering to the floor.
She stood there, swaying slightly,
the pregnancy test still clutched in one hand.
No home.
No husband.
No lover.
No family.
No allies.
Only a child inside her —
a child growing heavier by the second,
pulling her further and further into a future she couldn't see anymore.
The penthouse around her seemed to darken,
closing in like a tomb.
Her legs gave out.
She slid down the door frame,
burying her face in her arms.
No tears came.
Not yet.
Only a deep, raw silence —
the kind that comes after a life has been burned to ash.
And beneath that ash,
something small and feral and terrified stirred.
Not hope.
Not anger.
Not yet.
Just the pure, animal instinct to survive.
No matter what it cost.