The pain hit my stomach like broken glass.

I could barely press the gas pedal. My hands shook so hard on the steering wheel that the car drifted across the empty lanes. It was two in the morning. The streets of Manhattan were slick with cold mist, dark and quiet under the yellow traffic lights.

I hadn’t eaten in eighteen hours. My old ulcer was tearing through my gut. Every breath felt hot and sour in my throat.

I pulled into the emergency bay at Mount Sinai Hospital. I left my keys with the valet and staggered through the sliding glass doors.

The hospital smelled of bleach and cold air. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, sharp and buzzing. A nurse took my name, handed me a clipboard, and pointed toward the waiting area.

"Take a seat, honey. A doctor will call you soon."

I couldn't even fill out the paperwork. I sat on a hard, blue plastic chair in the corner of the hallway. I pulled my knees tight against my chest, folding myself in half to stop the burning in my abdomen. I pressed the pad of my thumb against the inside of my wrist, hard, trying to breathe through the cramps.

Nobody was looking at me. I was just another tired girl in a messy sweater, curled up alone in the middle of the night.

Then, down the long corridor, an elevator chimed.

I lifted my head slightly.

A pair of polished leather shoes stepped out onto the linoleum. Then came the soft click of flats.

It was Devon.

He had changed out of his rumpled club shirt into a clean cashmere sweater. He was carrying a small pastel purse over his shoulder. His arm was wrapped carefully around Makayla’s shoulders. He leaned down, whispering something in her ear, and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face.

He was gentle. Tender. He moved with a kind of cautious reverence I hadn’t seen from him in over a year.

Then I looked down.

Makayla wasn't wearing my silk robe anymore. She wore a soft beige knit dress that clung to her frame. Resting right above her hips was a clear, rounded curve. A baby bump. Her hand was cupped under it, stroking the swell with slow, practiced fingers. On her forehead, right above the brow, sat a small white bandage where my glass had cut her.

They were walking out of the late-night obstetrics wing.

My heart didn’t break. It just stopped.

Five years. Five years of hiding my name. Five years of sending angel investors to his door. Five years of making dinner in our cramped kitchen while he stayed out late "building our future."

And she was already months along.

Devon glanced up from her face. His eyes scanned the empty hallway and locked onto me.

He didn't flinch. He didn't look guilty. He didn't even drop his arm from Makayla's shoulder.

Instead, his jaw tightened. A dark, ugly sneer spread across his mouth. He murmured something to Makayla, patted her hip, and guided her toward me.

They stopped two feet from my chair.

I stayed curled on the plastic seat, looking up at him. The pain in my stomach was screaming, but my face didn’t move. I kept my chin still.

"Following me now, Ariah?" Devon asked. His voice was smooth, dripping with contempt. "Did you really think a fake medical emergency would make me run back to you?"

"I have an ulcer, Devon," I said quietly.

"Sure you do," he scoffed. He looked down at me like I was dirt on the bottom of his shoe. "You always need something, don't you? Always clinging. Always draining the life out of the room."

Makayla tucked herself against his side. She leaned her head on his shoulder, her eyes bright and amused. She stroked her belly right in front of my face.

"Devon, baby," she cooed softly. "Don't be mean. She's obviously having a hard night."

"She brought it on herself," Devon said loudly. He took half a step closer, towering over my chair. He wanted to make sure every word cut deep.

"Look at you," he whispered, his eyes cold and cruel. "Look at what you are. You have nothing. No name. No real money. No family that actually gives a damn about you. You’re entirely alone in this city."

I didn't blink.

"You should be on your knees thanking me," he continued, leaning in until I could smell his cologne. "You should be grateful I gave you five years of my life. Grateful that a man like me ever looked at you at all. But you blew it. You threw a glass at the mother of my child."

He straightened his sweater, looking down with pure disgust.

"Go home, Ariah. If you can even find somewhere to sleep tonight. We’re done."

He turned away. He wrapped his arm back around Makayla's waist, guiding her carefully toward the exit. Makayla looked back over her shoulder at me. She smiled, slow and triumphant, before the sliding doors swallowed them into the dark.

The hallway went dead quiet again.

The burning in my stomach suddenly vanished. In its place came a deep, freezing chill. It spread through my veins, cold as ice, hard as diamond.

I lowered my legs. I sat up straight in the plastic chair, shoulders back, chin lifted.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

I didn't call my father. I didn't call an ambulance.

I opened my messages and pulled up a contact saved under a single initial: *V.* My father’s personal chief of staff.

My fingers didn't shake anymore.

I typed one word into the screen:

*Begin.*

I hit send.