The pregnancy test trembled in Ruby Emeralds' hands, her breath shallow as she stared at it like it might vanish if she blinked too hard.
"Please… please," she whispered, her voice breaking long before the tears came.
Seven years. Seven years of hospitals, needles, silent prayers, and pretending she was strong when she was falling apart inside.
When the doctor handed her the report, Ruby barely heard the warnings at first. "This pregnancy is high risk," the doctor said gently. "You'll need to be very careful."
Ruby nodded, clutching the paper to her chest. "I don't care," she said softly, a fragile smile forming through her tears. "I'll do anything."
As she stepped outside the hospital, sunlight warming her face, she exhaled deeply. "Seron is going to be so happy," she whispered to herself. "We'll be fine. We have to be."
She folded the report neatly and slid it into her handbag like a precious secret. Today was their seventh wedding anniversary. Tonight, everything would change.
Ruby drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting protectively over her bag. Every few seconds, her eyes drifted to it.
"Is this real?" she laughed to herself. "Ruby… you're actually pregnant."
Her laughter spilled freely now, light and uncontrollable. At a red light, she leaned forward, pressing her forehead briefly to the steering wheel.
"I'm finally going to be a mother."
When traffic began to move again, she rolled the window down, then stuck her head out, letting the wind rush against her face. Her laughter turned into a joyful scream.
"Yes! Yes!" Horns blared around her. "Hey! Are you crazy?" a driver shouted.
Ruby laughed harder. "Maybe!" she yelled back, not slowing down. "But I'm happy!"
She imagined a tiny girl wrapped in pink, soft and warm against her chest. "A girl," she murmured. "I know it's you."
Her smile softened. "I'll call you Angel. Because you saved me."
A few cars behind her, Max leaned back in his seat, fatigue weighing heavily after hours in the air. He stared out at the city lights, half-lost in thought.
"Long day?" Samuel asked, glancing at him. "Long life," Max replied quietly.
A woman leaning out of her car window, laughing into the night as if the world had finally been kind to her. The wind wrapped around her, lifting her hair like a memory come alive.
His heart stopped.
Ruby.
The only woman who had ever made his heart stir again after Violet Brown, his wife, now gone, but never forgotten. The ache he thought time had buried rose sharply in his chest.
Max stared, a slow smile forming before he could stop it. He remembered the first time he'd seen her, eighteen years old, barefoot, dancing in the rain like life had never taught her pain. A carefree soul. But when she married, he had left the country. It was the only way he knew how to respect her marriage and her youth.
Seeing her now felt unreal, like stepping into a dream he had long forced himself to wake from. Feelings he believed were dead came rushing back without mercy.
He watched her quietly, letting the moment exist without reaching for it.
Samuel glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "What's making you smile?" he teased. "I haven't seen you smile in seven years."
Max stiffened, the warmth vanishing instantly. He turned away, wiping the smile from his face as if it were a mistake. "Nothing," he said sharply. "You're imagining things."
Samuel raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Age is just a number, you know," Samuel said, breaking the silence. "You're forty, but you look like you're still in your twenties. You're rich, handsome… You should get married again. Enjoy your life."
Max didn't respond immediately. His eyes stayed on the road ahead, though his thoughts were somewhere else entirely.
"Shall we go over the files again?" he asked instead, checking his watch. It was already past six in the evening, but work was the safest place for his mind to hide.
Samuel sighed. "That can wait till tomorrow." His voice softened. "The police called. There's still no news about the people who tried to assassinate you."
Max's jaw tightened, but only for a second. "I have a lot of enemies," he said calmly, brushing it off as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience. "It comes with the territory."
Samuel frowned. "That doesn't make it okay."
Max didn't answer. He watched as Ruby's car turned onto another road, slowly disappearing from view. His expression darkened not with fear, but with knowing. Because he already knew who was behind it all. And this time, the danger felt closer than ever.
Ruby turned onto the other road, her heart racing as Seron's office building came into view. Today was special, too special, and if she could fly, she would have.
Seron had called earlier, his voice rushed. "I have a late meeting tonight," he'd said. "I'll make it up to you, okay?"
It was their anniversary, but Ruby hadn't minded. Not really. She knew where to find him. And she couldn't wait to see his face when she told him. She imagined his eyes widening, his voice breaking with joy, his arms wrapping around her as he promised to take care of her and their baby.
We'll celebrate together, she told herself.
The car rolled into the company's underground parking lot. Ruby stepped out, the evening air cool against her skin, the medical report clutched tightly in her hand. She took a few eager steps forward
Then she heard it. A soft moan. A woman's voice, low and unmistakably intimate.
Ruby slowed, confusion flickering across her face. She smiled awkwardly to herself. Probably a couple, she thought. I don't want to interrupt.
The last thing she wanted was to embarrass anyone or herself by walking in on a private moment. Most of the staff had already left, the building unusually quiet.
She continued walking, carefully, her heels barely making a sound against the pavement.
Then she heard it again.
Closer this time.
Ruby's steps faltered. Her excitement dimmed, replaced by something cold and uneasy. As she moved nearer, her heart began to pound painfully against her ribs.
Suddenly, she froze.
Her breath caught in her throat. Instinctively, Ruby stepped back and hid behind a parked car, her fingers tightening around the report as realization slowly, terrifyingly began to set in.
"Hold me, baby… kiss me… yes, just like that. Harder, yes, yes baby give it to me," Acacia's voice echoed through the quiet parking lot, broken by breathless moans that made Ruby's blood run cold.
"You've gotten better over the years, fuck me, yes, I'm yours," Acacia murmured. "Oh God… I missed this. It feels so good,"
Ruby's hand flew to her mouth as she peeked from behind the car.
Seron had Acacia bent over the hood, his face buried against her neck, his hands gripping her like he had been starving for her touch. Her tight red dress was carelessly pulled up, her breasts almost falling out of the dress, her hair a tangled mess, her makeup ruined, but none of that mattered to him. He moved with reckless urgency, uncaring that they were in the open, uncaring who might see.
Ruby's knees weakened. The woman's face turned slightly, and Ruby's heart shattered.
Acacia. His first love.
The name she had heard too many times during their marriage, always whispered in stories from college, always followed by how deeply Seron had loved her. Acacia had been their junior back then, the girl everyone said Seron adored openly, fiercely, without shame.
Now Ruby understood just how close they had been. Acacia had left the country to study abroad, leaving Seron heartbroken, or so the story went. A memory rose uninvited.
The day Ruby first met him. He had walked straight up to her at the school basketball court and kissed her in front of everyone. Bold. Shameless. Overwhelming.
She had slapped him, furious at the disrespect. She remembered the hurt in his eyes that day confusion she hadn't understood then. Now she did. It had never been about her.
She had only been a replacement. A way to fill the space Acacia left behind.
People had called her crazy for marrying him right after school, at just eighteen years old, but she had defended him. Defended them, they were in love.
But now, watching him with the woman he had never truly let go of, Ruby's chest tightened painfully.
Was it worth it? Sacrificing her youth? Loving him all these years? Believing in a marriage that was never fully hers? Her thoughts spiraled.
When did Acacia return? Before she realized it, the medical report slipped from her trembling fingers. The paper caught the wind, fluttering helplessly.
"Shit…" Ruby whispered, reaching for it.
But it was too late.
The report drifted across the parking lot straight toward Seron and Acacia. Ruby bent down slowly and picked up the paper, her fingers trembling as if they no longer belonged to her. When she straightened, her gaze lifted and met theirs.