Iris Webb POV
Iris stands in front of the mirror in her basement apartment at midnight and barely recognizes herself.
She's eight months pregnant. Her belly is so round now that she has to turn sideways to see her face. Her body is uncomfortable. Her feet are swollen. Her back aches constantly. Everything hurts in ways she didn't know bodies could hurt.
But her face is different.
The softness is gone. The uncertainty is gone. The girl who stood at an altar waiting for forever has been replaced by someone harder. Someone colder. Someone who looks like she could destroy the world and not blink.
She pulls out the power suit from the back of her closet.
It's black. Expensive. The kind of suit she wore when she worked in corporate strategy. The kind of suit that says power. That says competence. That says I'm not the broken woman you destroyed. I'm the woman who's about to destroy you.
She tries it on over her maternity belly.
It fits. Barely. The jacket is stretched tight across her pregnant stomach but it works. It creates the image she's been planning for eight months. A woman in control. A woman who owns the room.
She looks at herself in the mirror and feels something shift inside her chest.
She doesn't recognize the person staring back.
This woman looks dangerous. This woman looks ready. This woman looks like someone who has nothing left to lose and everything to gain. This woman looks like she's survived things that would have destroyed other people.
This woman looks like Iris Webb.
The real one. Not the broken version. Not the girl who got humiliated at an altar. The strong one. The one that existed before Grant Sullivan convinced her to be soft.
She takes out her phone and texts Sophie.
"Tomorrow I tell him."
Sophie responds immediately even though it's midnight.
"Are you sure?"
Iris looks at herself in the suit. At her pregnant belly. At the woman who owns forty-five percent of Grant Sullivan's company without him knowing.
"I'm sure."
She sets the phone down and runs her hands over her belly.
Her daughter kicks. A strong movement. Like she's responding to her mother's determination. Like she's agreeing that tomorrow everything changes.
"After tomorrow, everything is different," Iris whispers to her child. "Your father is going to lose his company. He's going to understand what it feels like to have everything taken away. He's going to know that the woman he destroyed became the woman who destroyed him."
She feels her daughter move again. Stronger this time. Like she's pushing back. Like she's saying yes, do this, make him pay.
Iris lies in bed but doesn't sleep.
She can't. Her mind is racing. Tomorrow she walks into Sullivan Industries as herself. Tomorrow she tells Grant that the ghost investor is her. Tomorrow she tells him that she owns his company. Tomorrow everything he built gets handed over to the woman he walked away from.
She imagines his face. The shock. The realization. The moment he understands that his fear created the monster that destroyed him.
The hours pass slowly.
At 1 AM, Iris gets up and reads through the documents one more time. The ownership papers. The board voting rights. The evidence that she owns Sullivan Industries.
At 2 AM, she calls Sophie and they talk about the plan. What Iris is going to say. How she's going to present the documents. The moment she's been waiting for for eight months.
At 3 AM, Iris lies back down and tries to rest before what's going to be the biggest day of her life.
But sleep won't come. She's too wired. Too ready. Too angry and determined and scared all at the same time.
She thinks about the wedding. About Grant saying those words in front of eight hundred people. About walking out of that ballroom and disappearing for six months. About working at a diner while he played CEO.
Tomorrow it ends.
Tomorrow Grant Sullivan finds out that the woman he destroyed owns him.
At 3:47 AM, Iris feels something shift in her body.
It's a small pain at first. Nothing serious. Just a tightness in her lower belly. She moves around thinking it will pass. She goes to the kitchen and gets water. She comes back to bed.
The pain comes again. Stronger this time.
Iris sits up. She's not due for three weeks. This can't be labor. This is just Braxton Hicks. False labor. The baby isn't ready. Iris isn't ready. Tomorrow she's supposed to confront Grant and she can't do that while she's in labor.
The pain comes again and this time it's different. This time it doesn't stop. This time it builds and radiates through her entire lower body.
Iris stands up and that's when she feels the wetness between her legs.
She looks down and sees water dripping down her thighs.
No.
No, this is not happening.
She goes to the bathroom and realizes immediately that her water just broke. She's in labor. She's in actual labor three weeks early.
She tries to process this information but her body is moving faster than her mind. Another contraction hits and she grabs the bathroom counter. It's stronger than the last one. It takes her breath away.
She needs to get to the hospital. But she also needs to confront Grant. She's been planning this for eight months. She's been waiting for this moment. She can't go into labor. Not tonight. Not before she tells him.
Iris calls Sophie with shaking hands.
"Sophie, my water broke. I'm in labor."
"What? Iris, you're not due for three weeks."
"I know. I know but it's happening. It's happening now."
"Okay, okay, I'm coming to get you. Stay calm. We're going to the hospital."
But Iris isn't thinking about the hospital. She's thinking about tomorrow. About the confrontation that's supposed to happen in a few hours. About telling Grant that she owns his company.
That's all gone now.
She's going into labor. She's going to give birth to her daughter. And Grant is going to find out about the baby before he finds out about the company.
Everything just got more complicated.
Sophie arrives at the apartment in fifteen minutes. She takes one look at Iris and realizes this is serious.
"We're going now," Sophie says, grabbing Iris's jacket.
Another contraction hits and Iris doubles over. The pain is intense. It takes her breath away. It makes her understand that her body doesn't care about her plans. Her body has its own timeline.
At 4:15 AM, Iris gets into Sophie's car.
She grabs the folder with the ownership documents and holds it against her chest as another contraction hits.
"You're bringing those?" Sophie asks, looking at the folder.
"I'm telling him today," Iris says through gritted teeth. "Labor or no labor, I'm telling him today."
Sophie doesn't argue. She just drives toward the hospital while Iris sits in the passenger seat holding her pregnant belly and dealing with contractions that are getting stronger and closer together.
By 4:30 AM, Iris knows for sure that this is really happening.
She's in labor. She's going to have her daughter today. And somewhere across the city, Grant Sullivan is probably sleeping peacefully in his apartment with no idea that his life is about to change forever.
First because he's going to have a daughter.
Then because he's going to find out he doesn't own his own company.
Everything is happening at once.
Everything is changing.
And Iris can't stop any of it.