ARIA'S POV
I'm throwing up in a gas station bathroom when I realize I can't hide from the truth anymore.
Two months. It's been two months since that terrible night. Two months since someone drugged me. Two months since Logan Pierce saved me and then everything exploded.
Two months of feeling sick every single morning.
I wipe my mouth with shaking hands and stare at myself in the dirty mirror. I look awful—dark circles under my eyes, pale skin, hair I haven't washed in three days.
But that's not why I'm here.
I pull the pregnancy test from my bag. I bought it three days ago and have been too scared to use it. But I can't wait anymore. I need to know.
The instructions say to wait three minutes. Those three minutes feel like three hours.
I pace in the tiny bathroom, my heart pounding so hard it hurts. Please be negative. Please be negative. Please—
The timer on my phone goes off.
I look at the test.
Two pink lines.
Positive.
My legs stop working. I slide down the wall and sit on the gross bathroom floor, still staring at those two pink lines that just changed my entire life.
I'm pregnant.
With Logan Pierce's baby.
The man I've been hiding from for two months because Robert Crane threatened to kill me if I went near him. The man whose company just bought my father's business last week. The man who probably thinks I'm some kind of criminal because that's what Maya told everyone.
I'm going to be sick again.
After my stomach stops heaving, I wash my face and try to think. What do I do? Who do I tell?
Not my father. He barely looks at me anymore. After the window broke and the police came, he blamed me for "causing trouble." Said I was making everything worse for the family.
Not Maya. Obviously. She's been living with Robert Crane for the past month, helping him destroy what's left of Dad's company from the inside.
That leaves one person. The father. Logan Pierce.
My hands shake as I pull out my phone and search his name. Articles fill my screen: "Pierce Industries Completes Chen Acquisition," "Logan Pierce: The CEO Who Never Loses," "Pierce's Billion-Dollar Empire Grows."
He's powerful. Rich. Untouchable.
And I'm nobody. The useless Chen daughter who couldn't even keep her family's company from being sold.
But he helped me that night. When I was drugged and scared, he kept me safe. He didn't have to do that. He could have walked away.
Maybe—maybe he'll help me now.
I have to try. This baby deserves a father who knows they exist.
I spend the next week gathering courage. I practice what I'll say a hundred times. "Mr. Pierce, I need to talk to you about something important." No, too vague. "Mr. Pierce, I'm pregnant with your child." Too blunt.
Finally, I just call his office.
"Pierce Industries, how may I direct your call?"
My voice comes out squeaky. "I need to speak with Logan Pierce. It's... it's personal. Family business."
The receptionist pauses. "Your name?"
"Aria Chen."
The pause gets longer. "Please hold."
Terrible elevator music plays for five whole minutes. I almost hang up three times.
Then a man's voice comes on. Not Logan. Someone else.
"Miss Chen, this is Marcus Reid, Mr. Pierce's assistant. How can I help you?"
"I need to speak with Mr. Pierce directly. It's important."
"I'm afraid Mr. Pierce is very busy. If this is about the acquisition—"
"It's not about business." I close my eyes. "Please. I just need five minutes. Tell him... tell him it's about the night at the hotel. He'll understand."
Marcus is quiet for a moment. "Hold on."
More waiting. More terrible music. My hand cramps from gripping the phone so hard.
"Miss Chen?" A different voice now. Deep. Familiar. Logan Pierce.
My mouth goes dry. "Mr. Pierce. I—thank you for taking my call."
"You said this was about the hotel night." His voice is careful, professional. "Are you alright? Did someone threaten you again?"
"No. I mean, yes, I'm okay. But I need to see you. In person. There's something I have to tell you, and I can't do it over the phone."
Silence. Then: "What is this about?"
I can't say it. Not like this. Not over the phone where anyone could be listening.
"Please," I whisper. "Just five minutes. I promise I'm not trying to cause trouble."
He sighs. "Tomorrow. Two o'clock. My office. Come alone."
The line goes dead.
I did it. I actually did it.
Now I just have to survive the next twenty-four hours without throwing up from nerves.
The next day, I stand outside Pierce Industries, staring up at the huge glass building. This is where Logan Pierce built his empire. Where he makes billion-dollar decisions. Where he destroyed my family's company.
And I'm about to walk in there and tell him he's going to be a father.
Security makes me show ID three times. They search my bag. They make me walk through a metal detector. Finally, they let me go to the top floor.
Marcus Reid meets me at the elevator. He's tall, serious-looking, and studies me like I'm a puzzle.
"Miss Chen. Follow me, please."
We walk down a hallway with windows overlooking the entire city. My reflection looks tiny and scared in all that glass.
Marcus stops at a huge wooden door. "Mr. Pierce is inside. He has another meeting in fifteen minutes, so please be brief."
"I will. Thank you."
He opens the door. I step inside.
Logan Pierce sits behind a massive desk, typing on his computer. When he looks up, his gray eyes—those same gray eyes from that night—lock onto mine.
"Miss Chen." He stands. "Please, sit."
I sit in the chair across from his desk. My hands twist in my lap. Now that I'm here, all my practiced words disappear.
"You said you needed to talk." His voice is gentle but wary. "Is this about Robert Crane? Has he threatened you again?"
"No. I mean, he left me alone after the police got involved." I take a deep breath. "This is about that night. At the hotel."
Something flickers in his eyes. "I see."
"You saved me. You kept me safe when someone drugged me. I never got to thank you properly."
"You don't need to thank me. Anyone decent would have done the same."
"But you did it. And now..." My voice cracks. "Now there's something you need to know."
He leans forward slightly. "What is it?"
The words stick in my throat. I force them out.
"I'm pregnant. The baby is yours."
The silence that follows is so complete I can hear my own heartbeat.
Logan Pierce stares at me. His face goes blank—completely, totally blank.
Then he leans back in his chair and his expression turns to ice.
"I see." His voice could freeze fire. "So that's what this is about."
"What?" I don't understand. He sounds angry.
"How much do you want?"
My brain stops working. "What?"
"To disappear. To get rid of it. How much money do you want?" He opens a drawer and pulls out a checkbook. Actually pulls out a checkbook. "I'll pay for the abortion and a non-disclosure agreement. Name your price."
The words hit me like a slap.
"I'm not—I don't want money—"
"Everyone wants money, Miss Chen." He's writing on the check. Writing numbers. "Especially people who show up claiming pregnancy two months after a one-night encounter. Especially when my company just bought their family business."
"It's not like that!" I stand up, my hands shaking. "I'm telling you the truth! I'm pregnant, and you're the father, and I thought—I thought you might—"
"You thought what? That I'd marry you? Make you rich?" He rips the check from the book and holds it out. "Here. Five hundred thousand dollars. Take it and disappear."
I stare at the check. At him. At this cold stranger who isn't the same man who saved me.
"You don't believe me," I whisper.
"I believe you're desperate. I believe your family is broke after I bought them out. I believe this is a convenient story." His gray eyes are empty. "But I won't be trapped by a lie."
The door behind me opens. I turn and freeze.
Maya walks in, wearing an expensive suit and a smile that makes me want to scream.
"Logan, darling, I brought the contracts you—" She stops when she sees me. Her smile grows bigger. "Aria? What are you doing here?"
I can't breathe. Maya is here. In Logan Pierce's office. Calling him darling.
"She was just leaving," Logan says coldly. "Weren't you, Miss Chen?"
Maya walks over and puts her hand on Logan's shoulder. He doesn't move away.
"Let me guess," Maya says sweetly. "She told you she's pregnant?"
My blood turns to ice. How does she know?
"It's true," I say desperately, looking at Logan. "I'm not lying—"
"Of course you're lying." Maya laughs. "Aria, you're so predictable. Logan, I told you she'd try something like this. The Chen family is desperate after you bought us out. Dad put her up to this."
"I didn't—Dad doesn't even know—"
"Sure he doesn't." Maya's voice drips with fake sympathy. "Look, I get it. You're broke. You need money. But trying to trap Logan with a fake pregnancy? That's low, even for you."
Logan's expression hardens even more. "Is your father behind this?"
"No! Nobody is behind anything!" I'm shouting now. "I'm pregnant! I came here to tell you the truth because I thought—I thought you were a good person!"
"Security," Logan says into his phone.
Two men appear at the door.
"No, wait—" I try to reach across the desk, but the security guards grab my arms.
"If you contact me again," Logan says quietly, "I'll sue you for harassment. Do you understand?"
Tears blur my vision. "You're making a mistake."
"The only mistake I made was being kind to you that night." His voice is final. "Get her out of here."
They drag me to the elevator. I don't fight. What's the point?
Maya's laugh follows me down the hall.
The security guards dump me on the sidewalk outside the building. People stare as I sit there on the concrete, crying like a fool.
He didn't believe me. He thought I was lying. Trying to trap him.
And Maya—Maya was there. With him. Acting like they're together.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number:
"Congratulations, little sister. You just gave me everything I needed. Logan will never believe you now. And that bastard baby? Nobody wants it. Do us all a favor and get rid of it. - M"
I stare at the text until the words blur together.
Maya planned this. She knew I was pregnant. She was waiting in Logan's office for me to show up.
This was a trap. And I walked right into it.
My hand moves to my stomach, where a tiny life is growing. A life that nobody wants. A life that just cost me everything.
Another text comes through:
"P.S. Dad signed over everything to me this morning. The house. The money. Everything. You're officially poor now. Better start looking for a job. Though who'd hire a Chen these days? - M"
I sit on that sidewalk as people rush past me, as the city moves on without caring that my world just ended.
Then my phone rings. A local number I don't recognize.
I answer it because I have nothing left to lose.
"Miss Chen?" A woman's voice, professional and cold. "This is Dr. Harrison from Memorial Hospital. Your father collapsed an hour ago. He's had a massive heart attack. You should come immediately."
The phone slips from my hand.
Dad. My father is dying.
And I'm alone, pregnant, broke, and nobody believes me.