Audrey POV
She got back to the hotel at 7:43.
The transcript was still open on her phone. She had read it four times in the taxi. Each time, it told her the same thing. Daniel's voice. Elena's voice.
Eight months ago. It had specific details: the restaurant name, the reservation time, and which drink Scott left when he went out to take a call.
Daniel had set up that call.
She locked the hotel room door and sat on the bed. The document was sixteen pages long. It looked clean.
It had a time and date on it. Someone had sent it to her.
They had kept it long enough to know the right time to give it to her.
Her hands were steady, but the rest of her was not calm.
She had trusted Daniel's warning from the night of their anniversary: "Don't sign anything." She thought that call meant someone close to Scott had good intentions.
She had started to believe Daniel was honest.
But now she knew he wasn't.
She stood up and went to the bathroom. She turned on the cold water tap and put her wrists under it.
She used to do this years ago when she needed to think fast, but her body felt bad.
The sick feeling in her throat, which had been there since morning, got worse.
She thought it was from stress. From the courtroom. From the cold air, missing meals, and working hard for 40 hours.
But the feeling was there even before the court meeting. Before Patel's request.
Before the courtroom, before the hotel, before that morning, when she had opened her bank app and saw that her money was gone.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She counted back the days. Her period was eleven days late.
She had noticed it but put it out of her mind because she had too much else to think about.
Now, the sick feeling suddenly meant something else.
She put her coat back on and went out again.
The pharmacy was two blocks from the hotel. It was bright and empty. She grabbed two boxes from the shelf, paid with cash, and walked back without looking at them.
The hotel bathroom was small. She sat in the tub and read the instructions once. She didn't really need to, but she did what they said.
Then she put the test on the sink. She stood against the other wall with her arms crossed.
She did not check her phone. She didn't think about Daniel, or Patel, or the government case number in Margaret's files.
She looked at the lines in the floor tiles. She breathed slowly and waited.
Two minutes passed. She picked up the test. There were two pink lines. They were clear. No doubt.
She put it back down. The room was very quiet. Outside, the city made a low sound through the window. A siren went past and then was gone.
She was pregnant. It was Scott's child. There was no other way. Based on the timing, she got pregnant six weeks ago.
That was when they were still married, long before their anniversary.
It was back when she was still trying to fix things between them.
She sat on the closed toilet lid. She pressed her hands flat against her legs.
She quickly realized what this meant, and it felt cold. She didn't try to deny it because that wouldn't help.
If she told Scott, he would have a legal hold over her that she couldn't stop. He was already part of a government investigation.
Rachel had his money promise paper.
He had removed the fake document, changed his father's lawyer, and given Patel's proof to the court. All of this could be seen as a man protecting his future child.
Everything she had done in the last two days would be looked at differently.
If she didn't tell Scott, she would face this alone.
She had $60, a bank account that was blocked, a hotel room only until tomorrow morning, and a government case that would take months to help her.
She was twenty-four (24). She had no college degree. No work history. No family would answer her calls.
She held a pregnancy test in her hand. A conspiracy was happening around her. She had been ignoring her best friend's calls all night.
She picked up her phone and called Sophie.
Sophie answered quickly. "I've been watching the news. Are you okay?"
"No," Audrey said. "I need to tell you something."
It was silent on the other end. Sophie had stopped moving.
"I'm pregnant."
Three seconds passed. Then Sophie asked, "Where are you?"
"The hotel on West 48th."
"I'm coming."
"Sophie, you don't have to."
"I'm putting my shoes on. Don't argue with me tonight."
The call ended.
Audrey put the phone on the sink. She looked at the test again, then wrapped it in tissue and put it at the bottom of the trash.
She washed her hands. She looked at her face in the mirror for a long time.
She would not fall apart. She would not make choices because she was scared. She would take the next step, and then the one after that.
That's what the next six months need.
She walked back into the room and sat at the desk.
Her phone buzzed.
It was from an unknown source. Garrett's network.
She opened the message.
"Daniel was just a way in. He didn't plan it. Someone closer to Scott has been in charge from the start. Someone Scott never doubted.
Someone who was in his life before Elena, before his marriage, before you."
She read it twice.
Then a second message came.
"This person put Daniel there. Got Elena involved. Worked with Patel. Has been in Scott's life for eleven years."
A third message came. It was one line.
A name.
She stared at it.
Not Patel. Not James. Not anyone she thought it would be.
It was a name she knew from two years of dinners, photos, and quiet talks at parties. She smiled and remembered everything.
Scott talked to this person every week. They were at his wedding. Scott always took their advice and trusted their opinion more than his father's.
They were always there, so much so that Scott didn't even notice them anymore.
Her hand was steady. Her chest felt very still, like it did when things got serious in a way she couldn't understand yet.
A knock at the door.
Sophie.
Audrey stood up. She walked across the room. She put her hand on the door handle.
Behind her, her phone buzzed one last time.
She didn't turn around to read it. She opened the door and looked at Sophie's face. It was warm, worried, and real.
Sophie was the only simple thing in her life right now.
"Come in," Audrey said.
She let Sophie in. Then she picked up the phone.
The last message had four words.
"He knows you're pregnant."