Chapter 1 - The Secret Call
By five in the morning on Christmas, Sylvia’s house already smelled like roasting turkey and melted butter.
The oven had been breathing intense heat into my face for hours.
My feet were completely swollen inside my tight flats.
My maternity dress scratched uncomfortably under the heavy apron.
Every time I bent over the hot stove, my seven-month belly tightened hard enough to make me hold the edge of the sink.
From the kitchen doorway, the dining room looked like a perfect holiday card.
Candles were glowing warmly.
Wineglasses were lined up perfectly.
David’s law firm colleagues were laughing way too loudly.
I was the only one sweating in the kitchen.
By six in the evening, the turkey was carved and the potatoes were whipped.
My back felt like someone had tied a heavy rope around my spine and pulled.
I pressed one hand against my lower back and softly asked if I could sit down for just one minute before dinner started.
I did not ask to sit at the head of the table.
I just wanted a chair and a single breath.
Sylvia’s palm hit the dining table hard enough to make the silver forks jump.
“Servants don’t sit with the family,” she snapped viciously.
“Eat in the kitchen, standing up, when we’re finished.”
“It’s good for the baby, so know your place.”
The entire table froze in absolute silence.
One of David’s coworkers stared deeply into his wineglass.
Everyone pretended they had not just heard a pregnant woman being reduced to hired help.
I looked desperately at David.
He did not look back at me.
He casually lifted his wineglass and smiled at his boss.
“Listen to my mother, Anna.”
“Don’t embarrass me in front of my colleagues.”
A cramp tore low through my stomach so sharply that the doorway completely blurred.
I grabbed the granite counter and breathed through my nose to avoid making a sound.
“David,” I whispered.
“It hurts.”
Sylvia followed me into the kitchen with her heels clicking aggressively across the tile.
“Oh, stop it.”
“You always perform when actual work needs doing.”
I reached blindly for the wooden chair by the breakfast nook.
She got there first.
Both of her hands hit my shoulders with shocking force.
I slammed backward into the granite counter hard enough that the whole room flashed white.
A hot, terrible pain ripped through my abdomen.
I slid toward the tile, knocking a dish towel and a heavy serving spoon to the floor.
“My baby,” I gasped, but it came out like a breath instead of words.
David rushed in, saw me on the floor, and frowned like I had dropped an expensive platter.
“Anna, get up and clean this before the guests see,” he hissed.
“Call an ambulance,” I begged, reaching for my phone with shaking fingers.
“Please, I’m losing the baby.”
He snatched the phone out of my hands.
Then he threw it violently against the wall.
The crack sounded much louder than the laughter in the dining room.
“There will be no ambulance,” David said, standing over my bleeding body.
“The neighbors will talk, and I just got promoted.”
“I don’t need police cars in my driveway on Christmas.”
At that moment, David crouched close, dropping his lawyer voice into that smooth tone he used to scare witnesses.
“I play golf with the county sheriff,” he said.
“If you say one word, I’ll tell everyone you’re unstable.”
“You’re an orphan, Anna.”
“Who do you think they’ll believe?”
That was his first massive mistake.
He thought my desire for extreme privacy meant I was weak.
I looked up at him through the blinding pain and kept my voice perfectly calm.
“You’re right, David.”
“You know the law, but you don’t know who taught it to me.”
His confident smile flickered for a second.
Sylvia laughed cruelly from behind him.
“Listen to her, now she’s got a secret daddy.”
“Fine,” David said, pulling out his own phone.
“Let’s call your father.”
I gave him the heavily encrypted number one digit at a time.
He dialed on speakerphone so his wealthy colleagues could hear me be humiliated.
The ringing suddenly stopped.
May you like
A man’s voice came through the speaker, steady, cold, and highly official.
“United States Supreme Court Security Detail, identify yourself immediately.”
