April 18, 2026
She didn’t understand it at first—not when the check cleared, not when the contracts were signed, not even when she felt the first unfamiliar kick beneath her ribs that didn’t belong to her life.
She called it love because that’s what made it easier to carry.
Ethan never forced her. That was the part that stayed with her the longest. He didn’t demand, didn’t threaten. He framed it. Carefully. Gently. Like an opportunity. Like a solution. Like something they were doing together.
“For us,” he said.
“For Jacob.”
“For Mom.”
He always said for us.
But the truth was quieter than that. And colder.
By the time Melissa realized what she had agreed to, she had already given her body to something that wasn’t hers—and she had done it twice.