ANNA’S POV

My heart plummeted. I had buried that slip inside a box in the back of my storage room. I thought it was safe. I wasn’t ready to spill the beans.

So how did she dig it up?

I had almost managed to forget, just for a second, that a baby was growing inside me.

I hit the clinic two days ago because I felt sick, and walked out with the news that I was four weeks pregnant. That was supposed to be my secret. The bomb I wanted to drop when James finally popped the question. But here I was, cornered and exposed, standing alone while my mother’s fury rained down on me.

“You have the nerve to ask me what you did?” she shrieked, her chest heaving. “This is what you do with your life? After all the money I bled raising you, you repay me by spreading your legs and getting knocked up like a cheap tramp? If Bella hadn’t found this, were you just going to keep us in the dark?"

I froze, my lips trembling. So that was it. My sister. She must have been snooping. My mother never set foot in my room.

That room—if you could even call it that—was where I slept. Four walls crammed with dusty boxes and broken furniture. Meanwhile, Bella, the golden child, slept in a room fit for a princess.

Ever since my dad got sick, I had been tossed aside. Sometimes I wondered if my mother even birthed me, because she treated me like dirt. Even the hired help had it better.

“Mom, please, it’s not what it looks like..." I begged.

“Not what it looks like?” she snapped, her eyes blazing. “Do you think I’m blind? You’ve ruined yourself. You’ve dragged this family through the mud.”

I stood there, totally numb. My tear ducts ran dry hours ago, but her words ripped me open all over again.

“Who’s the father?” she barked.

“It’s James,” I whispered, my throat dry.

She let out a cruel laugh that stung worse than a slap. “James? That broke loser? The man doesn't have a pot to piss in, and you let him knock you up?"

“I love him, Mom. I thought..." My voice cracked. “I thought we were getting married. I thought—”

“Thought?” she roared, her eyes wild. “Where did thinking get you? Look at yourself! Look at the shame you’ve dragged into my house!”

Right on cue, Bella strolled in, clutching her tablet. She didn’t look the least bit sorry. She shoved the screen in our mother's face.

“Mom, watch this.”

My mother snatched the tablet. I didn’t need to look; I already knew what was playing. James, on one knee in his tailored suit, sliding a ring onto Melissa’s finger.

My ex-best friend wearing the rock meant for me, surrounded by flashing cameras. His smile was blinding.

My stomach churned.

My mother scoffed and shoved the tablet back. She glared at me with pure disgust. “So, this is the catch you threw your life away for? You gave him your body and your future, and he dumped you on national television. And now you expect me to feed you and his bastard kid?”

I shook my head, tears spilling despite my exhaustion. “No! Mom, please listen. I can raise this baby. I will. Just give me time. Don’t toss me out like trash. Please, you’re all I have left.”

She crossed her arms, sneering. “And how do you plan to raise a brat, Anna? With what money? Your dead-end job? Even the deadbeat who knocked you up ran for the hills. How will you do it?”

“You have one option left. Get rid of the parasite in your womb," she spat.

Her words cut like glass. I wanted to drop dead right there, but I forced myself to stand.

“I can’t abort,” I whimpered, my voice shaking. “I’m Rh-negative. The doctor said if I lose this pregnancy, I might never conceive again. This could be my only chance to be a mother.”

For a heartbeat, I thought she might soften. I prayed she would see a hurting daughter instead of a walking scandal.

But her gaze turned to ice.

“Then you leave me no choice,” she snapped. She clapped her hands. Two maids appeared, lugging my bags.

I stared, my stomach doing backflips. They were already packed.

She had been planning this.

“Mom… no.” My knees buckled. “Please don’t do this. I have nowhere to go. I’ve lost everything. Don’t put me on the street."

Her face stayed made of stone. “You made your bed when you opened your legs for that loser. You chose him and the bastard in your belly over us. Now lie in it.”

The maids dropped my luggage by the door.

“Mom,” I sobbed, my voice breaking. “Please..."

She didn't even flinch. She turned away like I was a disease.

A maid stepped forward, grabbing my arm. I yanked free, clutching my stomach to shield the tiny life inside me from this cruel world.

They hauled my bags onto the porch. Bella watched from the corner, sporting a wicked smirk like she had just won the lottery.

It didn't surprise me. I never saw her as blood. Melissa filled those shoes, or at least I thought she did.

Standing on the threshold with tears tracking down my cheeks, I looked back. I desperately wanted to believe my mom would change her tune, that she would call me back and say it was a joke.

But the heavy door slammed in my face, the bang echoing in my chest.

Backstabbed by my boyfriend, betrayed by my best friend, and now kicked to the curb by my own mother.

What did I do to deserve this hell? Who did I piss off in a past life?