One Baby, Two Billionaires, One Marriage

~ Vivian I sit on the closed toilet lid in my small bathroom and stare at the plastic stick in my hand. Two lines. Clear. No mistake. Pregnant. I set the stick on the edge of the sink. The air feels thick. My stomach turns once, then settles into a hard knot. Twenty-eight years old and this is where I am. Alone. Counting every dollar again. I pull out my phone and open the notes app where I keep the numbers. Rent for this room is due in nine days. Three hundred and eighty. I have four hundred and twelve left after last month’s bills. My younger brother Daniel needs three thousand dollars for his examination fees by Friday or he loses his place for the term. My sister Lena’s medication runs out next week. Ninety-seven dollars. I still owe the corner store sixty for the food I took on credit. That leaves almost nothing. A baby costs more than all of that put together. Doctor visits. Clothes. Food. Somewhere safe to sleep that is bigger than this one room. I have spent eight years keeping my siblings fed and in school after our parents died. Eight years of taking whatever work came, of saying yes when I wanted to say no, of sending money home before I bought anything for myself. I cannot take on one more person who needs me. Not like this. I close my eyes, but the truth settles in anyway. Anthony and I were never anything more than a hookup. He came when he wanted, left when he wanted, paid for our nights together and sometimes left extra cash on the table. That was our arrangement. Nothing more. I got involved for the money at first. Plain and simple. Rent, medication, Daniel's fees. I needed the money, and Anthony was willing to pay. It was practical. Convenient. I never expected anything else. At least, that was what I told myself. Somewhere along the way, things changed for me. I fell in love with him. Not the kind of love that demands attention or expects promises. It was quiet, stubborn and entirely one-sided. I never told him. Not once. He never gave me a reason to believe he could feel the same way. He never treated me like someone he wanted in his life beyond those nights. So I kept my feelings to myself and pretended I was just as detached as he was. But my feelings were real. Anthony was the only man I had ever loved, even if he never knew it. And that is why I am keeping this baby. Because a part of the man I secretly love is already here. Even if Anthony never loves me, even if he never wants us, I will still have something precious from him. I want this child. I want to be this baby's mother. And I don't think I will ever regret that decision. At least, that is what I keep telling myself. I open my eyes and look at the stick one more time. Two lines. I pick it up, wrap it in tissue, and drop it in the small trash can under the sink. My hands shake a little when I wash them. Then I dry them on my jeans and walk into the main room. The bed is still unmade from this morning. The window faces the alley. I sit on the edge of the mattress and unlock my phone again. Anthony Wolfenstein’s number is saved under A. Just A. I have never bothered to give it another name. I need to tell him. Before I can change my mind, I press call. He answers on the first ring. His voice is the same as always. Flat. Busy. “What is it?” I keep my own voice steady. “I’m pregnant.” Silence for three seconds. Then he says, “Get rid of it. I’ll pay for everything.” The words land like a door closing. Every soft hope I had just allowed myself collapses under them. I grip the phone harder. My knuckles go white. “I’m keeping my baby.” He does not answer right away. I hear papers shifting on his end. Someone speaking in the background. Then his voice comes back, colder. “That is not an option. You know what this is. You know what it is not. Do not turn it into something else.” “I’m not turning it into anything. I’m telling you the truth. I’m keeping it.” He ends the call. The line goes dead without another word. My chest feels tight. I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth the way I taught Lena when she used to panic. It helps a little. Not enough. I set the phone on the bed beside me and look around the room. One bed. One chair. This is what eight years of work looks like. Enough to keep my brother in school and my sister on her medicine. Not enough for a child. Not even close. But the decision is already made. My phone buzzes. Unknown number, but the area code matches Anthony’s office. I answer. “Miss Schnabel.” A woman’s voice. Calm. Professional. “This is Claire from Mr. Wolfenstein’s office. He has scheduled an appointment for you tomorrow morning at nine. The address will be texted to you in the next minute. Attendance is required.” I sit up straighter. “Required how.” “Mr. Wolfenstein made it clear that the payment scheduled for your brother’s examination fees will be released only after the meeting. If you do not attend, that payment will be cancelled.” My mouth goes dry. Three thousand dollars. The deadline is five days away. Without that money Daniel loses his place for the term. I have already told him it is handled. I have already promised. Claire continues, “Please confirm you understand.” I close my eyes for one second. Then I open them. “I understand.” “Good. Nine o’clock. Do not be late.” She hangs up. A text arrives almost immediately with an address in the financial district. I know the building. Glass and steel. The kind of place I have only entered through the service entrance when Anthony wanted me there after hours. I put the phone down and press both palms against my knees. The room is quiet except for the distant traffic. I am still pregnant. Anthony still wants the baby gone. And tomorrow morning I have to walk into his office because my brother’s education depends on the money only he can release. I stand up and walk back to the bathroom. I rinse the sink even though nothing is in it. I look at myself in the small mirror above it. Same face. Same dark circles under the eyes. Same mouth that just told a billionaire I was keeping his child. I will go tomorrow. I will sit across from him and say the same words again if I have to. But what if Anthony insists on ending my pregnancy before releasing Daniel’s fees? Do I risk my brother’s future, or consider sacrificing the one thing I refuse to lose?