Alex pov
The silence after Maya hung up felt heavy, like a weight pressing on my chest. I stared at my phone, the dark screen showing my own tired face in the dim light of my apartment. 3:17 AM. The call had lasted only twelve minutes, but it felt like a lifetime.
“Our child,” I had said. The words slipped out before I could stop them. And once they were spoken, something inside me changed. It wasn’t just the pregnancy anymore, or the problem everyone kept calling it. It was our child. A real little person, growing inside the woman I had spent a night with Also tearing apart in public.
The script Victoria had handed me sat crumpled on my desk. Every line I was supposed to speak was there, planned out like a business deal. Offer money. Remind her about her family’s struggles. And if she
