I HAD THE DEVIL'S TWINS

CHAPTER TWO: CONSEQUENCES

Anne

Three months later, I stood in my tiny bathroom staring at the pregnancy test in my shaking hands. Two pink lines. Clear as day. Mocking me.

This couldn't be happening.

I'd taken three tests already. All positive. My period was six weeks late. I'd been throwing up every morning for two weeks straight. Deep down, I already knew the truth before I bought the tests. I just didn't want to believe it.

I sank down onto the closed toilet seat, the test still clutched in my hand. My mind raced through the timeline. Three months ago. That night. The stranger in the hotel room whose face I never saw clearly.

I'd tried so hard to forget. Threw myself into my classes, worked extra shifts at my part-time job, avoided Brian and Sienna like they didn't exist. I almost convinced myself it was just a bad dream, a mistake I could bury and never think about again.

But now this. A baby. Growing inside me. Proof that night really happened.

I pressed my free hand against my still-flat stomach. There was a person there. A tiny human who didn't ask to be created during the worst night of my life. A child whose father I couldn't even identify.

The thought made me sick all over again. I barely made it to the toilet before throwing up, my body rejecting the crackers I'd managed to eat that morning.

When the nausea finally passed, I sat on the bathroom floor and let myself cry. Real, ugly crying that I'd been holding back for months. Everything was falling apart. My family's company was struggling after some scandal broke last month—I didn't understand all the details, but Dad had stopped taking my calls. My grades were slipping. I was barely making rent.

And now I was pregnant with a stranger's baby.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a text from my roommate asking if I was okay. I'd been here for almost an hour.

"Fine," I typed back. "Just sick."

Not a lie. Just not the whole truth.

I needed to think. I needed a plan. But first, I needed to know for sure. Home pregnancy tests could be wrong, right? Maybe this was all some horrible mistake.

The clinic waiting room smelled like antiseptic and fear. I sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair, filling out forms with information I barely remembered. Date of last period. s****l history. Medical conditions.

None of it felt real.

"Anne Monroe?" A nurse called my name.

I followed her to a small exam room where she took my blood and asked me more questions I didn't want to answer. When was I last sexually active? Was I in a relationship? Did I know the father?

"It was one time," I said quietly. "I don't... I don't know who he was."

The nurse's expression didn't change, but I saw something flash in her eyes. Pity, maybe. Or judgment. I couldn't tell which was worse.

"The doctor will be in shortly," she said, leaving me alone.

I sat on the exam table, my legs dangling, staring at the posters on the wall about prenatal vitamins and warning signs of pregnancy complications. This is my life now. Prenatal care. Baby planning. Single motherhood at twenty-three.

The door opened and Dr. Chen came in with a warm smile. She was middle-aged with kind eyes that made me want to cry again.

"So," she said, looking at my chart. "Your blood test confirms it. You're pregnant. About ten weeks along based on your last period."

Ten weeks. Two and a half months. Almost the whole first trimester has already gone.

"Are you sure?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"Very sure. Your hormone levels are exactly where they should be for this stage." She pulled up an ultrasound machine. "Would you like to see?"

I nodded because what else could I do? She squeezed cold gel on my stomach and pressed the wand against my skin. The screen showed a grainy black and white image that looked like nothing to me.

"There," Dr. Chen pointed out. "See that flutter? That's the heartbeat."

And there it was. A tiny rapid pulse on the screen. My baby's heart is beating.

Something broke inside me then. This was real. This was actually happening.

"Is everything... is the baby okay?" I heard myself ask.

"Perfectly healthy from what I can see. Strong heartbeat, good development for ten weeks." She smiled at me. "Congratulations."

Congratulations. Like this was good news. Like I hadn't been drugged and taken advantage of by a stranger. Like I had any idea how to raise a child when I could barely take care of myself.

Dr. Chen must have seen something on my face because her expression softened. "Do you have questions about your options?"

Options. Right. I didn't have to go through with this. I could end it before it went any further. Before the baby became more real than a flutter on a screen.

"I need time to think," I said.

She nodded and printed out several papers for me—information about prenatal care, abortion services, adoption agencies. All my choices laid out in black and white.

I left the clinic in a daze, clutching the papers against my chest. The afternoon sun felt too bright after the dim exam room. People walked past me on the sidewalk, going about their normal lives while mine fell apart.

My phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw my dad's name. Finally calling me back after three weeks of silence.

"Hello?"

"Anne." His voice sounded tired and old. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?"

"The company... we're filing for bankruptcy. It's over."

I stopped walking right there in the middle of the sidewalk. "What? Dad, what happened?"

"Bad investments. Fraud charges from a competitor. It's complicated." He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know you were counting on us to help with your tuition next semester."

No. No, this couldn't be happening either. Not now. Not on top of everything else.

"Dad, I-"

"I have to go. The lawyers are here. I'll call you when I can."

He hung up before I could say anything else. I stood there on the sidewalk, people flowing around me like water around a rock, and felt the last piece of my old life crumble away.

No boyfriend. No family support. No financial security. And a baby on the way that I couldn't afford to keep.

I knew what I had to do. There was only one choice that made sense. I couldn't bring a child into this mess. It wasn't fair to the baby or to me.

I looked down at the papers Dr. Chen had given me and found the number for the abortion clinic. My hands shook as I dialed.

"Women's Health Services, how can I help you?"

"I need to schedule an appointment," I said, my voice barely in a whisper. "For a termination."

The woman on the phone was kind and professional as she walked me through the process. I made an appointment for three days from now. Enough time to be sure, she said, but not so long that I'd be past the window for certain procedures.

When I hung up, I felt numb. Empty. But also relieved in a horrible way. At least I had a plan now. At least I was taking control of something in my life.

I went home and spent the next three days in a fog. My roommate asked if I was okay. I said I had the flu. She bought it and kept her distance, which was what I needed.

The night before my appointment, I lay in bed with my hand on my stomach. The baby was still too small to feel moving, but I knew it was there. That tiny heartbeat flickering away.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into the darkness. "I can't give you a good life. I can barely take care of myself."

Tears soaked into my pillow, but I didn't make a sound. Tomorrow this will all be over. Tomorrow I could start trying to forget again. Forget the stranger. Forget that night. Forget everything.

I fell asleep still crying and dreamed of a baby I would never meet.

The clinic was quiet when I arrived the next morning. The receptionist checked me in with a sympathetic smile. A nurse led me to a changing room where I put on a hospital gown.

"The doctor will be in shortly to explain the procedure," she said. "Do you have any questions?"

A million questions. But none that she could answer.

"No," I said.

She left me alone in the small pre-op room. I sat on the edge of the bed, my bare feet cold against the tile floor. This was it. Last chance to change my mind.

But I couldn't. I had no money, no support, no way to care for a baby. This guy was the only choice that made sense.

The door suddenly burst open with a bang that made me jump. Men in black suits rushed in—three, four, maybe five of them. I screamed but one of them grabbed me, pressing a cloth against my face.

The chemical smell hit me and the world tilted sideways. Not again, my mind screamed. Not drugs again.

"No," I tried to fight, but my limbs went heavy.

Through blurring vision, I saw someone in a white coat rush in. "What are you doing? This is a hospital!"

"Our young master's orders," one of the men said coldly. "The woman was never here. Understood?"

The last thing I saw before everything went black was the doctor's terrified face nodding.

Then nothing.