Chosen By Fate, Rejected By Hate

Chapter 4

Mavi

I locked myself tight inside the guest room at Lotlot’s house. I have been hiding here for weeks.

Lotlot was a plastic surgeon. Even with the huge age gap between us, nothing had stopped us from becoming the closest of friends.

She had warned me again and again never to trust Santa, saying the kindness my cousin showed me was hollow and fake, but I had refused to listen.

Santa was my cousin and my best friend. I had trusted her with my whole heart. She had never once acted cruelly toward me, so I had brushed off every warning Lotlot gave me. Now regret burned through me like fire. If only I had believed her, I would have uncovered their lies long ago. If only I had been hurt sooner, I could have moved on and built a new life. I wished more than anything I had never been so blind.

“Get up, Mavi. Do not let yourself drown in this pain,” Lotlot said softly as she walked in carrying a tray of food. “You are braver than you think. You will get through this. Believe me.”

The moment the smell of the food she brought in hit my nose, my stomach twisted violently. I stumbled off the bed and raced to the bathroom, heaving over the toilet until my whole body ached. I had not eaten properly in days, so nothing came up but bitter water.

“Please take it away, Lotlot,” I gasped, leaning shakily against the cold wall. “The smell makes me so sick I can barely stand.”

Lotlot rushed out with the tray and came right back. She wrapped an arm around me and helped me slowly back to the bed, her face lined with deep worry.

“What is wrong, Mavi? Shrimp stew is your favorite. You have always loved it,” she said gently.

“I do not know,” I admitted, my voice breaking. “I felt terrible these past few days. My stomach turns at everything. I get dizzy just standing up, and I have no strength left. I think all the pain I have carried has finally broken me.”

Lotlot stared at me, her eyes widening with sudden, sharp realization. “Mavi, could you be pregnant?”

I had told her every detail about that night with the stranger. I could not keep such a heavy, terrible secret locked inside me alone.

“I think you might be right,” I whispered, hot tears spilling over as I pressed a trembling hand to my stomach. “My period is two weeks late. I never imagined I would end up like this. And to carry the child of a man who hates my whole family with every fiber of his being. It feels like the cruelest, most heartless twist fate could ever throw at me.”

To be sure, Lotlot took me straight to her friend who was an OB-GYN. The test confirmed every fear I had. I was pregnant. Alpha Magnus was the father of the life growing inside me.

We walked toward her car in heavy silence before she spoke again. “What will you do now, Mavi? Will you tell him about the baby?”

“No,” I answered quickly, cold terror clutching at my throat. “He must never know about that night. He must never know he has a child with me. He despises me and everyone I belong to. If he finds out, he could hurt me. He could hurt our innocent baby or take the baby away from me.”

Lotlot fell deathly quiet as two men walked slowly past us.

“Where are we even supposed to look for this woman, Keanu? Alpha Magnus cannot remember her face clearly. How are we meant to find someone we have never seen or heard?”

My blood turned to ice in my veins at what I heard. Alpha Magnus was looking for me.

“We just do what we are told,” the other man replied. “You know how he is. We have to try, no matter how impossible it seems.”

Lotlot grabbed my arm and pulled me fast into her car, slamming the door shut to block out every sound.

“He is searching for you, Mavi. He is looking for you everywhere. What will you do if he finds you?” she asked, her voice thick with fear for me.

I looked at her, my mind made up in a single, heartbeat moment. There was only one way to keep us safe. “I have to change how I look. And only you can help me disappear completely.”

Lotlot shook her head firmly, tears glistening in her eyes. “No. I will not do that. I cannot bear to lose the face of my best friend.”

“I have no choice!” I cried, clutching her hands with desperate strength. “You are the only one who can save us both. If he learns I am the woman from that night, the mother of his child, what will he do? I am so scared, Lotlot. I am worried about my baby. Please help me.”

She took a long, shaky breath and looked deep into my eyes, seeing the terror there. “You are truly certain about this? You want this more than anything?”

I nodded over and over, every nerve screaming with urgency. “It is the only way. He will never recognize me. He will never find us. We will be safe from him.”

Six years later.

“Mom! Hurry please! We might miss the toy I want!”

My five-year-old son Moses tugged hard on my hand, nearly pulling me off balance as we walked through the mall. He had fallen completely in love with a toy robot earlier. We are going to attend his classmate’s birthday party at the fast food restaurant inside that mall.

“Slow down, my love. We might trip and fall,” I said gently, though my heart softened at his excitement. “That toy will not run away.”

“But what if someone buys it before we get there?” he asked, slowing his steps but still looking anxious.

“I am sure they have plenty more in stock,” I promised with a smile. He nodded, but worry still lingered in his big eyes.

Time moved so fast it made my chest ache. It felt like only yesterday I held him safe inside me, and now he ran and talked and laughed like any other child. I was so proud of the kind, bright boy he had become.

But there was one thing that haunted me every single day. As he grew older, his featured is more and more like Alpha Magnus. The same sharp jaw and the same intense eyes. If they ever stood face to face, there was no way Alpha Magnus would miss the resemblance. That was why we had moved so far away, to this quiet place. I would do anything to keep them apart.

Moses’s face crumpled the moment we reached the shelf. The toy was gone.

“It is gone, Mom,” he said, tears welling up and spilling down his cheeks. “I told you someone would take it.”

“Wait here for me,” I said softly, kneeling to wipe his tears. “I will ask if they have more stored away somewhere.”

I walked to the sales lady arranging the shelves nearby. “Excuse me. Do you have more of the robot that was displayed here earlier?”

She gave me an apologetic look. “I am sorry, Ma’am. That was the very last one. It was a limited edition. A man bought it just a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you anyway,” I said, my heart sinking heavily in my chest.

I turned back to tell Moses, only to freeze where I stood. He was not where I had left him.

“Moses?” I called out, panic exploding in my chest.

I spotted him quickly on the other side of the store. He was talking to a tall man holding exactly that toy robot. He must be the buyer. I hurried over, hoping I could beg him to sell it to me for my son.

“Alpha Magnus. I have been looking everywhere for you.”

My feet froze mid-step as if they had turned to stone. A woman had walked up to the man talking to my son. She had said his name, clear as day.

It could not be. There must be many Alphas named Magnus. It had to be a terrible coincidence. But then the man turned to face the woman, and every breath left my lungs as if I had been punched hard in the chest when I saw his face.

The man talking to my son was none other than Alpha Magnus.