Chapter 339

[ 1,046 words ]

Katia’s POV

The nausea had slammed into me thirty minutes earlier, right after I stared at two clear, pink lines on a small plastic stick that refused to disappear no matter how many times I blinked or how hard I wished them away.

I was still trying to steady my breathing when Sam walked into my office, tablet already in hand, launching straight into the quarterly projections with her usual crisp, no-nonsense efficiency. I hadn’t absorbed a single word. My hands were folded tightly on top of a closed folder I hadn’t opened once during the entire meeting. The numbers on the page in front of me blurred into meaningless shapes.

“Katia p>

I blinked slowly. Sam had stopped talking and was watching me closely.

“Sorry,” I said. “Go on p>

“I’ve repeated the same sentence three times now,” she replied, setting the tablet down on her lap. Her eyes narrowed in that way she had when she decided the conversation was no longer about business. “Are you alright p>

I considered lying. I had become dangerously skilled at it lately, smiling through tense family dinners, nodding along to conversations I barely heard, pretending my entire world wasn’t quietly unraveling at the seams. But this was Sam. I had never really been able to hide the things that truly mattered from her.

“I think I’m about to have a very complicated year,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended.

Sam set the tablet aside completely, giving me the full weight of her attention.

“How complicated are we talking p>

“That depends,” I said slowly, “on what you find p>

She tilted her head, curiosity sharpening her gaze. “Find where p>

I didn’t answer with words. Instead, I reached into the locked top drawer of my desk and pulled out a plain white envelope. No label. No seal. Just the flap tucked neatly inside. I slid it across the polished wooden surface toward her.

Sam stared at the envelope for several long seconds, then lifted her eyes to mine. The silent question hung between us. I gave the smallest nod. She picked it up, opened the flap, and looked inside.

I watched her face the entire time, reading every micro-expression the way I had trained myself to do across countless high-stakes negotiating tables. First came the slight lift of her eyebrows. Then her lips parted just a fraction. The professional composure she wore like armor cracked for a brief, telling moment.

“Katia Her voice dropped lower than usual. “Why would you want me to do this p>

“Can you get it done discreetly and quickly p>

“That’s not what I asked you p>

“I know,” I said, meeting her eyes steadily. “I’m asking you to do it anyway p>

Sam closed the envelope with deliberate care, her thumb running along the sealed edge as though she could somehow read the secrets hidden inside through touch alone. The worry in her expression was real now, deeper than I had seen in a long time.

“You understand what this means if it comes back the way you’re clearly afraid it might p>

“I don’t know what I’m afraid of,” I admitted honestly, leaning back in my chair. “Not completely. I’ve been turning this over and over in my head for two years now. At three in the morning when I can’t sleep. In the shower when the water runs too hot. During meetings where I suddenly can’t follow a single sentence or number. I can’t tell anymore whether I’m seeing real patterns or whether I’ve been surrounded by lies and half-truths for so long that I’ve started inventing new ones just to stay one step ahead of the fear p>

Sam tapped the envelope lightly against her knee, thinking carefully.

“And if it’s nothing?” she asked. “If this comes back completely clean, no red flags, no surprises whatsoever p>

“Then I’ve wasted your discretion on a paranoid afternoon, and I’ll never mention it again p>

Sam studied me for a long, heavy moment, searching my face. Then something shifted in her expression, that quiet, resolute commitment I knew so well from years of working together.

“A few days,” she said finally. “Maybe less if I push the right people p>

“Push them p>

She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice even though we were entirely alone in the office. “Whatever this is about… I need you to tell me one thing honestly. Is this about protecting yourself, or is this about protecting him p>

The question landed heavier than I expected. I rested my hand lightly on my stomach without thinking, the gesture still new, strange, and terrifying.

“I don’t know yet,” I said softly. “That’s what I need the answer to find out, but it’s about me p>

Sam held my gaze for several heartbeats, then tucked the envelope carefully into the inside pocket of her blazer, smoothing the fabric over it as if it might somehow reveal its contents if she weren’t careful.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “I’ll have something for you soon p>

She stood, adjusting her blazer one last time at the door.

“Sam,” I called softly as she reached for the handle.

She paused, looking back at me.

“Don’t tell anyone you’re doing this p>

“I never tell anyone anything,” she said. “That’s why you keep me around p>

The door clicked shut behind her with a soft, final sound.

I sat alone in the heavy silence of my office for a long time afterward, staring at the closed door. My hand remained pressed lightly against my stomach. Thirty minutes ago, two pink lines had quietly upended my entire future. Now I had set something else irreversible in motion, something that might finally give me the answers I desperately needed, or completely shatter the fragile reality I had been clinging to.

The weight of it all pressed down on me. The suspicion that had been growing for weeks. The man I had been falling for. The child I already had. The possibility that everything was connected in ways I wasn’t ready to face.

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to steady the rapid beat of my heart.

Whatever came back in that envelope, it would either confirm my deepest fears… or force me to confront a truth I had been running from for years.

I wasn’t sure which possibility terrified me more.

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