Lara sat on the edge of her bed, staring blankly at the wall. The words from the nurse earlier kept replaying in her mind: You're two and a half months pregnant. She hadn't told anyone. Not yet. Not even her sister.
Her phone vibrated again. Another message from her older sister, Amelia.
> "Lara, please come home tonight. We need to talk."
Lara hesitated. Her heart felt heavy. The last time she had spoken with Amelia, their conversation had been brief and filled with tension. Amelia had seemed nervous, distracted. Now Lara couldn't help but wonder—was Amelia hiding something too?
That evening, Lara walked quietly through the gates of their family house. The lights inside were warm and welcoming, but her heart was cold with uncertainty. She wasn't sure if she was ready to face her sister, especially with the news she now carried.
"Lara?" Amelia stood at the top of the stairs, dressed elegantly as always, her expression unreadable. "You're home."
Lara gave a small nod and forced a faint smile. "You said you wanted to talk."
Amelia led her into the living room. The room was quiet except for the soft ticking of the clock on the wall. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Amelia took a deep breath. "I need to tell you something important."
Lara's heart skipped a beat. She sat up straighter. "Go on."
"I'm engaged," Amelia said, her voice gentle.
Lara blinked. "Engaged? Since when?"
"Three months ago," Amelia replied. "It was kept secret at first... for family reasons. He's not the kind of man our parents would approve of immediately, but he's powerful and wealthy, and... I love him."
Lara's heart began to race. Something about Amelia's words made her feel uneasy.
"Who is he?" she asked, already fearing the answer.
Amelia smiled softly. "Ethan Blackwood."
The room spun.
Lara felt like the floor had dropped beneath her. The name hit her like a lightning bolt. Ethan? Her boss? The same man who had called her into his office? The man who had caused her so much confusion just hours earlier?
"You... you're engaged to Ethan Blackwood?" she asked, her voice trembling.
Amelia nodded. "Yes. But we're keeping it quiet for now. Only a few people know. He asked me not to say anything yet."
Lara looked down at her hands, her fingers trembling. She didn't know how to respond. Her sister was engaged to the man she had just started working for—the same man who had shown a strange level of interest in her. And now, Lara was pregnant, unsure of who the father was.
Could Ethan be involved in more than one secret?
"I see," Lara finally said, trying to keep her voice steady. "That's... surprising."
Amelia reached out and took Lara's hand. "I didn't want to keep this from you. I was just waiting for the right time."
Lara nodded slowly. "Of course."
But inside, everything was changing. The secret she carried had just become even more complicated. And as she looked into her sister's smiling eyes, Lara realized one terrifying truth: if Ethan really was the father of her baby, then this secret might destroy everything.