SERRA
Waking up, I found myself back in the simple room I shared with the other maids. The familiar surroundings brought a bit of comfort, but my thoughts were muddled with confusion. I tried to remember how I ended up here.
To my surprise, I wasn't alone. A man, maybe in his mid-40s, was sitting nearby. We made eye contact, and he greeted me with a warm smile. "Oh, you're awake," he said, signaling for me to sit up.
As I tried to figure things out, the man came closer, his friendly attitude making me feel more at ease. I couldn't help but ask, "What happened?" He explained that Clara found me unconscious in the hallway, and she called him–turns out he's a doctor.
It hit me, and I remembered the encounter with Violet, feeling dizzy, and then collapsing. Clara acted fast by getting medical help.
With a dull ache in my head, I said, "I think I was just tired. We've been so busy lately, and maybe my body was telling me to rest." I thought about how I couldn't afford to rest with the workload and being new here. But perhaps my body had reached its limit.
The doctor nodded, understanding. "That definitely played a role," he said. "But there's something else we need to talk about."
Worry lined my face as I asked, "What's wrong with me?" The fear in my voice was hard to hide. The doctor, keeping a professional demeanor, began to explain. I prepared for the worst, picturing serious illnesses and huge challenges ahead.
"You're not sick," he clarified, "but you're pregnant."
The words hung there, and for a moment, I couldn't believe what I heard. There had to be some mistake, I thought. Maybe my hearing was off, or perhaps the doctor was playing a cruel joke. But as it sank in, I couldn't ignore the symptoms I'd been feeling. It kind of matched with the times I felt sick, got dizzy out of nowhere, and was tired all the time. I never thought these things meant I was pregnant.
"Pregnant?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. The doctor stayed professional but nodded to confirm. I asked again, almost hoping for a different answer, "Are you sure?" He reassured me, saying he'd been a doctor for years, and if I doubted it, I could take a test to be sure.
I touched my stomach almost involuntarily. Never before had I thought about having a life growing inside me. The doctor, trying to offer comfort, said things like "blessing" and "congratulations." But the shock left me frozen; I couldn't react.
As I tried to process the news, questions flooded my mind. How could this happen to me? Who was the father of this unborn child? I touched my stomach again, almost expecting the truth to appear beneath my fingertips. Then, like a sudden revelation, the memory of that night with Alpha Theron flashed in my mind, and a realization struck me–it was probably his child.
As the doctor got ready to leave, panic gripped me. I grabbed his hand and urgently whispered, "Don't tell anyone about this. Keep it a secret." The doctor met my plea with an unapologetic gaze. Before I could press further, the door burst open, revealing Alpha Theron. His black shirt rolled to his elbows, and his stern expression demanded answers.
Alpha Theron's gaze shifted to me. "What happened?" he inquired.
The doctor greeted Theron and quickly explained, "She's okay, Alpha."
However, I shook my head, silently urging the doctor not to reveal the truth. Ignoring my plea, he went on, stating that I was pregnant. Alpha Theron's stern expression deepened, and he shot a glare at the doctor, a silent command for him to leave. The doctor, recognizing the alpha's order, quickly exited the room, leaving us alone.
Alpha Theron's eyes bore into me as I averted my gaze, my fingers nervously tracing circles on my stomach. "Look at me," he commanded. I couldn't refuse an alpha's order, so I reluctantly met his gaze. In that intense moment, Alpha Theron declared, "It's mine."
Shaking my head, I denied his claim. "No, it's not."
Alpha Theron's response was unwavering. "I know it's mine, and you don't need to deny it. We can prove it."
The weight of his words sank in, and a surge of anxiety coursed through me. How could he be so sure? I kept my eyes on the floor, avoiding the intensity of his gaze. He, however, cupped my chin, gently forcing me to look at him. "It's a shame," he remarked with a tinge of regret, "that the mother of my child had to resort to such methods."
His words hung in the air, leaving an ominous echo. Confusion knitted my brows, and I looked at him, searching for understanding. "What do you mean?" I asked, my voice a fragile whisper in the room.
His gaze bore into mine, a mixture of regret and accusation dancing in his eyes. "You were nothing but a scheming woman," he declared coldly, "who got on my bed by drugging me."
I felt the color drain from my face as the weight of his words settled. His accusation hung in the air, a heavy shroud of disbelief enveloping me. I opened my mouth to protest, to deny the hurtful words he'd just uttered, but the words caught in my throat.
His gaze bore into mine, and I could see the determination in his eyes. The room felt smaller, closing in on me as if the walls themselves were accusing me. I wanted to reach out, to make him understand that I had no memory of such actions, but the words stayed trapped within me.
Alpha Theron released my chin, stepping back as if to create some distance between us. "The baby needs to be born healthy," he declared with a stern edge to his voice, "or you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
The weight of his threat hung in the air as he turned away, walking towards the door. Without a word, he slammed it shut. The sound echoing through the room, that sound said it all. I sat on the edge of the bed, the echoes of his accusations still ringing in my ears.
The room now felt like a suffocating space, trapping me in a situation I never expected. How could I have ended up with another heartless and mean alpha? The question echoed in my mind, but there were no answers.
What was I going to do? Every option seemed to lead to a dead end. My hands instinctively rested on my stomach, where a new life was quietly growing, unaware of the chaos surrounding its existence.