Hiding behind a hat and sunglasses, I slipped into a discreet OB-GYN clinic on Chicago's Gold Coast for my first ultrasound. Anonymous. Safe. Or so I thought.
Until I saw him.
Rhys Montgomery.
I froze mid-stride.
He was gliding through the waiting room like he owned it, all sharp lines in a bespoke shirt, one hand resting possessively on a supermodel's waist. They were laughing. She held a pregnancy pamphlet, pointing something out to him.
My stomach twisted into a knot tighter than any morning sickness had managed.
I spun on my heel, my heart hammering against my ribs. The appointment card in my wallet felt like a razor's edge. My ultrasound.
I didn't move. I couldn't.
I stared at the abstract art on the wall for a full thirty seconds, my mind a blank wall of static, and then I bolted.
Outside, the sun was too bright, the sky too blue. I walked. Fast. Aimlessly. Just to put distance between me and that waiting room. My flats were giving me blisters within three blocks, but I didn't stop.
Not until I reached the Chicago River.
There, I shoved the appointment booklet deep into a public trash can, burying it under discarded coffee cups and newspapers.
He had someone.
Of course he did.
Why wouldn't he?
He was Rhys Montgomery—real estate wunderkind, media darling, the Prince of the Chicago Skyline.
I was Sloane Ashford. The Blueprint Queen. How bitterly ironic.
A gull shrieked overhead. I wished I could do the same.
When I finally dragged myself home, I collapsed onto the couch. I opened a new folder on my laptop, titled "Project Phoenix," and began mapping out single motherhood with the same ruthless efficiency I'd apply to a project kickoff.
Budget calculators. Grinning bloggers with pregnancy-safe recipes. A forum post titled: How to Tell the Father to Get Lost (When He's Already Moved On).
I slammed my laptop shut.
Stared at the ceiling.
Listened to my heart beat, a metronome knocked painfully out of sync.
The image of that discarded booklet was seared into my mind.
A reminder.
A structural fracture that showed no signs of healing.
