Calista POV:

I don't know how long I sat on the sofa. The city lights outside the panoramic window blurred into a meaningless smear of color.

He didn't come back.

The text I sent him went unanswered, a tiny digital message swallowed by an immense, silent void. Just like every piece of my heart I had given him.

I picked up my phone. My thumb hovered, then pressed the social media icon. It was a form of self-torture.

The feed was flooded with him. With them. "Hockey Prince Stands Vigil for Ailing First Love: A Modern-Day Fairy Tale."

The lead photo was a candid shot. Barrett, leaning over Felicia's hospital bed, his hand gently brushing a strand of hair from her pale forehead. The look in his eyes... that raw, unguarded tenderness... was a look he had never once given me.

A wave of nausea churned in my stomach. I bolted for the bathroom, my hand clamped over my mouth, and retched into the toilet bowl. Nothing came up but bitter acid.

I told myself it was grief. A physical manifestation of a broken heart. But this feeling... it had been haunting me for days.

A cold, terrifying thought pierced through the fog of my misery. My period. It was two weeks late.

My hands shook as I dug through the back of the bathroom cabinet. I found it tucked behind a bottle of expensive lotion I never used. A small, white box I had bought months ago, in a moment of foolish, hopeful fantasy.

A pregnancy test.

It felt impossibly heavy in my palm. I was terrified to confirm the answer that was already screaming in my head.

If... if I was pregnant, would he change his mind? Would he stay for the baby?

The thought was a flicker of light, immediately extinguished by the memory of his cold, gray eyes. His talk of sacrifice. Of duty. For Felicia.

No. He wouldn't.

He would see this child as a complication. A roadblock on his noble path to his one true love.

Worse, he would see it as a ploy. A desperate, pathetic attempt to trap him.

I closed my eyes, my body moving on autopilot, following the instructions on the box. A ritual performed in the depths of despair.

The five minutes of waiting felt like a lifetime. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic, trapped bird.

I placed the test stick face down on the marble countertop, unable to look.

Finally, I forced myself. I took a breath and flipped it over.

Two lines.

Two clear, undeniable, blood-red lines. They burned themselves onto my retinas, two wounds that would never heal.

I was pregnant.

At the exact moment he was leaving me for another woman, I was carrying his child.

There was no joy. Only a vast, cosmic absurdity. A suffocating wave of ice-cold despair. This baby couldn't have come at a worse time.

I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle a sob, my body sliding down the cold, tiled wall until I was a heap on the floor.

My other hand went to my flat stomach. A life. A tiny, secret life was growing inside me. His and mine.

But its father had already decided he didn't want us.

I would not bring a child into a loveless world. I would not let my baby become a tool, a bargaining chip in a game of love I had already lost.

A wild, sharp, and decisive thought formed in the wreckage of my heart.

I stood up. The tears stopped. My eyes were dry and burning.

I picked up the pregnancy test.

Without a moment's hesitation, I snapped the plastic stick in two. The crack was loud in the silent bathroom.

I threw the pieces into the toilet.

I watched as the flush pulled them into a vortex, a tiny white funeral pyre, disappearing forever. Along with my dead love and the last glimmer of starlight in my life.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. A pale, hollow-eyed stranger stared back.

"It's over, Calista," I whispered to her.

This child, I can't have it. Barrett Sterling, I don't want him.

I walked out of the bathroom, back into the living room. I picked up the divorce papers and my pen.

Just then, my phone buzzed. His name flashed on the screen. A sharp pang, a ghost of a feeling, then nothing.

I declined the call.

I opened my contacts, found his name, and pressed "Block."

Then, I sent a single text to my lawyer.

"9 AM tomorrow. Prepare the documents. I want the fastest divorce possible. I'm leaving with nothing."

Done.

A wave of exhaustion washed over me. I walked to the window and looked out at the city. For the first time, its glittering expanse felt completely alien to me. A new future, one I never wanted, was beginning in the heart of my deepest pain.

Calista POV:

The morning sun was a blade against my tired eyes. I hadn't slept. Driving through the waking streets of Chicago, my mind was a calm, cold lake.

My phone rang. A number I didn't recognize. I answered.

It was Barrett's agent, his voice tight with anxiety. "Calista? Barrett's been trying to reach you. Why aren't you answering his calls?"

"Tell him to have his lawyer contact my lawyer," I said, my voice a monotone, and hung up.

The car radio was on, a sports talk show. The hosts were dissecting Barrett's "god-like performance" from last night's game, calling him the "King on Ice."

I switched it off. The praise was a grating noise.

At a red light, another call came through. Eleanor Sterling. Barrett's grandmother. I hesitated, then answered. She was the only Sterling who had ever shown me genuine kindness.

"Calista, dear," her voice was warm, as always. "Did that blockhead Barrett upset you again? He's all muscle and no sense. When are you two going to give me a great-grandchild to spoil?"

The word "grandchild" was a needle to my heart. I swallowed the pain. "Mrs. Sterling," I said, my voice miraculously steady, "perhaps that's a question you should ask Barrett himself."

I made a quick excuse and ended the call. She would know the truth soon enough.

I pulled up to a glass-and-steel skyscraper downtown. My lawyer was waiting for me on the curb.

In the sterile conference room, he placed a fresh stack of papers in front of me. "Are you sure about this, Calista? Leaving with nothing? You're entitled to half of his assets. We're talking about a fortune."

I looked at the new agreement. It stated, in clear, unequivocal terms, that I voluntarily waived all rights to marital property.

"I'm sure." I took the pen and signed my name at the bottom. "My only condition is that this is fast."

I didn't want his money. I just wanted out of the nightmare that was his life.

At ten o'clock sharp, Barrett strode into the law office. He wore expensive casual clothes, looking tired but still impossibly handsome.

He saw me and a look of relief crossed his face. He walked straight toward me. "Finally. I've been calling. Did you sign the—"

My lawyer cut him off, handing him the document I had just signed. "Mr. Sterling, this is the divorce agreement Ms. Johnston has prepared. Please review it."

Barrett froze. He glanced down at the title, his brow furrowing. "What is this? Where's the one I gave her?"

"The document you provided was a 'separation agreement,' Mr. Sterling," my lawyer explained calmly. "This is a legally binding 'irrevocable dissolution of marriage.'"

Barrett's head snapped up. His face, moments ago relieved, was now a mask of disbelief. He stared at me, his gray eyes blazing. "Calista, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything," I said, meeting his gaze without flinching for the first time in years. "It's what you wanted. A divorce. I'm agreeing."

"That's not what I meant! I meant temporary!" he hissed, his voice a low growl as he fought to control his temper.

"But what I want," I said, each word a carefully placed stone, "is permanent."

He stared at me, searching my face for a tell. He thought this was a negotiation. He thought I was bluffing for more money.

"What do you want?" he said, taking a deep breath, his voice softening into the tone he used to placate sponsors. "More money? A different property? Name it. It's yours."

The condescension was so thick I could taste it. I almost laughed.

I shook my head. "I don't want anything."

I pointed to the papers in his hand. "Barrett, you wanted a 'clean slate' for Felicia, right? This gives you the cleanest slate possible. You'll be single. Unmarried. Free to be with her, openly and honestly. The media will praise your devotion."

My words were a soft, sharp poison, dismantling his entire, carefully constructed plan.

He was utterly stunned. He had never considered this possibility. In his world, I was a satellite, orbiting his sun. He never imagined I would choose to break orbit and fly into the void.

"Calista..." He started, but the words died on his lips.

I didn't give him a chance to recover. I stood up. "The terms are simple. I'm sure Mr. Sterling will have no objections. I have another appointment."

I turned and walked out of the conference room. I did not look back.

As the door closed behind me, I heard his voice, tight with a rage he could no longer contain, questioning his lawyer.

Stepping out of the building and into the sunlight, I took a deep, clean breath. For the first time in three years, I felt like I was breathing my own air. I had made a choice for me. The shock and chaos I left behind in that room were his to deal with.