Sophia Chen's POV
My clothes were on the front lawn.
I stood at the gate of my childhood home, staring at everything I owned scattered across the grass like garbage. Dresses. Shoes. Books. Photos of my father. All thrown out like trash.
Eleanor stood on the front steps, her face twisted with disgust.
"You're not welcome here anymore," she called out. "You've shamed this family enough."
Two weeks. It had only been two weeks since Dominic Ashford threw me out of his office. Two weeks since he called my unborn baby a bastard. Two weeks since my entire life shattered.
And now I was homeless.
"Please," I begged, my voice breaking. "I have nowhere to go. I'm pregnant. I just need a few days to figure things out—"
"You should have thought about that before you tried to trap a billionaire." Eleanor's voice was ice. "The whole city is talking about you, Sophia. The Chen name is ruined because of your schemes."
Schemes? I hadn't schemed anything. I was the victim. But nobody believed me.
"I didn't do what everyone says," I whispered. "I was drugged. Someone set me up—"
"Enough lies!" Eleanor screamed. "Get your things and leave. If you're not gone in ten minutes, I'm calling the police."
She slammed the door.
I stood there, frozen. My legs wouldn't move. My mind couldn't process what was happening.
This was my home. My father's home. The place where he taught me to ride a bike, where we baked cookies together, where he told me I'd run his company someday.
Now it was just a building that didn't want me anymore.
"Sophia!"
Maya ran up the driveway, breathing hard. My best friend since elementary school. The only person who still believed me.
"I came as soon as I got your message." She looked at my clothes scattered everywhere, and her face went hard. "That witch actually kicked you out."
I couldn't speak. If I opened my mouth, I'd start crying and never stop.
Maya grabbed my hand. "Come on. We're getting your stuff and leaving. You're staying with me."
"Your parents—"
"Will understand." Maya started gathering my clothes, shoving them into the suitcases Eleanor had thrown out with everything else. "Or they won't. Either way, you're not sleeping on the street."
I helped her pack, moving like a robot. My hands picked up clothes, but my mind was somewhere else. Somewhere dark and hopeless.
How did this happen? Two months ago, I had everything. A family. A future. A company to run.
Now I had nothing. Less than nothing.
"Maya." My voice came out small and broken. "I'm pregnant. I can't afford a baby. I don't have money. I don't have a job. Eleanor froze my trust fund. I can't—"
"Stop." Maya grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at her. "You're not doing this alone. Whatever happens, we'll figure it out together."
Tears spilled down my cheeks. "Everyone believes Victoria's lies. They think I'm a gold-digger who tried to trap Dominic Ashford. Nobody will hire me. Nobody will—"
"Then we leave." Maya said it so simply, like it was obvious. "We get out of this city. Start over somewhere new. Somewhere people don't know your name or Victoria's lies."
I stared at her. "Leave? But this is home—"
"This is a prison." Maya looked at the house, at Eleanor watching us from the window. "And if you stay, they'll destroy you. Is that what you want for your baby? To grow up watching its mother break?"
No. I pressed my hand to my stomach, feeling the tiny life inside me. The only good thing in my nightmare.
"I want my baby to be safe," I whispered. "I want them to be loved. I want—" My voice broke. "I want them to never feel like a mistake."
Maya hugged me tight. "Then we run. We build a new life. And we never look back."
We sold everything. My jewelry. My designer bags. My laptop. Everything worth anything.
It wasn't much. Barely five thousand dollars. But it was enough for two plane tickets to Singapore, where Maya's aunt owned a small apartment we could rent cheap.
I stood outside the Chen family house one last time. The sun was setting, painting everything gold and red. Beautiful and cruel.
This was goodbye. To my father's memory. To everything I thought my life would be.
My hand rested on my stomach. "I'm sorry," I whispered to the baby. "I'm sorry you'll never know your grandfather. I'm sorry your father doesn't want you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from all this."
But then something inside me shifted. Hardened.
No. I wasn't sorry. I was angry.
Dominic Ashford called you a bastard before you were even born. He threw me away like garbage. He didn't even try to hear the truth.
Eleanor and Victoria stole everything my father built and blamed me for their failures.
They all thought I was weak. Broken. Finished.
They're wrong.
"I'll protect you," I said firmly to my unborn child. "I'll make sure you never feel unwanted. I'll build us a life where we don't need anyone. Not Dominic Ashford. Not the Chen family. No one."
I was twenty-two years old, pregnant, and alone. But I had a Stanford degree. A brain that understood technology and business. And something more powerful than money or connections.
I had nothing left to lose.
"Come on." Maya opened the taxi door. "Our flight leaves in three hours."
I got in without looking back.
As the taxi pulled away, I watched the city scroll past the window. The skyline where Dominic Ashford's empire touched the clouds. The business district where my father built his company. The parks where I played as a child.
Goodbye.
I didn't know it would be six years before I returned.
I didn't know that when I came back, I'd be powerful enough to destroy them all.
But somewhere deep inside, in the part of me that refused to break, I knew one thing with absolute certainty:
They'll regret this. Every single one of them.
Six Months Later - Singapore
My water broke at 3am in our tiny apartment.
Maya rushed me to the hospital, holding my hand as contractions ripped through me. The pain was unbelievable. Like being torn apart from the inside.
"You're doing great," Maya said, but her face was scared.
Hours passed. The pain got worse. Doctors rushed in and out, their voices urgent.
"Her blood pressure is dropping—"
"The baby's heart rate is irregular—"
"We might need an emergency C-section—"
Fear crashed over me. No. Please. Not my baby. Don't take my baby.
"I need you to push," the doctor said. "Now, Sophia. Push!"
I pushed with everything I had. All my anger. All my pain. All my broken dreams and shattered hopes.
And then—
A cry.
The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.
"It's a boy," the doctor said, placing him on my chest.
I looked down at my son. Tiny. Perfect. With a full head of dark hair and eyes that would probably turn gray like—
Like his father's.
My heart cracked and healed at the same time.
"Hi, baby," I whispered. "I'm your mom. And I promise you, I'm going to give you the world."
He grabbed my finger with his tiny hand, and I fell in love so completely it hurt.
Maya leaned over, tears streaming down her face. "He's perfect. What are you going to name him?"
I thought about Dominic Ashford. About the man who threw us away. About the father who would never know his own son.
Good. He doesn't deserve to know.
"Ethan," I said. "Ethan Chen. Because he's mine. Only mine."
Maya smiled. "Ethan Chen. I like it."
But as I held my son, watching him sleep peacefully, my phone buzzed with an email notification.
The sender: Unknown.
The subject line: "Congratulations on Your Baby Boy."
My blood ran cold.
I opened the email with shaking hands.
Inside was a single photo.
Me. In the hospital. Holding Ethan.
Taken through the window.
Someone was here. Someone was watching.
Below the photo, one sentence in red letters:
"Six years from now, you'll come back. And when you do, I'll be waiting. This game isn't over, Sophia. It's just beginning."
I clutched Ethan to my chest, my heart pounding.
Who sent this? Victoria? Dominic? Someone else?
And how did they know I'd return in six years?
Maya leaned over to see the phone, and her face went white. "Sophia... what is this?"
"I don't know," I whispered. "But whoever it is, they've been watching us this whole time."
I looked down at my sleeping son, then back at the threatening message.
They think they can scare me? They think they can control my life?
Wrong.
"Let them wait," I said, my voice hard as steel. "Because when I come back, I won't be the broken girl they destroyed. I'll be the woman who destroys them."
Maya's eyes widened. "Sophia—"
"Book me a meeting with every tech investor in Singapore," I said, my mind already working. "I'm going to build something. Something powerful. Something that will make Dominic Ashford's empire look small."
"You're serious."
"I've never been more serious in my life." I kissed Ethan's forehead. "They wanted a war? They'll get one. But it won't happen tomorrow. It'll happen when I'm ready. When I'm strong enough to win."
The email notification buzzed again.
Another message. Another photo.
This time, it was a picture of Dominic Ashford at some business conference.
And written below it:
"He doesn't know. Should we tell him?"
My hands shook with rage.
No. He doesn't get to know. Not until I decide. Not until I'm powerful enough that he can never hurt us again.
"Delete it," Maya said. "Delete all of it."
But I didn't delete it.
I saved every message. Every threat. Every taunt.
Because someday, I'd need evidence.
Someday, I'd need ammunition.
And when that day came, I'd make sure everyone who hurt me paid the price.