Aria's POV
Maya's apartment is small but clean—the complete opposite of the mansion I grew up in.
"Bathroom's through there," she says, pointing. "Take your time. I'll make tea."
I clutch the pregnancy test I bought earlier, my hands still shaking. In Maya's car, I told her everything—the ceremony, the rejection, the demon contract. She didn't run screaming. Just listened and kept driving.
Now I'm standing in her bathroom, staring at the test in my hand.
"You already took one," Azrael reminds me, his presence warm in my mind. "It was positive."
"I know. But I need to be absolutely sure before I..." I trail off.
"Before you what?"
I don't answer. Instead, I take the second test.
Three minutes later, I'm staring at two pink lines again.
Definitely pregnant.
I place my hand on my stomach. There's a tiny life growing inside me. Half me, half Xavier.
Xavier.
My chest tightens. He's the father. He has a right to know... doesn't he?
"Little Chen, I can feel what you're thinking," Azrael warns. "And it's a terrible idea."
"He deserves to know about his child."
"He deserves nothing. He abandoned you."
"But maybe... maybe if he knows about the baby, he'll realize he made a mistake. Maybe he'll—"
"Come crawling back?" Azrael's voice is sharp. "And you'd take him? After everything?"
"No! I just..." I look at the test again. "Every child deserves a father who wants them. Maybe this will change his mind. Maybe he'll choose us this time."
Silence from Azrael. Then: "You're going to get hurt again."
"Maybe. But I have to try. For this baby."
I walk out of the bathroom. Maya looks up from the tea she's making.
"So?" she asks gently.
"Positive. I'm pregnant."
She nods slowly. "What do you want to do?"
"I need to tell the father. He... he's someone important. Someone who might help if he knows."
Maya's eyes are sad, like she's seen this story before. "And if he doesn't want to help?"
"Then I disappear. Just like you offered." I meet her gaze. "But I have to try first."
She sighs. "Okay. But be careful. Men with power rarely do the right thing."
Twenty minutes later, I'm standing outside the Kane estate—the massive mansion where Xavier's family has lived for generations.
My heart pounds as I approach the security gate.
"I need to see Xavier Kane," I tell the guard. "It's an emergency."
The guard looks me up and down. I'm still wearing the torn ceremonial robes from last night, dirty and wrinkled. I look like a disaster.
"Mr. Kane isn't taking visitors."
"Please. It's urgent. Tell him Aria Chen needs to speak with him."
The guard's expression shifts—recognition mixed with disgust. Everyone in the Tamer Society knows what happened to me by now.
"Wait here," he mutters, picking up his phone.
Five agonizing minutes pass. Then the gate swings open.
"Mr. Kane will see you in his office. Five minutes only."
Relief and dread war in my stomach as I walk up the long driveway. The Kane mansion is even bigger than my family's—all glass and modern architecture, screaming wealth and power.
A servant leads me through marble hallways to Xavier's office. She knocks, then opens the door.
"Miss Chen," she announces coldly.
I step inside.
Xavier sits behind a massive desk, looking perfect in an expensive suit. His dark hair is styled. His eyes are cold.
And Celeste is there too, sitting on the edge of his desk like she owns it, wearing a red dress that probably costs more than my old monthly allowance.
My stomach drops.
"Aria," Xavier says, not standing. "I have a meeting in five minutes. Make this quick."
This is the man who whispered he loved me. Who held me close and promised forever.
Now he looks at me like I'm a stranger.
"I need to talk to you. Alone." I glance at Celeste.
"Anything you say to Xavier, you can say in front of me." Celeste smiles sweetly. "We don't keep secrets from each other. Do we, darling?"
She runs her hand through his hair. He doesn't stop her.
"Fine." I take a breath, trying to steady myself. "Xavier, I'm pregnant."
The words hang in the air.
Xavier's expression doesn't change. "Congratulations. Is this supposed to concern me?"
My heart cracks. "It's yours. From our last night together, before the ceremony—"
"Impossible." He stands, his voice cutting. "I was careful."
"Nothing is one hundred percent—"
"This is pathetic, Aria." He walks around the desk. "You're making up a pregnancy to trap me into taking you back."
"I'm not making it up! I have the test results—"
"Which you could have faked." Celeste slides off the desk, standing beside Xavier. "Really, sister, this is low even for you. Showing up with a fake pregnancy claim?"
"It's not fake!" Desperation claws at my throat. "Xavier, please. I know you're angry about the ceremony, but this is your child. Our child. Doesn't that mean anything?"
For a moment—just a second—something flickers in his eyes.
Then his grandfather's voice echoes from the doorway: "Xavier, remember what we discussed."
I turn to see the old man, the Kane family patriarch, standing there with ice in his gaze.
"That girl brings nothing but shame," he continues. "Don't let her drag you down further with obvious lies."
"They're not lies!" My voice breaks.
Xavier's face hardens again, the flicker of emotion gone. "Even if you were pregnant—which I doubt—it wouldn't be mine. You were probably with someone else and now you're trying to pin it on me for money."
The accusation hits like a slap.
"How can you say that? You were my first! My only—"
"Get out." His voice is arctic.
"Xavier, please—"
He opens a drawer and pulls out a stack of cash. Hundred dollar bills. He throws them at my feet like trash.
"There's fifty thousand dollars. Get rid of it. Get an abortion. Use it for whatever you want. But if you ever come back here claiming that child is mine, I will destroy you." His eyes bore into mine. "I'll make sure you never work, never live anywhere decent, never have a moment of peace. Do you understand?"
Tears stream down my face. "This is your baby."
"No. It's your problem." He turns away. "Security!"
Two large men appear in the doorway.
"Escort Miss Chen off the property. If she returns, call the police and have her arrested for trespassing."
"No! Xavier, please! Just listen—"
The guards grab my arms. I struggle, but they're too strong.
"You're going to regret this!" I scream as they drag me backward. "When this child is born, when they have your eyes, your face—you'll know I was telling the truth!"
"I'll never regret cutting loose dead weight," Xavier says, already turning back to his desk.
Celeste's laughter follows me down the hallway. High and cruel.
The guards literally throw me out the front gate. I land hard on the pavement, scraping my palms. The money scatters around me, fifties and hundreds flying in the breeze.
People passing by stare. Some even take pictures.
I lie there on the ground, broken, bleeding, pregnant, and alone.
"Little Chen." Azrael's voice is soft in my mind. "I'm sorry."
"You were right," I whisper. "He doesn't care. He never did."
"What do you want to do?"
I slowly push myself up. My palms sting where they scraped concrete. Blood mixes with dirt.
Around me, fifty thousand dollars litters the ground—Xavier's blood money to erase his own child.
I could take it. I need it.
But if I touch that money, it means accepting his terms. Accepting that my baby is a "problem" to be eliminated.
"I'm not taking his money," I say out loud.
"Aria, be practical—"
"No." I stand on shaking legs. "I won't take a single dollar from him. This baby is mine. Mine. And I'll raise them without his blood money."
I start walking away, leaving fifty thousand dollars scattered on the ground behind me.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number: Saw what just happened. Kane estate has cameras everywhere. I recorded the whole thing. Save this video. You'll need it someday. —A Friend
Attached is a video file. I download it quickly—Xavier throwing money, calling my baby a problem, threatening to destroy me.
Evidence.
"Who sent this?" I wonder aloud.
"Does it matter?" Azrael asks. "You have proof now. When the time is right, you can use it to burn him."
I save the video in three different cloud accounts. Then I keep walking, one hand protectively on my stomach.
My phone rings. Maya's number.
"Where are you?" she asks.
"Walking. The father didn't... he doesn't want us."
"I'm so sorry." Her voice is gentle. "Come back to my apartment. We'll figure this out together."
"Okay," I whisper.
She gives me the address again and hangs up.
I'm halfway back when nausea hits like a truck. I barely make it to a trash can before throwing up.
Morning sickness. Or maybe just heartbreak.
"You need to eat," Azrael says. "The baby needs nutrients."
"I don't have any money. I left Xavier's cash behind."
"Admirable but stupid." He pauses. "There's a soup kitchen two blocks north. Go there."
I follow his directions and find a small church serving free meals. The volunteer doesn't ask questions, just hands me a bowl of soup and bread.
I eat slowly, my hand never leaving my stomach.
"I'm going to protect you," I whisper to the tiny life inside me. "I don't know how yet, but I will. You're going to grow up safe and loved and strong."
"We'll protect them," Azrael corrects. "Both of you."
After eating, I head back to Maya's apartment. She's waiting with the door open.
"Come in. Sit. Tell me everything."
I do. The whole horrible story spills out—Xavier's cruelty, the money, my decision to walk away from it.
Maya listens, her expression growing darker.
"You did the right thing," she finally says. "But you need to disappear. Really disappear. The Kane family has power and reach. If they think you'll cause problems—"
"They'll eliminate the problem," I finish. "Me and the baby."
She nods grimly. "I help women disappear from powerful men. I have resources. Connections. A network of safe houses across the country."
"Why are you helping me? You don't even know me."
Maya's eyes grow distant. "When I was nineteen, I got pregnant by a powerful man. He didn't want the baby either. I refused to get rid of it." She touches a scar on her wrist. "His family made sure I lost the baby anyway. Nearly killed me in the process."
Horror washes over me. "Maya..."
"I survived. Started helping other women escape before the same thing happened to them." She meets my gaze. "You're pregnant with a child that powerful families don't want to exist. That makes you a target."
"What do I do?"
"You disappear. Tonight. I have a safe house in a coastal town three states away. Small. Quiet. No Tamer Society presence. You can have the baby there, raise them in peace."
"And then what? Hide forever?"
"You hide until you're strong enough to fight back." Maya looks at the contract runes on my arms. "You bonded with a demon king. That's power the Society fears. Use the time to train. To grow stronger. To prepare."
"Prepare for what?"
"For the day you come back and make them all regret what they did to you."
Something fierce and cold settles in my chest. "How long?"
"Five years. Maybe more. Long enough for them to forget about you. To think you're dead or broken or gone forever." Maya's smile is sharp. "Then you return—powerful, dangerous, and ready for revenge."
Five years.
Five years to raise my child. To master my powers. To become someone they should have feared.
"Okay," I say. "I'll disappear."
"Pack light. We leave in two hours."
I don't have anything to pack except the torn robes on my back.
Maya gives me clothes—jeans, a sweater, shoes that actually fit. As I change, I catch my reflection in the mirror.
The contract runes glow faintly on my skin. My eyes look different—harder, colder, older than they were yesterday.
Yesterday I was Aria Chen, the beloved daughter. The chosen heir. The girl who believed in fairy tales.
That girl is dead.
"Ready?" Azrael asks in my mind.
"Yes," I say to both him and my reflection.
Two hours later, I'm in Maya's car, leaving the city behind.
As the skyline fades in the rearview mirror, I make a promise to the life growing inside me and to myself:
Five years from now, I'll return.
Not as the broken girl they threw away.
But as a doctor. A mother. A woman with the Demon King's power flowing through her veins.
And Xavier Kane, Celeste Chen, Marcus Chen—everyone who destroyed me—will learn what it means to throw away something precious.
Because I'm not gone forever.
I'm just getting started.
My phone buzzes one last time. A final text from Celeste: Thanks for the fiancé, sis! Don't worry, I'll tell our baby all about their loser aunt who couldn't handle rejection. XOXO
I stare at the message.
Celeste is pregnant too.
She's carrying Xavier's child—the one he actually wants.
While mine is called a "problem" worth fifty thousand dollars to erase.
The injustice burns through me like acid.
"Five years," I whisper, deleting the message.
"Five years," Azrael agrees. "Then we destroy them all."
As the city disappears behind us, I place both hands on my stomach and smile.
My child will be born free. Loved. Powerful.
And when we return, the world will kneel.