Sophia's hands trembled as she stared down at the plastic stick, unable to fully comprehend what she was seeing.
Positive.
She was pregnant.
A tidal wave of emotions crashed over her - shock, fear, shame...but also a glimmer of hope and awe at the tiny life taking root inside her womb.
How could this be possible? After the reckless, drunken mistake she had made just weeks ago with that nameless stranger? The one night of heated passion that had shattered her life into pieces?
"Oh god..." The whispered words tumbled from her lips as she clutched the test against her pounding chest. "What am I going to do now?"
Her phone started ringing, the shrill tone jarring her from her spiral of stunned disbelief. Sophia jumped, her heart leaping into her throat as she scrambled to check the caller ID.
Lily. Of course.
Despite everything, that manipulative, venomous woman was still supposedly her closest friend in this world. Or at least, she had been before luring her out and catalyzing this life-altering twist of fate.
Sophia swallowed hard, willing her trembling fingers to stillness as she accepted the call. "H-Hello?"
"Well, well, if it isn't the runaway bride herself!" Lily's acid-laced words instantly set Sophia on edge. "Finally deigned to stop dodging my calls, did you?"
Sophia flinched at the harsh sarcasm coating her friend's tone. "Lily, I...I'm sorry, I've just been dealing with so much since...well, you know..."
"Oh yes, since you epically torched your own multi-million dollar future by cheating on Prince Charming," Lily interrupted with a derisive snort. "Not to mention flushing your shot at the Felix empire completely down the crapper. Brilliant move there, girlfriend."
Tears stung at Sophia's eyes as she absorbed the sting of reality yet again. She really had sabotaged her entire predetermined path through one senseless, selfish act.
"You don't have to keep rubbing it in," she choked out in a small, wounded voice. "Believe me, I'm paying the price for my mistake every single day..."
"Well thank god for that at least," Lily fired back without an ounce of sympathy. "Poor Ethan is absolutely beside himself, you know. He was finally ready to move on and let someone actually worthy have a shot with him."
Sophia's stomach plummeted at her friend's callous words. "Wh...What do you mean by that? It isnt even up to a month yet."
A harsh peal of laughter exploded through the phone's speaker. "Honey, you really are living under a rock these days, aren't you? Why on earth would he bother to wait any longer when there are much greener pastures to run to?"
"Lily, quit speaking in riddles and just tell me what the hell you're talking about!" Sophia exploded, her frayed emotions and hormones getting the better of her.
"He's engaged to someone else already, that's what I'm saying," Lily stated bluntly. "Your darling ex-fiance is getting married again in just a few weeks' time. And you'll never guess to who..."
An icy chill washed over Sophia as the implication behind her friend's merciless words became clear. Surely she didn't mean...
"Oh yes, that's right," Lily crooned with perverse delight. "The new future Mrs. Ethan Vance is none other than your beloved, sweet stepsister Olivia!"
The cruel revelation slammed into Sophia like a punch to the gut, stealing the breath from her lungs. Olivia - her hateful, conniving stepsister who had constantly sought to undermine and sabotage her throughout their lives. She had succeeded in snatching Ethan right out from under Sophia just weeks after her own unforgivable indiscretion.
"You...You're lying..." Sophia wheezed, denial and angry tears blurring her vision. "There's no way that two-faced snake could seduce a man like Ethan, not after everything she's done!"
"Believe it, darling," Lily purred triumphantly. "The news is splashed all over social media as we speak. Your precious Prince Charming has decided you're old news and traded up for a newer model."
With a sinking feeling of dread, Sophia snatched up her laptop and feverishly pulled up her social media accounts. And there it was, the horrific trending story plastered across every site:
#VanceRebound - Ethan to wed ex's stepsister just 3 weeks after cancelling wedding!
Included was a photo that made Sophia's stomach roil - Ethan looking utterly haggard and wrecked, but with his arm wrapped possessively around Olivia's waist as she snuggled up against him with a smug little smile.
She quickly scanned the accompanying article, her heart plummeting with every lurid detail:
In the mother of all hot messes, billionaire bachelor Ethan Vance has weathered a sordid public cheating scandal, only to hastily rebound into the arms of his ex-fiance Sophia Felix's sexy stepsister! Olivia Felix wasted no time moving in on the devastated Vance's vulnerability...
Sophia couldn't read any further, slamming the laptop lid closed as nausea roiled within her like a storm. This couldn't be real. Her worst nightmare couldn't truly be unfolding like this.
"You see it now, don't you?" Lily's grating voice crowed through the phone speaker. "He's moved on and upgraded in spectacular fashion, while you're just another sad, spurned adulteress left in the dust to be mocked by the masses. How the mighty have fallen, eh Sophia?"
White-hot rage surged through Sophia's veins, momentarily blotting out her agony and humiliation with its intensity. How dare her wretched so-called friend revel in her devastation like this?
"Shut your vile mouth, you miserable witch!" She exploded, gripping the phone so tightly her knuckles turned white. "This is all your fault to begin with! If you hadn't gotten me drunk out of my mind that night and thrown me at some random stranger like a piece of meat..."
The words died on her lips as the memories of that fateful evening came rushing back in full force. Lily incessantly pushing drink after drink into her hands, getting her intoxicated far beyond any rational sense while all but shoving her into the arms of an eager bachelor...
"I didn't make you drunkenly cheat on your loyal, doting husband-to-be," Lily retorted coolly, derision dripping from every syllable. "That was all on you and your own inability to keep your panties on. Own your bullshit for once, you pathetic slut."
Fiery rage seared through Sophia's veins at the vulgar insult. Before she could stop herself, she was slinging acidic venom right back at the vicious woman on the other end of the line.
"You can take your phony, holier-than-thou act and shove it straight up your ass, you gold-digging whore!" She spat, practically shaking with fury. "This was all part of your twisted master plan from the very start, wasn't it? You wanted to completely decimate my life out of those deep-seated jealousies of yours, and now you've finally succeeded! Well I hope you can sleep like a baby at night knowing what a reprehensible, trailer park trash bitch you really are!"
The line went silent for several moments, both women's ragged breathing filling the void. Finally, Lily's voice slithered out in a deadly calm tone.
"I promise you'll regret talking to me like that, Sophia. You can take that shit to the bank."
"I don't regret a damn thing except not cutting your lying, conniving ass out of my life sooner!" Sophia shouted back, furious spittle flying from her lips. "We're done, Lily! Permanently this time, you f-"
The line disconnected abruptly with a harsh click, leaving Sophia clutching the phone against her hammering chest as humiliation and rage flooded her senses.
How could everything have derailed so completely, so disastrously in the span of just a few short weeks? She had lost her entire predetermined future - the business empire, her family's respect, her very inheritance. And ultimately, perhaps most devastatingly, she had lost the love of her life Ethan.
All because of one stupid, selfish decision made all because of one stupid, selfish decision made in a drunken moment of sheer recklessness. One mistake that had completely shattered her life into pieces.
Sophia's hand drifted instinctively to rest on her still-flat abdomen, cradling the tiny life growing within. The baby she had conceived during that regrettable, heated tryst with a complete stranger.
This child was all she had left to cling to now. A permanent reminder of the colossal error in judgment that had brought such utter devastation crashing down around her. Despite the circumstances of its conception, she knew she would love this baby fiercely and pour every ounce of herself into giving it the stable, loving life she had never experienced.
"I'm so sorry, little one," she whispered in a voice thick with remorse. "Your mommy has really made an apocalyptic mess of everything. But I promise you, from this day forward, I will spend every second making it up to you. Giving you all the care, devotion, and unconditional love a child could ever want..."