DAY TWO

DAY TWO
~Anna's POV

Sunlight streams through unfamiliar blinds, cutting across my face in sharp lines. My hand goes instinctively to my throat, the star necklace is still there.

For a moment, I can't remember where I am.

Then it crashes back: James crying. Elena's pregnancy announcement. Vanessa's text saying she's proud of me for walking away.

I force myself upright. Daisy's couch. Daisy's apartment. Day 2 of 30.

My phone sits on the coffee table where I left it last night, screen dark. Forty-seven missed calls from James by now, probably. Maybe more.

I reach for it, finger hovering over the power button. One call. Just to hear his voice. To tell him I'm okay. To—

"Coffee?"

I pull my hand back like the phone burned me.

Daisy appears from the kitchen, two mugs in hand. She's already dressed for work—navy blazer, pencil skirt, hair in a sleek bun. She looks put-together in a way I haven't felt in weeks.

"Coffee," she repeats, setting a mug in front of me. "Black, three sugars. The way you like it when you're stressed."

"Thanks."

She sits beside me, cradling her own mug. The steam rises between us like something alive.

"So," she says carefully. "Vanessa."

I close my eyes. "I don't want to think about Vanessa."

"She knows you're here, Anna. That text wasn't random. She either followed you from the mansion or someone told her where you'd go."

"Probably Elena. They're working together."

"Then we need to figure out what she wants." Daisy's voice is gentle but firm. "You can't just ignore her forever."

"Why not? I ignored her for sixteen years."

"She wasn't actively trying to contact you for sixteen years."

The word "contact" sits heavy between us. I take a sip of coffee. It's exactly how I like it, which somehow makes me want to cry.

"She said she's proud of me," I say quietly. "For walking away from James."

"And you believe that?"

"No." I wrap both hands around the warm mug. "But I don't know what she actually wants either."

"Then maybe we find out. On your terms. When you're ready."

I shake my head. "Not yet. I need to focus on the production. On building something that's mine."

Daisy studies me for a moment, then nods. "Okay. But Anna? You can't hide forever. Eventually, you'll have to deal with both of them."

"I know. Just not today."

"Fair enough." She checks her watch. "I have to get to work in twenty minutes. You going to be okay here alone?"

"I'll be fine."

"There's food in the fridge. Clean towels in the bathroom." She pauses. "And that guy from yesterday—Mark. He gave me his number. It's on the fridge if you need someone to talk to. Someone who's not me or James or... anyone complicated."

"Mark's just a colleague."

"I know. But he was kind yesterday. And kind counts for something."

After Daisy leaves for work, the apartment feels too quiet. I sit on the couch for a long time, staring at nothing, listening to the sounds of other people's lives through the thin walls. Someone's alarm going off. A shower running. A couple arguing in rapid Spanish.

I shower in Daisy's tiny bathroom, her coconut shampoo making everything smell like vacation. Her towels are soft and worn. Her bathrobe smells like lavender detergent.

Everything here is comfortable. Lived-in.

The mansion was expensive and cold.

I dress in Daisy's clothes—leggings that are too long, an oversized sweater that swallows me. In the mirror, I look younger. Smaller. Like I'm playing dress-up in someone else's life.

My phone shows three missed calls from Dwayne. Rehearsal is in two hours.

I stare at his name on the screen. The production. Seline. The cursed princess who has to choose between love and everyone's safety.

I dial before I can change my mind.

"Anna! Thank God. I was getting worried when you didn't answer earlier."

"I'm sorry, Dwayne. I can't make rehearsal today."

Silence on the other end. Then: "Is everything okay? I saw the news about... well, about the pregnancy announcement."

My stomach drops. "You saw that?"

"It was on the business news this morning. Tech billionaire, major deal, pregnancy reveal, pretty hard to miss." He pauses carefully. "Family drama?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not prying, Anna. I just wanted you to know, if you need time, take it. The production will be here when you're ready."

My throat tightens. "Thank you, Dwayne."

"Everyone's got complicated family situations." His tone is gentle, understanding. "But you're still my Seline. When you're ready to come back, we'll be waiting."

After I hang up, I sit for a long time staring at nothing.

The news is out there. People know James is going to be a father.

But they don't know about us. Not yet.

The thought should comfort me. Instead, it just makes everything feel more surreal.

I make myself eat lunch, leftover Chinese food from Daisy's fridge that tastes like cardboard. I try to watch TV, but every channel seems to be running business news. I catch a glimpse of James's face on one screen and change the channel so fast I almost break the remote.

By three o'clock, I'm pacing Daisy's small apartment like a caged animal.

I can't stay here forever. I can't hide from my life.

But I don't know what else to do.

The afternoon drags. I try to read, but the words blur together. I try to nap, but my mind won't shut off. Every time I close my eyes, I see James's face. Hear his voice saying "the right thing."

What is the right thing? For him? For Elena? For a baby that might not even be his?

For me?

Daisy comes home around six, carrying takeout bags that smell like Thai food.

"I figured you wouldn't have eaten much," she says, unpacking containers onto her small kitchen table.

"You figured right."

We eat in companionable silence. Pad thai tastes like nothing in my mouth, but I force it down anyway. Daisy doesn't push conversation, just lets the quiet exist between us.

"How are you doing?" she asks finally.

"Good," I say automatically. Then, more honestly: "Not perfect. But surviving."

"Surviving counts."

Daisy's phone buzzes on the table. She glances at the screen, then does a double-take.

"What?" I ask.

"It's... a news alert." She turns the phone so I can see the headline.

REYNOLDS CALLS EMERGENCY BOARD MEETING - Santos Group Deal in Question

My heart stops.

"He's doing something," Daisy says quietly. "An emergency board meeting, that's serious."

I stare at the headline. James doesn't call emergency board meetings for nothing. This is about Elena. About the pregnancy. About the Santos deal. Maybe about Harrison and the board conspiracy.

He's fighting.

Without me.

"Anna?" Daisy's voice is careful. "Do you want to know more?"

"No." The word comes out stronger than I feel. "He has twenty-nine days to figure this out."

"But—"

"I'm going to bed."

I leave Daisy in the kitchen with the cooling Thai food and close myself in her guest room. But I don't sleep.

I lie in the dark, staring at the ceiling, wondering what James is doing right now. Is he preparing for the board meeting? Confronting Elena? Scheduling the paternity test?

Or is he lying awake too, counting down the same twenty-nine days?

My phone sits on the nightstand, still powered off.

I reach for it, then stop.

Not yet.

Twenty-nine more days.

I can survive twenty-nine more days.

The star necklace feels heavy against my throat in the darkness. I touch it with my fingertips, remembering the night James gave it to me.

"Home isn't a place, it's a person. It's you. It's always been you."

But what happens when home becomes the thing that suffocates you?

What happens when the person you love most is also the person you need to be free from?

I close my eyes and try to sleep.

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