Aurora stared at her sister, eyes wide.
The chatter of the cafe around them evaporated, and it went really quiet in Aurora’s head.
She could still see the barista brewing coffee behind the counter, customers walking in and out, and how Amber sucked in a sharp breath and froze besides her.
Astrid stepped even closer to Aurora, close enough to see her reflection in her eyes.
“Please.”
Her voice dropped to a whimper, and she slumped her shoulders like she didn’t have any strength to hold herself up.
“If you don’t help me, I will have no choice but to get rid of it.”
Aurora stood frozen.
“Are you… are you threatening me with your own child?”
Astrid’s eyes went glassy again.
“You are not giving me a choice, Rory.”
The words landed like a blow.
Aurora never knew Astrid could stoop this low.
But as she looked back at her past, the perfect makeup and the designer clothes, and even all her cruel actions, she saw her sister deep inside, the real one.
And she was afraid.
“I haven’t told anyone,” Astrid said breathlessly.
“Not even Marcus or Maggie, just you.”
Aurora’s hands trembled by her sides.
She knew that Astrid was manipulating her because it was the weapon that she used her whole life.
Her ability to cry on the spot, to twist words and strike at the perfect timing.
And she knew that the moment she started giving to her, Astrid would take and take and take until there was nothing left, and then she would drop her like she did before.
But this time, it was different, because there was a baby involved, and the baby was not at fault.
Aurora sighed, like she couldn’t believe what she was about to do.
She pulled out her phone, and her fingers moved fast against the screen as she opened her banking app and navigated to the transfer screen.
She typed in the amount, $3,000, which was the money she was saving up to put towards Jude’s education.
Her finger hovered over the button as she contemplated whether or not to go through with it.
Then she hit send, and Astrid’s phone buzzed simultaneously.
She pulled it out of her designer clutch, tapped against the screen, and Aurora saw her expression changing from relief to surprise, then satisfaction.
“Thank you,” she breathed as her back straightened up.
“Rory, thank you so much. I swear I will pay you back. I will—”
“Don’t,” Aurora’s voice was hollow yet steady.
Don’t even think of contacting me again.”
“What?” Astrid blinked, confused.
“You heard me.” Aurora pocketed her phone, meeting her sister’s confused gaze.
“I’ve given you what you wanted. Now leave us alone. Do not call, text or show up at the house again. We’re done.”
She turned and walked out of the cafe without a second glance, Amber following behind her in silent support.
The car ride back was quiet.
For a long moment, Amber drove, her hands tense as she manned the wheel, her mouth clamped shut.
She hadn’t said a word since they left the cafe, and Aurora was grateful for that.
She didn’t have the energy to start explaining herself or the words to justify what she had just done.
She had given Astrid $3,000.
The $3,000 she wanted to put towards Jude’s classes and their house expenditure.
Now she would never see it again.
But it was for the baby.
That was what Aurora kept telling herself.
She couldn’t be the reason that the baby didn’t exist.
Then her phone rang.
She looked down at the caller ID.
It was Grandma Maggie.
“Hello, Maggie, are you okay? Have you landed?”
Maggie’s voice was warm and full of energy.
She sounded more excited than when she had left.
But Aurora’s stomach dropped.
“What, young man? Maggie, you shouldn’t trust strangers so easily. Please get away from him.”
There was a short pause before Maggie spoke again, her voice slightly louder than before.
“You’re on speaker, Rory.”
Aurora closed her eyes, leaning back into the seat.
“Shit.”
“Hello?” she said again.
Her voice was flat this time, trying to sound polite.
“Hello, you must be Rory. Your grandmother is a lovely woman. I’ll make sure to take good care of her, no worries.”
The voice that came out of the speaker almost gave Aurora an aneurysm.
Her eyes went wide the moment he spoke.
She knew that voice.
She knew it from the showroom, she knew it from the balcony at Bel-Air, and she knew it from Black Corp.
It belonged to the bane of her existence.
Cassian Black.
“Rory?” Amber glanced at her when she noticed her frozen.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Aurora couldn’t answer.
Her eyes were just glued to the phone, her hands trembling around the device.
“Hello?”
She heard Cassian’s voice, muffled, as she had pulled the phone away from her ear, but she could still feel the amusement in his voice.
She didn’t know when she hung up.
She was completely silent after that call, her heart racing fast against her chest.
A million thoughts going through her brain.
“Aurora!”
Amber called her name sharply, her bows knitting with worry.
“What happened?”
“Maggie is with Cassian.”
“What?”
“She… she’s met him at the hotel. He’s there in Catalina.”
Aurora was already pulling up the trip receipt on her phone, scanning it frantically.
There was the booking confirmation and then the hotel name.
She had booked it through a travel agency, so she hadn’t even looked at the name.
It was the Black Grand Hotel.
“I’m such an idiot.” She slapped her forehead.
“Let me see that.”
Amber grabbed the phone.
With one hand on the steering wheel, she glanced at the screen and the road at the same time.
Then she snorted a short laugh.
“Oh, my God. What are the odds?”
“It’s not funny, Amber?”
“Uh, I’ll agree to disagree.”
“Amber!”
“Okay, okay.” She handed the phone back to Aurora.
“Look, Maggie is going to be fine. She’s a tough woman, okay? If anything, you should be worried for Cassian.”
She laughed, but Aurora didn’t.
She turned and stared out the window.
It was all her fault.
She should have checked the hotel name to know where she was sending her grandma, but at this point, the universe was doing everything to throw Cassian Black into her life again.
Maggie was in Catalina with Cassian, and there was nothing she could do except wait and hope that it didn’t end in a catastrophe.
They finally pulled up at Aurora’s house just as Jude was about to leave, with his backpack slung over his shoulder and his keys in his hand.
There was a subtle shadow under his eyes.
He was still tired from his shift at the convenience store.
“Hey,” he paused at the doorway when they entered.
“Did Grandma land?”
“Yeah, she landed. She’s fine,” Aurora said, forcing her voice to sound normal.
“Good, because I tried calling her, but it kept going to voicemail.”
“Must be the island’s network. Reception is pretty spotty out there,” Aurora offered.
Jude nodded, then he looked at Amber, a playful grin playing on his lips.
“Try not to light the house on fire while I’m gone.”
“It was one time!” Amber rolled her eyes.
“One time too many. I’m still traumatised because you almost burnt my eyebrows.”
“It was a freak accident. It could have happened to anyone.”
“Sure.”
Jude laughed, and Amber ruffled his hair as he passed her.
Jude swatted her hand away, but he was smiling.
Aurora just watched them, and for a moment, she forgot the disaster brewing in Catalina.
“Study group?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be back pretty late. Don’t wait up,” Jude said as he mounted his bike.
“Be careful.”
He flashed her a peace sign, pulling on his helmet before he drove off, and both of them went inside.
They cooked instant noodles and threw themselves on the couch, scanning through all the cheesy movies on the television.
Amber finally fell asleep halfway through the third one, her head tilted back at a weird angle and her mouth hung open.
Aurora didn’t bother to wake her.
She just sat in the quiet, the muted television playing in the background, her phone in her hand.
She had been trying Maggie’s number again and again, but it went to voicemail every time.
Yeah, it’s the island network,’ she convinced herself.
It was past 8:00 when Jude came back home, and he went straight to bed.
Amber was still passed out on the couch, snoring softly, and the house was quiet except for the constant hum of the refrigerator and the distant sound of the traffic outside.
Aurora managed to haul Amber to the bedroom and into bed before she went to the bathroom to wash her face.
The cold water helped with her sore eyes.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Her eyes were extremely tired.
Her hair was tangled.
She looked like she had been through a hurricane.
The weight of her problems was weighing down on her shoulders.
On one hand, there was Astrid with her baby, and on the other hand, there was Cassian and Maggie.
She walked back into the room and pulled the black card that he gave her out of her closet.
It had his private number on it and his address.
She turned the card between her fingers for a long moment before she finally dialled the number.
The line rang three times, and she almost hung up, but then on the last ring, he finally picked up.
There was silence for a long moment, and Aurora didn’t speak.
Her closed-up throat wouldn’t let her.
She drew a shallow breath, staring pointedly at herself in the mirror, and on the other end, she could hear him breathing steadily and calmly, waiting for her to speak.
Then, very softly, he said, “Aurora.”
She could hear the smirk in his voice.