Mars sat in the corner of the private café, a steaming cup of black coffee growing cold in front of her. She drummed her fingers on the table, scrolling mindlessly through her phone while her mind wandered to the life she could've been living right now. If she were back in LA, she'd be spending the morning chasing Zaine around the house while he screamed "Dada!" in that giddy way that never failed to melt her heart. Maybe she and Billie would've curled up on the couch later that evening after celebrating her 23rd birthday with friends and family.

Instead, she was stuck in New York, summoned by Janice with an ambiguous text demanding an urgent meeting. Mars was already irritated; Janice was the best manager she could ask for, but moments like these tested her patience.

She looked up as Janice entered the café's private section, her heels clicking softly against the hardwood floor. Mars raised an eyebrow, already exasperated.
"Did Billie get the flowers I sent for her birthday?" Mars asked, her deep voice clipped with tension. "And why the hell am I here, Janice?"

Janice opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a word out, two figures entered behind her. Mars straightened immediately, her sharp jawline tightening as she recognized one of them, Maria Santos. But it was the person standing just behind Maria, a shadow almost too familiar, that made Mars freeze in place.

The woman was slight, with dark, wavy hair cascading over her shoulders and wary brown eyes that peeked out from behind Maria like a ghost avoiding the sunlight. The moment stretched unbearably long, a surreal haze clouding Mars' thoughts as she stared at the woman she had believed was gone—buried, quite literally, in her mind.

"Alexis?" Mars whispered, her voice cracking slightly despite herself. She was stunned. It was her, standing in the flesh. The ghost of a woman Mars had mourned—resented, cursed, cried for—was now here, breathing, alive.

Alexis fidgeted under Mars' intense gaze, visibly uncomfortable, though she tried to offer a meek smile. "Hey, Mars..."

Mars shot up from her seat with such force the chair scraped noisily against the floor. Her broad shoulders tensed, and she clenched her jaw to stop herself from shouting right there in the café. "I thought—" she swallowed hard, fury and confusion mingling in her throat. "I thought your parents told me, 'Oh, our daughter's dead. Here's your child. You're the only one he has left in the world.' What kind of bullshit is this?"

Maria looked guilty, folding her hands tightly in front of her. "Mars, listen—"

"No! Three months, Maria. Almost four months since you showed up on my doorstep with Zaine, telling me his mother was dead," Mars growled, her voice dangerously low. She ran a hand over her face, trying to control the overwhelming rage swelling in her chest. "Do you even know how many nights I've had to sit with him, How many times I've watched him cry himself to sleep because he thinks you're dead, Alexis?"

Alexis' eyes welled up with tears, but Mars was too far gone in her anger to care. "Mars, I didn't know if I was going to get better," Alexis admitted, her voice cracking. "When I gave my parents your name, it was because I thought I'd never come back. I wanted Zaine to be safe—with you."

Mars scoffed, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "And it took you five years to do that? Five years to let me know I had a son?"

Alexis looked down, guilt washing over her face. "I wasn't in a place where I could tell you. I wasn't ready..."

"Yeah, and you sure as hell weren't ready to be a mother either," Mars snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. "But now? Now you think you can just waltz back into his life and play happy family?"

"I want to be in my son's life," Alexis whispered through her tears, her lip trembling.

Mars shook her head slowly, her anger boiling just below the surface. "He doesn't need you."

"Yes, he does," Alexis insisted, her voice rising slightly. "He needs a mother, Mars."

Mars leaned in, her expression cold and unyielding. "He needs stability. And you? You're not it."

Alexis sneered, her vulnerability giving way to bitterness. "You can't just keep me from my son, Mars. I have rights."

Mars' hazel eye narrowed dangerously. "No you don't, you're legally dead."

"I need to speak with you alone," Alexis demanded, her voice trembling with barely contained frustration.

Mars glanced at Janice and Maria, then back at Alexis. She knew there was no avoiding this conversation, not if they wanted to settle things without causing a scene. "Fine," Mars said tersely.

Janice gave Mars a wary glance before leading Maria out of the private section, leaving the two women alone in a tense silence. Mars folded her arms again, her shirt clinging to her biceps, radiating tension as she waited for Alexis to speak.

Alexis rubbed her hands together nervously, as if trying to gather the courage to say what she needed to. "I didn't want it to be like this," she began softly. "Zaine... he wasn't supposed to be part of your world."

Mars' jaw clenched. "What the hell does that mean?"

Alexis looked down, her voice low and bitter. "When I gave my parents your name, it was because I thought... I thought I was done for. I didn't think I'd ever get clean. I thought maybe, just maybe, you'd do right by him."

Mars stared at her in disbelief. "You thought? That's all you had? A half-baked idea that I might do better than you?"

"And you did, didn't you?" Alexis hissed, her tone shifting into something accusatory, almost venomous.

Mars took a step forward, her towering frame looming over Alexis, but she kept her voice low and controlled. "You know, Alexis... after your parents told me you were gone, they handed me a box of your stuff. In it was your journal."

The blood drained from Alexis' face. "What... What are you talking about?"

Mars' eyes burned with fury. "Yeah, your little 18-year plan. I read it."

Alexis didn't deny it. She stood frozen, her lips parted in disbelief as the weight of her secret came crashing down.

"You planned it, didn't you?" Mars continued, her voice dripping with disgust. "You trapped me. Put my name on the birth certificate to make sure it would stick. And after 18 years, once Zaine was old enough, you were going to sue me for child support. That was your grand plan."

Alexis trembled, her eyes wide with panic. "Mars, it wasn't—"

Mars cut her off, her voice cold and unforgiving. "That's why you never told me. You wanted me out of the picture until it was convenient for you. You didn't care about Zaine, or me. It was all about getting what you wanted."

Alexis opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. She knew there was no point in denying it. Mars had seen through her, exposed her for the selfish, manipulative person she truly was.

"You don't get to come back now, Alexis," Mars said, her voice low but resolute. "Not after everything. Zaine doesn't need you messing with his life again."

Tears streamed down Alexis' face, but Mars didn't flinch. There was no room for sympathy. Not after everything that had been taken from her—everything that had been taken from Zaine.

"Go back to wherever you came from, Alexis," Mars said quietly. "Because if you think for a second that I'll let you hurt him again, you're dead wrong."

felt a lil dramatic today