Tears well up in my eyes after watching another sonogram of my baby. I grip it so tightly against my chest, with one hand rubbing my stomach smoothly as if I'm patting a tiny head. I wish I could show the whole world that I'm gonna be a mom. I feel like shouting at the top of my lungs that there's a life growing inside me, but by no means can I do that in such circumstances.

So I suck my happiness and just cry. I let the tears scream my joy as I cling to my doctor's words that everything is fine, that my baby is a fighter, and that I don't need to worry about anything because he or she is hanging on so tightly. And that's what matters to me right now. It's what gives me the strength to get up and fight so that we can finally be free.

And I swear to God we will be free. It's something I owe my baby at the very least.

"You still haven't told Patrick?" Morgan sits behind her desk, still wearing her blue scrubs with her hair tied up into a tight bun.

"No." I sniff my tears, pulling myself together despite the plethora of emotions swirling inside me. "We're getting a divorce and I don't want the baby to stand in our way as an excuse."

"Divorce?" She's shocked, even though many people know by now which is why I made my visit here very discrete without any paperwork to keep a record of my clinical attendance.

"We've just reached an impasse," I reply, staring at the little pic of my little bean once again. "Sometimes you just know when it's over, and it's futile trying to pretend like you don't." I lift my gaze at her with an undescribed smile.

Morgan reclines back heavily, a small frown of pity flinted on her aging, round face. "I'm so sorry, Mia. I guess you're right. Don't I know all too well about that? I've been divorced once, as you already know."

I know. That's why I believed she'd understand and continue keeping my secret until this is all over. And to be cautious, this will be my last visit here.

"I have to go. I still have some work to do and... Well, it's the first day of my divorce trial tomorrow so I'm trying to keep together if you know what I mean." I force a smile as I rise, clutching my bag and the ultrasound photo of my little bean.

Paris if it's a girl, and Rayden Junior if it's a boy. I'll love my baby in any form, she or he.

"Take it easy, Mia. I'm sure everything will be fine." Morgan stands up to regard my leave, and what she has said is all I'm hoping for.

___

I've been ignoring Red's calls since last night, and I won't speak to him unless it's face-to-face. Maybe it's the hormones, or just me being a bitch, because I feel like making him suffer for what he did with Kenna last night. I'm not gonna be a fool again whose man gets stolen every time by the so-called friends.

Never will I let him do that to me again. I don't care what his reasons were to have chosen to play along with Kenna's scheme, but the fact that they were together at that moment still perturbs me to my very deep core. I barely slept last night, too many dark scenarios played in my mind and all I saw was a betrayal.

Anne and Patrick in the study were replaced by Kenna and Red in a hotel room. I woke up shaking, sweating, and crying in the middle of the night. I hate being this vulnerable. I detest the feeling that anytime he may hurt me the same way my husband did and I know it'll hurt me more painfully than it does now.

And when I'm about to start my car, I get a call from Luca. I hesitate for a while because he hardly calls me unless it's a state of utter emergency. The first thing that comes to mind is maybe Red is in danger, and if not, maybe something happened regarding our little counterintelligence force.

"What's wrong?" is my quickest response once I let his voice go through my phone.

He laughs weakly, which is not his style at all. Something happened.

"Sorry, little madam. Are you good to talk?" he asks.

No, I'm wary.

"Yeah, what is it?" I urge, edging my body back toward the backrest of the driver seat, and my hand away from the key ignition.

"It's about the email you asked me to trace," he starts.

"Oh, yes! Did you find anything?" I almost forgot that I asked him for a favor regarding the email my advertiser received anonymously saying he shouldn't work with MK for it's doomed to fall.

"Yeah, it was ice on the cake tracking the IP. But you won't believe what I found," he says without his usual enthusiasm and it makes my heart race against my chest.

"What?" I breathe, already familiar with the heat of perfidy that begins to crawl on my skin.

"It came from MK. No, from your computer but under a different mail ID," Luca says.

"That's impossible, Luca! If it's my computer then it has a password and I'm the only one who uses it! How come—" I pause, a sharp blade of treason stabbing through my heart again when I start seeing the possibility.

"It can only mean that you have a rat right under your nose, little madam. It's someone who has access to your computer or something. Because no back door was used; it was direct mailing so I can't say you were hacked. Do you have any idea who could have access to your office computer?"

I sigh, stilling my body as though I've suddenly become limp. My office computer can be easily accessed by the IT technician if I think simply. But if I try to think of someone who has my office password, the one who can act on my behalf if I'm not around, then only one person comes to mind.

"I found a thread of other emails exchanged between the sender and... Well, your husband." I hear Luca breathing heavily here. "It's as if everything you have been doing work-wise from the past two months was being shared with him through emails. Whoever that person is, he or she knows your schedules and everything you do or plan to do in MK."

"Leslie Campos," I breathe and then choke with laughter. "You're kidding, right?"

"I don't know, little madam. But there can be a way to find out so be careful in the meantime. I'll talk to Red because I haven't said a word about this and that's not how our partnership works. Chill out, we'll get to the bottom of this."

It takes me almost an hour to gather back the energy to drive up to the office. I try my best to focus even when this news seems to choke the life out of me and I feel like I can't breathe. But I still push myself and walk into the elevator as though it's a normal day at work.

Leslie is in the middle of social media gossip at the reception desk when I arrive at MK. The smartphone of the blonde receptionist behind the front desk seems to steal their attention, and my assistant doesn't even notice as the elevator doors break apart to let me out.

"In my office," I announce while cladding my flat sandals hurriedly against the tiled floor.

"Huh?" She nearly jumps, and I just scoff, not sparing so much as a glance back at her. "I'm coming." I hear her scramble in her heels to catch up with me.

As we head to my office, she tells me that Derek Kingston was here this morning. I stop moving, drawing my face into a deep scowl, and gaze back at her.

"Derek? Why?" I ask.

"I don't know." Leslie shrugs, her eyes clueless. Deceiving too? "I told him to call you on your mobile but he just left an envelope instead."

"What envelope?" I urge.

"It's in your office," she says, "and also your—"

"Give me a few minutes, I'll call you when I'm done," I cut her off, striding quickly through the door.

And as creaks open, I find Red standing behind it as if he was about to open to step out.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. Your bodyguard is also here," Leslie rumbles, but my focus is fully on Red.

That ball of anger begins to roll inside me and I know it's fear that's consuming me. I don't want any more heartache, and if he gives me one, I'll end up being a murderer for real this time. I just can't lose him too and I don't know why the fuck I'm thinking of that right now when everyone around me is nothing but a big lie.

"Leave us alone, Leslie. And no, I don't need anything to drink," I state, for I thought I know her like a script I'd written myself, only to realize that I've been wrong all along.

"Okay, ma'am." Her steps echo as she walks away, and slowly I shut the door behind me with a lock.

Flaming eyes gaze down at me with anger and concern. Yes, he must be burning enraged because I went to the hospital by myself while we agreed to go together this time around. But he's also worried about whether I'm okay or not, but I don't want to be trapped by any of his emotions right now.

"What are you doing in my office?" I walk past him, but he grips my hand to stall me.

I stop, my eyes straying away into the empty space above my desk, too much pain gnawing my inner balance.

"Why would Derek Kingston send you those pictures?" Red demands.

I turn around briskly while slurring, "What pictures?" in a sharp tone of voice.

"All of his father's mistresses, some you don't even know, I'm sure," he hints, and it's a real puzzle for me who hasn't even seen those damn pictures.

And what's with his attitude right now? If I didn't know him better I'd think he's become blinded by jealousy over... Who? Derek? That's absurd.

"I heard you two talking last night at the party, Mia! Why does it look like he wants something from you? Like he wants you?" He almost yells and for the first time, I see the conflict of ego in his eyes and borderline fear that he never shows through his erratic breath.

Despite this, I pull my hand away from his grip and reply, "I don't fucking know what you're talking about! I haven't seen any pictures and I don't know what Derek Kingston and any other motherfucker wants from me because I don't care! Just because I was easy to you, doesn't mean I'm easy to everyone, you bastard! Just because you can easily replace me with any ass that moves doesn't mean I'm gonna do the same thing to you out of whim!"

After snapping these baseless accusations, I burst into tears and I fucking hate what I've become. Why am I crying? Why am I so scared like a fool? So what if he thinks I'm the slutty one who could just jump from a father to a son? I fucked him, my bodyguard, so what's so strange about changing sides and going to Derek?

Red takes a step back, squinting his eyes fleetingly as though he's studying me, and then he softens his face with a deep sigh that makes his shoulders fall heavily. He comes closer to hold me but I coil back. He doesn't stop; he tries to wrap his arms around me but I start throwing a rain of slaps on his chest.

"Let go of me!" I drawl.

"No, you can hit me as much as you want but I'm not letting you go," he claims.

"Leave me alone, Red!"

"Never! I'm never leaving you alone, Mia!"

"Go fucking away from me! Just leave me alone! Go to Kenna! Go to any other puta, I don't care!" My palms pummel his chest but he doesn't stop them.

He only strains me by the waist while saying, "I'm sorry about last night. I messed up. I hurt you. But it was all a show, believe me."

"I don't want to believe you! You're all lying to me! Liars! Everyone is lying to me!" I break down in his arms and he holds me so tightly against him before I fall.

My tantrums may be childish but it hurts so much inside that I want to break and never feel a thing. So I cry and cry, burying my face in his chest, unable to shout or yell anymore as I don't think I can.

I'm tired, my whole body is tired. I don't want to do anything so I just lay still, and he lets me rest with no questions asked. I thaw in his arms, letting the river of pain flow through the burning lens of my eyes.

"Mia," Red whispers into my hair, pressing his lips tightly afterward. "Talk to me."

I don't want to. I don't want to talk to anyone.

"I'm sorry, baby. I don't know what the fuck you're doing to me but I can't stand the way he looks at you, how he talks to you. I fucking hate it and all it makes me wanna do is smash his head on the wall and kill him on the spot," Red goes on.

I want to laugh but I have no strength to do it. While I'm drowning, my heart rife with ire, my bodyguard is busy being jealous of some measly man whose touch doesn't even stir a single breath I take the way he does with a glance of his smoldering ember eyes alone.

Slowly, I pull my head back from his chest so I can look up at him. "I don't give a damn about Patrick Kingston and I don't know what he wants from me either. But if he sent me those photos" — I glance at the envelope laying on my office table with a pile of photos — "then it's for the court hearing tomorrow because he said he could help me win the case."

Red sighs heavily, and I sensed how tense he's been this whole time as he held me. I think he's also scared of losing me, right? I don't know why it makes me happy.

His eyebrows are drawn together inwardly as he asks, "About that. Are you ready for tomorrow?"

A long breath expels through my nostrils as I skate my eyes away from Red momentarily. I think of everything that happened for the past few days, including my war with Patrick who won't go easy on me, and the fact that I'm two-months pregnant which means I have no time to drag leisurely anymore.

And so I've made up a new decision.

I gaze back at Red and say, "There's a change of plan."

His frown deepens. "What do you mean?"

"There'll be no court hearing tomorrow, Red," I state. "I'm gonna end everything before it begins He loves to play dirty, and I'm gonna give him the taste of his own medicine that he'll never forget."

"Mia..."

"I'll not be Mia Kingston when tomorrow begins, Red!" I declare with a furious, shaky voice that seeps through my quivering lips. "It's all gonna end tonight! I'm gonna close this chapter tonight! It's gonna be me or him tonight and you're not gonna stop me. No one will."

___________

A/N: Game on bitches! No more playing by rules... is she losing her mind? Haha Let's see what she got up her sleeves.