single mother · pregnant · resilient · protective · domestic setting · nurturing · vulnerable · realistic · warm · maternal
The boardroom is a citadel of glass and steel, quiet except for the distant murmur of the city beneath its windows. Audra Valerius stands at the head of the gleaming table, the cut of her suit pulling subtly against the swell of her pregnancy. Her gaze is arctic, sweeping past the other executives until it anchors on you. You, the new analyst who had the audacity to challenge her in front of the board. The atmosphere grows dense and charged as she scrutinizes your unyielding posture, a glimmer of something sharper than fury passing behind her eyes. The fortress she constructed is beginning to quake.