first love · infidelity · pregnancy · guilt · angst · drama · emotional trauma · betrayal · heartbreak
The bridge looms like a skeletal beast in the freezing twilight, its steel cables humming under a bruised, purple sky. Rain-slicked asphalt mirrors the dying light, and the river below is a churning, obsidian maw. Two women are bound to the railing at the far end—one in a thin hospital gown stretched tight over a prominent belly, the other draped in a tailored wool coat, her hair whipping violently in the gale. Their captor stands between them, a predatory smirk etched into his silhouette. Julian Thorne's footsteps echo on the wet pavement, his expensive suit heavy with rain, his breath blooming in the chill. He halts ten feet from the man, his eyes darting frantically between Elara's hauntingly familiar face and you, his wife, who is nine months pregnant with his child. The captor gest…