The silence in the grand living room was a suffocating weight, broken only by the frantic tap of Ashley's heels against the polished marble. Each step echoed the accelerating beat of her heart. She clutched the doctor's report, a crumpled promise of new life, her mind alight with dreams of telling Adrian. He was late, unusually so, for the entire week. A knot of anxiety tightened in her stomach, a familiar companion these days.

Then, the sound of the front door. Hope surged, quickly followed by a chilling dread as she saw him. Not alone, but with a woman whose presence ripped through the carefully constructed peace of her life. Her twin, Tonya. They laughed, intimately, a private joke shared between them. Ashley's smile faltered, replaced by a cold, hard knot of confusion. What was Tonya doing here? And why did Adrian look at her with such anger, as if she were the intruder in her own home?