Chapter 6 A New Resolve

• MILLIE-ROSE’S POV
• “Is it true? Is Martha really getting married to my boyfriend?”
• Tears streamed down my face, soaking the scarf I’d knotted tightly around the lower half of my face like it could muffle the sound of my breaking heart.
• “I’m so sorry, Millie,” Callie whispered through the phone. Her voice was soft, too soft… like she was trying not to cry too. “You didn’t deserve any of this.”
• I squeezed my eyes shut, as if that would make it all stop.
• But it didn’t.
• They really did it.
• Martha… My own stepsister was marrying Silas. My fiancé. The same man I was supposed to walk down the aisle with today.
• And me? I was out here… hiding in an alley behind some old bakery that smelled like stale bread and burnt sugar. No shoes. No dignity. No plan.
• Cancelled. Humiliated. Betrayed.
• A nobody.
• This morning, someone, probably Martha or her mother, I wouldn’t put it past them had leaked an article to the media. “Millie-Rose Harvey Cheated on Her Fiancé with Mystery Man, Now Pregnant.” The headline alone was enough to ruin me.
• The story went viral in less than two hours. My face was everywhere, in magazines, blogs, news sites, even on TV. The comment sections were on fire. Strangers dissecting my life like I was a scandalous TV show. Like I wasn’t human.
• Thirteen brands. Thirteen endorsement deals gone. Just like that.
• Everyone wanted to distance themselves from me. I’d gone from their golden girl to their biggest liability overnight. No one wanted to be associated with a ‘homewrecker’ or a ‘disgraced actress’.
• “Millie, you need to come out of hiding,” Callie said softly, gently. “You can’t stay like this. They’ll find you.”
• “I know,” I rasped. My voice sounded like it belonged to someone else.
• “You can’t go back home either…”
• I let out a bitter laugh. “That was never home.”
• Not after Mom died. Not after Father married that woman. Not after Martha slithered into my life and stole every piece of it; my room, my career, my peace, and now, my fiancé.
• “I picked that damn wedding dress,” I whispered, wiping my face. “She’s going to walk down the aisle in my dress… with my man. And everyone will clap for her.”
• Callie didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. What could she possibly say to undo this kind of betrayal?
• “I need to leave the country,” I said after a long pause, my voice steadier than before. “But I can’t buy a flight ticket… they’ll track it. Every move I make right now is monitored.”
• “What’s your plan?”
• “I’ll take a bus. Then maybe a train. Keep bouncing from city to city until I disappear. Eventually, I’ll find somewhere quiet. A village, maybe. Somewhere no one knows me. And from there, I’ll catch a flight out and vanish for good.”
• “Millie…” her voice trembled.
• “I’ll start over. Even if it’s hard. Even if it kills me.”
• There was a short silence before she said, “Okay. But please eat something. You sound weak. Where did you even sleep last night?”
• I flinched.
• Her question pulled me into unwanted memories.
• The hotel. That stranger. His scent still clung to me, no matter how many times I tried to scrub him off.
• His voice. His hands. His kiss.
• Alpha Braham.
• I forced myself to forget.
• “Millie?” Callie snapped, dragging me back.
• “What?”
• “There’s a man here. At the agency. He says he needs to see you. He won’t leave.”
• My stomach dropped. “Who?”
• She hesitated. “Alpha Braham.”
• My blood ran cold.
• “No,” I whispered. “Please don’t talk to him. Don’t let him know I called. Don’t mention where I am. Just… lie. Say you haven’t seen me or heard from me.”
• “Okay. I’ll handle it.”
• “I’ll call you later.”
• I ended the call and adjusted my disguise; wig, cap, scarf, oversized cloak, and tinted glasses. I looked like a crazy woman, but at least I was anonymous.
• I stepped onto the busy street, my head low.
• A convenience store glowed ahead. Salvation.
• My stomach growled painfully, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in almost 24 hours.
• I rushed in, grabbed a cup of instant noodles and a bottle of water, and slid into a corner seat. I peeled off my scarf for just a moment to breathe.
• Big mistake.
• “Wait… is that Millie-Rose?”
• The whisper came from a teenage girl near the fridge.
• A second later, it was like I’d triggered a fire alarm.
• “That’s her!”
• “Oh my God, she looks awful.”
• “She’s pregnant with some other guy’s baby and still has the nerve to show her face?”
• “She’s disgusting.”
• Each word hit harder than the last.
• I kept my head down, hands trembling as I slurped the noodles. They tasted like salt and tears.
• I forced the food down. Paid quickly. Fled.
• The bus terminal was my only hope now.
• I didn’t care where it was going. I just needed to go.
• Anywhere.
• I bought a ticket. Boarded the bus. Took a window seat in the back and hid there.
• Finally, silence.
• A woman settled beside me with a baby in her arms. She looked tired. Her hair was a mess, and her shirt was stained with baby spit. But there was something peaceful about her.
• Halfway through the ride, her phone rang. She struggled to pick it up, balancing the baby, her purse, and the call all at once.
• She turned to me, desperate. “Please… can you hold her just for a second?”
• I blinked. Then nodded.
• The baby was warm in my arms. Soft. Innocent.
• She looked up at me with the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen.
• She giggled.
• I couldn’t help it… I smiled. A real, genuine smile. My first in days.
• And then, a tear escaped.
• Is this what motherhood felt like?
• Would my child smile at me like this? Would it giggle and reach for me like I was its whole world?
• Would it forgive me for not knowing what to do… for running, for breaking down?
• I didn’t have the answers.
• But one thing became crystal clear at that moment… painfully, irrevocably clear:
• If I decide to keep this baby, then I’m keeping all of it.
• No one; not Silas, not my father, not Martha, and definitely not Alpha Braham would take this child away from me.
• If I carry this child, then it stays with me.
• It belongs to me.
• Forever.