Trina stared at her cracked phone screen, zooming in on a blurry photo she took earlier that week.
Samantha.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxAAXtDRgl
Laughing in the park.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwzQ8kOB41
With Ryan holding Angelique's hand.
Perfect little family, Trina thought bitterly.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHReVuu7utW
Smiling. Thriving. Untouched.
She hadn't meant to follow them that day.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnswC0nqK1
She just... couldn't help it.
Ever since Henry backed away—since he refused to move back in, since he said "we're not a family just because you're pregnant"—Trina felt something snapping inside her.
So she found herself watching.
Driving past the firm.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpxBQln48b
Lingering outside Samantha's subdivision.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SiVMnNOHh
Taking pictures from a distance.
Just to feel something.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmQ0N9KZb8
Just to remind herself: she used to win.
That evening, Trina cornered Henry at a jeepney stop.
"I need you," she said, arms crossed over her growing stomach. "This isn't just my baby. It's yours too."
Henry didn't answer.
"I saw you yesterday," she went on, voice colder. "At the park. With her. Holding that child's hand like—like she's yours."
Henry's jaw locked.
"You're playing daddy to the girl you abandoned, and now you're ghosting the baby who hasn't even been born yet?"
"Trina," he warned.
She stepped closer. "If you think I'll let you disappear this time—you're wrong. You owe me. You owe this baby. And if you want to keep pretending you're a new man? Then start acting like one."
He exhaled slowly, looking past her.
"I'm not pretending. I'm just done living a lie."
Later that night...
Trina opened a burner Instagram account.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotciuSXVjG
Searched #MagtalasEnterprises.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4eWn8sgHw
Found a video of Samantha giving a speech.
Screenshotted.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFVQN88L4G
Zoomed.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpPkc35Ggx
Saved.
She clicked to a photo of Samantha and Ryan at a company event.
Her thumb hovered over the "send" button.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsknzOFdZib
She considered sending it anonymously to Henry's parents.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPm5NOqCk6
To blogs.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWqbj34EbU
To anyone.
But she didn't. Not yet.
Instead, she opened her notes app and typed one sentence:
"If I can't have peace, neither can she."
Meanwhile...
Samantha sat curled on the couch, Angelique's head on her lap, Ryan gently massaging her shoulders.
"You okay?" he asked.
She nodded. But her hand lingered on Angelique's hair.
"I've just been feeling... watched, lately," she said quietly. "Like something's circling back."
Ryan's eyes sharpened.
"Do I need to look into it?"
Samantha shook her head. "Maybe it's just a feeling."
But Ryan didn't believe in just feelings.42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzaHPYRGpIc
And neither did fate.
42Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXMWavtuQl
