Madeline’s POV
In the dimly lit room, he leaned in close, his body carrying the damp chill of rain, yet his skin burned hot against mine.
I couldn't see his face clearly. All I remembered was his firm, broad chest, his scorching palms, and the way he drove into me again and again--so deep, so relentless--while I clutched the sheets beneath me, trapped in a haze I couldn't wake from.
The drug burned through my mind until my reason fell apart, but my body still responded to his heat on instinct.
He didn’t seem sober either. His breathing was uneven, as if he was fighting hard to hold something back.
After that, my memory went completely blank.
When I woke up, I was alone in the room. The sheets were a mess, my body ached, and the air still held the scent of a strange man.
Georgina was the first one to find me.
She rushed in with red eyes. “Kate, I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I should have taken better care of you.”
She wrapped a coat around my shoulders, then took a pill from her bag.
“Take this first.”
“What is it?” My voice was tight.
“Emergency contraception.” She held my hand. “There’s still time. Trust me. I would never hurt you.”
Back then, I believed her.
One month later.
At four o’clock on Friday morning, only a few scattered headlights remained outside the window in River City.
I sat by the window, awake all night.
The gynecologist’s words from earlier that day kept echoing in my head over and over.
I was pregnant.
But I was only eighteen.
I didn’t even know who the father was.
And one month ago, Georgina had personally handed me that so-called emergency contraceptive pill.
If that pill had been real, I shouldn’t have been pregnant.
But my test results didn’t lie.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to think back to how that night had started.
It had been my eighteenth birthday party.
The Nelson family had thrown a grand celebration for me—champagne, crystal lights, flowers, guests. Everyone had been smiling at me.
My last clear memory was Georgina handing me a glass of mocktail.
“Don’t worry. There’s no alcohol in it,” she said with a smile.
I took it and had a sip. It was sickeningly sweet.
“Did you put syrup in this?” I asked with a frown.
“Kate, it’s your birthday. Of course you should have something sweet.” She smiled and tapped the rim of her glass against mine.
After that, the lights and voices twisted into a blur.
The next time I was even a little aware, I was already in that room with rain pounding outside.
And now, a month later, I was pregnant.
I still had no idea how to face any of it.
“Madeline, open the door!”
A loud bang suddenly came from outside.
“Are you trying to completely disgrace the Nelson family? How dare you do something like this!”
Before I could react, the door was kicked open from the outside.
Lyndon Nelson, my father, stood in the doorway, his eyes full of rage.
The report in his hand crumpled noisily in his grip.
My gaze fell on that paper, and my whole body went stiff.
After I came back from the hospital yesterday, I had clearly stuffed it into the deepest part of my bag.
I hadn’t told anyone.
But now, it was in my father’s hand.
Someone had gone through my bag.
“Lyndon, Kate is still young. Talk to her calmly. Don’t be so angry. Look, you’re scaring her.” Georgina Nelson followed behind him, gently trying to comfort him.
Seeing the two people I hated most standing side by side, I felt nothing but disgust.
“Get out.”