Hostage to Love

Two pink lines blazed back at Addison from the pregnancy test. Her hands shook as she nearly dropped the stick onto Jaxon's pristine marble floor.

"No." The word scraped out of her throat. "This can't be happening."

She turned toward the mirror, confronting her pale reflection. The birth control pills mocked her from their elegant dispenser. One percent failure rate. One percent.

Her phone was in her hand before thought kicked in.

"Addison? Honey, what's wrong?"

Her mother's voice cut through the chaos instantly.

"Mom." Addison's voice cracked. "I need— I'm—"

"Take a breath, sweetheart, and then tell me whatever this is."

The tears came without warning. "I'm pregnant…"

Silence stretched between them. Then: "Oh, honey."

"Mom, what am I going to do?" Addison sank onto the bathtub's edge, cold marble biting through her dress. "Jaxon is going to lose his mind. You know what he said about children…"

"What exactly did he say?" Her mother's voice sharpened.

"That children are a five-year plan, minimum. Career suicide before forty." The words tasted bitter. "He made me promise, Mom. He said starting a family before we hit our targets would destroy everything we've built."

"Targets?" The disgust was palpable. "Addison, listen to me. You're talking about a human life, not a business merger."

"I know… God, I know that." Addison pressed her free hand to her stomach. "But you don't understand what he's like when his plans get disrupted. Remember when I got that promotion at Morrison & Associates? The one that would have meant relocating?"

"The one he made you turn down."

"Exactly. We talked it through for weeks. He said it was for us, for our future together. But really it was because it didn't fit his timeline."

Anger cut through her voice, replacing fear.