Trina stared at her cracked phone screen, zooming in on a blurry photo she took earlier that week.
Samantha.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYB8nOz9R8
Laughing in the park.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6OiwBfwKi
With Ryan holding Angelique's hand.
Perfect little family, Trina thought bitterly.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEARf0GNM8R
Smiling. Thriving. Untouched.
She hadn't meant to follow them that day.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtX2KTwGfo
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcwRiI7ON6
Lingering outside Samantha's subdivision.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzFdPp74Y5
Taking pictures from a distance.
Just to feel something.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwojGVQDOdv
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcucX62JO6R
Searched #MagtalasEnterprises.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiD7eaY6Qo
Found a video of Samantha giving a speech.
Screenshotted.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2qnL2E2Jc
Zoomed.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDvPKSJK1g
Saved.
She clicked to a photo of Samantha and Ryan at a company event.
Her thumb hovered over the "send" button.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsB4Y1UL2d
She considered sending it anonymously to Henry's parents.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Iw08piM77
To blogs.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsp36EOtYJ4
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ySQDe3IhP
And neither did fate.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPPh3z1GSa
