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Chapter 1
The day I found out I had a brain cancer, I was sitting on the steps outside Saint Gabriel’s Clinic, staring at the positive pregnancy test like it was some kind of cosmic joke.
My phone buzzed. It was Zeus Lambert–my boyfriend of seven years.
He didn’t even say hello.
“Savannah, I’ve been thinking… maybe we should push the wedding to next year, yeah? When things settle down with the club.”
I didn’t even flinch. “Y–yeah. Sure.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. I do. You know I do, right? Just bad timing right now.”
I could tell he didn’t expect me to just roll with it. There was this long pause before he muttered something about business at the club and hung up. No “I love you,” not even a “see you later.” Seven years. Seven damn years. We’d built everything together–our import front, the real estate flips, even the nightclub in Midtown. Just last year, we finally turned a profit. Got ourselves a nice car, and that loft in Tribeca waiting on renovations. If I hadn’t gotten sick… maybe next year I’d have a little baby in my arms.
My baby. Our baby.
But tonight? Zeus wasn’t coming home.
I made myself a bowl of pasta, tossed in some greens, sat in silence at the kitchen table- thinking about how the hell I was gonna tell him…
We made a promise last year. Ring on my finger before the next spring. That’s what he said. “Before the spring, Savannah. I swear on my name.”
I remembered what the doctor told me… She said I should think about not keeping the baby. Said I needed to focus on treatment. That I was young. “You’ve got a real good shot, Savannah. Don’t be scared.”
After five hours of sitting on the sofa, watching the endless darkness, the doorbell rang. Strange -Zeus never rang. He just walked in. I opened the door and there he was–half–drunk, practically draped over Zoraya.
Yeah. Zoraya. The new girl Zeus hired last year. Fresh out of college. Thought she’d be harmless.
“Hey, Savannah,” she chirped, steadying him. “We were out with that client from Atlantic City. Mr Lambert had a little too much to drink. His car’s downstairs–I figured I’d help him up.”
She was all flushed cheeks and perfect curves in that tight little floral dress. Smelled like orange blossoms and sugar lies.
Zeus slumped on the couch, out cold. I took his jacket from her. The scent of her perfume clung to it–something citrusy and young. Not mine.
“Appreciate it, Zoraya,” I said, keeping my voice level. “It’s late. I’ll drive you home.”
She protested, all sweet and naive. “Oh, no, really–I can call a cab-”
“Not happening,” I cut in. “A girl like you, this late in the city? I’m not letting you ride alone.”
In the car, she glanced over at me, fiddling with her phone. “So… you and Zeus–when’s the big
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wedding?”
I paused, remembering that call from earlier. “Maybe a year or two,” I said, forcing a smile. “Once things settle down at the business.”
…Or once I figure out if I’ll even live that long.
“Got it,” she said softly, turning to stare out the window. She didn’t say much after that.
When I dropped her off, she waved awkwardly and thanked me again. I gave her a tight smile and watched until she was inside.
I sat there for a moment, engine humming. I told myself I’d run into the pharmacy–grab some hangover meds for Zeus, maybe ginger ale if I was feeling generous.
I reached for my purse. Realized it had slipped off the seat into the floorboard. When I bent down to grab it, my hand brushed against something jammed in the seatbelt slot.
A torn condom wrapper.
Slick, cheap foil. Lube grease smeared my fingers.
I stared at it, numb.
Zoraya’s tight dress. Her flushed cheeks.
The fake concern. Zeus slurring, pretending to be drunk. That call earlier–his voice full of hesitation and bullshit. And just like that, I knew.
Didn’t even know where the hell to begin.
Zeus and I’d been together since freshman year. Back then, I was grinding shifts at a 24–hour diner a few blocks from campus, scraping together tuition one plate at a time.
Zeus?
He was already Mafia royalty. Loaded, tall, and infuriatingly persistent. The first night he walked into the diner, he ordered the greasy lamb gyros and damn near gagged on them. But he kept coming back. Every single night. For an entire half year. Said he had a “business reason.” Funny. He was trying to get my number.
The night I finally caved and agreed to date him?
He scarfed down three gyros like a man on a dare–then puked his guts out in the alley behind the place. To this day, the smell of tzatziki sauce makes him gag.
Zeus always said I was too proud. So instead of flexing his bank account, he’d sit beside me in the campus cafeteria, slipping protein bars and fruit into my bag when he thought I wasn’t looking.
“What if my future wife passes out from low iron?” he’d grin. “Can’t have that, now can we?”
Honestly? I never really got why Zeus liked me.
He was six–two, sharp jaw, power in every step. Name carried seven. Cash flowed like wine. And me? Just some waitress with no family, no name, and a whole lot of pride.
But once he made up his mind, nothing–and I mean nothing–could move him.
I still remember that Christmas Eve he brought me to meet his parents. I was stiff as a board in my knock–off wool coat, holding a plastic–wrapped chocolate cake I bought with tip money.
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His parents were cold but polite. The kind of polite that makes your skin crawl.
When dinner ended, one of the maids whispered something to his dad, and he tapped Zeus’s arm with his hawk–like fingers.
“Come,” he said.
I sat alone in that glittering room, feeling like a stain on their marble floor. Then I heard his voice from the hall.
“She knows who you are, doesn’t she? What do you think a girl like that wants from you? A golc digger! She has nothing to offer–no name, no bloodline!”
It felt like someone punched me in the lungs.
Then–bam. A door slammed.
