The Settlement

One week later.

Chloe sat in a conference room on the 40th floor. She wore a designer suit that hid the postpartum swell of her stomach. Her breasts ached, bound tight with bandages to stop the milk that had no mouth to feed.

A lawyer sat across from her. He pushed a stack of papers forward.

"The Non-Disclosure Agreement," the lawyer said. "And the Relocation Contract. A house has been purchased in your name in Switzerland. It is... very secluded."

Chloe picked up the pen.

She didn't read the papers. She knew what they said. *You were never here. It never happened. You do not exist.*

She signed: *Chloe Winters.*

The lawyer took the papers. He slid a cashier's check across the mahogany table.

Ten million dollars.

Countless zeroes. Enough to buy the library she used to work in. Enough to buy anything in the world.

Except the last nine months.

"The car is waiting," the lawyer said.

Chloe stood up. She took the check. She felt nothing. She was a ghost haunting a body that had been used and discarded.

She walked out of the building, through the lobby where she had failed to escape. She pushed through the revolving doors.

The city noise hit her. Sirens. Honking. Life.

A black limousine was idling at the curb. The driver held the door open.

As Chloe ducked inside, she glanced up.

Across the street, a massive digital billboard lit up the sky.

It was a picture of Alpha Sterling. He was looking noble, tragic, and strong. In his arms, he held a newborn baby wrapped in white.

The headline scrolled in bold, golden letters:

*TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH: ALPHA STERLING VOWS TO RAISE HEIR ALONE AFTER TRAGIC DEATH OF FIANCÉE.*

Chloe stared at the lie. She had been erased. Killed off in a press release to make the narrative cleaner. To make the Prince perfect.

She sank into the leather seat of the limo. She looked at the check in her hand.

She was rich. She was safe. She was free.

Chloe closed her eyes, and as the car pulled away into the traffic, she began to scream—a silent, open-mouthed scream that no one in the soundproof, bulletproof car could hear.