My family locked me in the basement to give birth. Days later, they returned to find a dark red liquid seeping from the door. As my mother screamed, a voice whispered behind her, “Looking for me?”

been in love for months. Your sudden, miraculous pregnancy was going to detonate everything we built.”

Despite having marinated in this reality for days, hearing the words spoken aloud still sent a phantom blade through my ribs. I shifted my gaze to Walter and Eleanor. “And you engineered this. You knew.”

Tears streamed freely down my mother’s face, continue reading …