CHAPTER NINETY

**OLIVER**
The months that followed felt like a dream.
Gabriel and I had settled into a rhythm, one that brought comfort and peace I hadn’t felt in years. Our days were filled with quiet laughter, shared meals, and the kind of intimacy that came from truly knowing each other. It wasn’t perfect—nothing ever was—but it was ours, and for once, it felt enough.
I often found myself watching him when he wasn’t looking, marveling at how far we’d come. The way his smile reached his eyes when he caught me staring. The way he hummed softly under his breath as he worked around the house. The way his fingers brushed against mine, small gestures of affection that had become second nature.
We were happy.
And yet, the necklace lingered in the back of my mind.
I kept it hidden in the drawer beside my bed, its cool weight a constant reminder of the goddess’s cryptic words. “Prepare yourself,” she had said. For what? I didn’t know. But as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t done with me yet.
Sometimes, late at night, I’d take it out from its hiding place and run my fingers over the pearls, their smooth surface cool against my skin. The sapphire pendant caught the faint glow of the moonlight, casting fractured reflections across the room. It was beautiful, hauntingly so, yet it filled me with a quiet unease every time I touched it.
I wondered what it meant—why she had given it to me, why it felt like it pulsed with a life of its own. Did she intend it as a gift? A warning? A claim? The questions swirled in my mind, as endless and restless as the river she ruled.
And then there was the other thought, the one that always made my chest tighten: when would she come calling again? Would she demand something I wasn’t ready to give? Would she take without asking, just as she had done before? I had no answers, only the weight of the pendant in my hands and the growing sense that this was only the beginning.
But those moments were fleeting. Gabriel had a way of pulling me back into the present, grounding me with his touch, his voice, his unwavering presence. With him, I could almost forget the shadows that loomed just beyond the edges of my happiness.
Almost.
It was a sunny afternoon when the call came.
I was outside, tending to the garden while Gabriel worked on repairing the fence. The rhythmic clang of his hammer against the nails filled the air, blending with the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze. The scent of freshly turned earth and blooming flowers surrounded me, a fleeting reminder of simpler times.
The sudden buzz of my phone in my pocket startled me, cutting through the moment. I paused, wiping my dirt-streaked hands on my jeans before fishing it out. My fingers fumbled slightly, the screen smudged with streaks of soil as I glanced at the caller ID.
For a brief moment, I hesitated, my stomach twisting with unease. Calls like this always seemed to bring more trouble than they were worth. Gabriel must have noticed my sudden stillness because his hammering stopped. I could feel his gaze on me, sharp and questioning, even though I didn’t look up
I swallowed hard and pressed the green button, bracing myself for whatever waited on the other end of the line.
I didn’t recognize the number at first, but something about it felt familiar. Frowning, I answered.
“Hello?”
“Oliver.”
Her voice was unmistakable.
“Carrie?” I asked, my stomach tightening.
“Forgotten all about me, have you?” Her tone was icy, with a sharp edge that sent a chill down my spine.
I straightened, glancing toward the house. “Carrie… I—no, I didn’t forget. I just… I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“It’s been months,” she said sharply. “Not a word, not a call. Nothing. And here I thought you cared.”
Her words stung, but it was the bitterness in her tone that unsettled me the most. “Carrie, what’s this about? Why are you calling me?”
There was a pause, a silence that stretched just long enough to make my pulse quicken and my breath hitch in my throat. The weight of the unspoken words hung heavy in the air, thick and oppressive, as though the entire moment was holding its breath, waiting for something to snap.
Then she laughed.
It wasn’t the warm, melodic sound I remembered from our time together, the one that used to light up a room and draw me into her orbit. No, this laugh was different. It was sharp, each note cutting through me like shards of glass, mocking in a way that made my stomach twist. Beneath the sound was something else—something darker, edged with bitterness and a cruel amusement that sent a chill skittering down my spine.
“What’s the matter?” she finally said, her tone laced with condescension. “Cat got your tongue?”
I swallowed hard, my mind scrambling to catch up. The familiarity of her voice clashed with the venom in her words, creating a jarring dissonance that left me reeling. I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to respond to this version of her, so unlike the person I thought I’d known.
The silence stretched again, but this time, it wasn’t hers—it was mine. And in that silence, her laughter echoed, carving its way deeper into my chest. 
“Of course, you’d get straight to the point,” she said. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”
I waited, the seconds dragging like hours as the tension in my chest grew.
“Can you really just make me pregnant and then disappear?” she asked, her tone laced with venom.
Her words hit me like a physical blow, the air rushing from my lungs as the world tilted around me.
“What?” I whispered, barely able to form the word.
“Oh, come on, Oliver,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You didn’t really think I’d keep this to myself forever, did you?”
“No,” I said quickly, shaking my head as though she could see me. “No, Carrie, this isn’t funny. You don’t joke about things like this.”
“Do I sound like I’m joking?” she snapped, her voice rising.
I swallowed hard, my mind racing. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not after everything.
“Carrie,” I said carefully, my voice trembling, “if this is some kind of game—”
“It’s not a game!” she yelled, cutting me off. “Do you think I’m a fool, Oliver? Do you think I’d make something like this up?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came.
Her laughter returned, colder this time. “Speechless? That’s a first. I thought you’d at least have something clever to say.”
“This…” I began, struggling to find the right words. “This doesn’t make any sense. How—”
“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know how,” she said, her tone mocking. “We both know you’re the father. Or have you already convinced yourself otherwise?”
I felt the ground shift beneath me, the weight of her words threatening to pull me under.
“Carrie,” I said, my voice shaking, “this… this can’t be true.”
“It is,” she said simply.
I clenched the phone tighter, my knuckles turning white. “Why are you telling me this now? Why not—why not earlier?”
“Because I wanted to see how long you’d go pretending it didn’t happen,” she said. “I wanted to see how long you’d keep playing house with Gabriel, acting like you didn’t leave a mess behind.”
Her words cut deep, and I felt a pang of guilt twist in my chest.
“What do you want from me?” I asked finally, my voice barely above a whisper.
Her laughter echoed through the line, a sound that sent chills down my spine. “Oh, Oliver, you’ll find out soon enough.”
“Carrie,” I said quickly, panic rising in my chest. “Don’t do this. Please. This isn’t something to play games with. If you’re serious, if this is real—”
“You think I’m playing games?” she interrupted, her voice sharp and biting. “Do you really think I’m some kind of joker?”
“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted, my voice breaking. “This… this doesn’t feel real.”
“Well, it is,” she said coldly.
There was a long pause, the silence stretching between us like a chasm.
“Carrie,” I said softly, desperation creeping into my voice, “please, just tell me what you want.”
She didn’t respond right away. When she finally spoke, her tone was low and dangerous.
“Be careful, Oliver,” she said. “You have no idea what’s coming.”
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone in my hand, my heart pounding as her words echoed in my mind.
Be careful.
What did she mean? What was she planning?
I sank onto the porch steps, the weight of the call pressing down on me like a physical burden. My hand trembled slightly as I set the phone down beside me, its screen dark and unassuming, a stark contrast to the storm it had just unleashed in my mind.
Questions swirled, a relentless tide that I couldn’t control. What did they want? Why now? And what did this mean for the life I’d tried so desperately to rebuild? Each thought was more unsettling than the last, leaving me teetering on the edge of panic.
I glanced toward the garden, where Gabriel was still working on the fence. He hadn’t looked my way yet, too absorbed in his task to notice the shift in the air. I watched him for a moment, the steady rhythm of his movements a reminder of the fragile peace we’d fought so hard to find.
And yet, that peace now felt like it was slipping through my fingers, fragile as glass and just as prone to shattering. My thoughts drifted to the necklace, the cool weight of its sapphire pendant pressing against my skin whenever I wore it. The goddess’s warning echoed in my mind, her voice a chilling whisper that refused to be silenced.
The joy I’d allowed myself to feel these past few months now seemed like a distant memory, overshadowed by a sense of foreboding that grew stronger with each passing second. My chest tightened, and I wrapped my arms around my knees, trying to steady my breath.
Whatever was coming, it was bigger than me, bigger than us. And no matter how much I wanted to pretend otherwise, I knew one thing for certain.
I wasn’t ready for it.