The Clause That Changed Everything

The silence after the call wasn’t just awkward.

It was suffocating.

Carter stood frozen, his phone still in his hand, as if the world had just tilted and he was the only one who hadn’t been warned. Lauren’s confident posture cracked for the first time—her hand slipped from her stomach, her eyes darting between us, searching for something to hold onto.

“…What did she mean?” Carter finally said, his voice dry, almost unrecognizable.