The Recall Trials Chapter 111: The Other Woman

Nomi’s POV

I’m not sure how long I’ve been walking.

The tunnel was so narrow it pressed in on both sides of , cold tal brushing my arms whenever I shifted.

I kept trying to feel sothing...anything, but my body felt hollow. Like the baby growing inside was the only thing keeping tethered to reality.

Vincent’s baby.

A sob claws its way up my throat.

I swallow it back, pressing my palm harder against the soft swell of my stomach.

Vincent loves Zaara. He always has.

I see it in his eyes, the way his voice softens when he talks to her. I hear it in how he whispers her na at night.

The thought looped in my skull. Over and over. Like a curse. Like prophecy.

He really loves Zaara.

Even when he hugged , he looked at with sothing like guilt in his eyes, it wasn’t the sa.

It would never be the sa.

And if we got out of here...if we survived, what then?

What if he decides to stay because of the baby but spend the rest of his life wishing he was with Zaara instead? Would he pretend to love out of pity?

A tear slipped down my cheek.

I’ll always be the other woman.

And this baby...

Would they take my child and build their perfect life, while I was left behind to rot in so crumbling sector?

What if they take my baby away from ?

My breath caught, ragged and panicked.

No.

No, I couldn’t let that happen.

I’m not losing my child.

I’m not letting anyone take my baby from .

I pressed my palm tighter to my stomach, squeezing my eyes shut.

But when I opened them again, the tunnel was different.

Brighter.

In front of stood a figure.

A woman.

Tall, hair pinned neatly at the nape of her neck, dressed in the sa soft blue dress she’d worn the last ti I saw her alive.

My throat closed up.

"...Mom?"

She looks exactly like I rember her. Soft brown eyes, gentle smile. Her face was the sa. The gentle lines around her eyes. The pale scar across her cheekbone.

But her expression...

"Mom...?"

I shook my head, tears rising before I could stop them. "You’re not real. You’re dead."

"Does it matter?" she asked softly. "If I’m here, talking to you... does it matter?"

I swallowed hard.

"Look at you, my sweet girl," she said. "Alone in the dark. Just like ."

"Mom, I—" I ran over to hug her.

She stroked my hair.

"My sweet baby. You’re alone, aren’t you? I was alone too when your dad left us. He didn’t stay, he didn’t protect us."

"He did mom.He lost everything. He couldn’t take care of us that was why he left us." I said shaking, hugging my arms around myself.

"Vincent.... He cares about Zaara. You know it."

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Mom... please."

But she didn’t stop. She ca closer until I was able to sll the faint perfu she always wore.

"Do you want to end up like , Nomi?" she asked quietly.

"Do you want to wake up one day and find the man you love has vanished? That he’s gone to build his perfect life with another woman... taking your child with him?"

"No!" I gasped. "No—I won’t let that happen!"

"You don’t want to end up sobbing into an empty crib because you let other people decide what your life would be?"

"It’s not going to happen."

She took a single step closer

"You have an opportunity, Nomi. You’re in the Trials. You’re surrounded by chaos. Secrets. Weaknesses. You could use this."

"Use... what?"

She gestures vaguely around the tunnel.

"Zaara. Vincent. The baby. You could separate them. Plant seeds of doubt. Make Vincent yours completely. You’d never be the other woman again."

"That’s wrong. Vincent would hate if he knew..."

"Vincent doesn’t have to know. Do you think the Aetherions care about right or wrong? They care about who survives. And who wins."

Her eyes flash.

"You he the opportunity to start a family. Money. A future. You have the power to take everything back from the people who stole it from us."

I pressed my hands over my ears. "I don’t care about the money—"

"You’ve been handed a perfect chance for revenge, my sweet girl."

A tear slid down my face.

"I don’t... I don’t want to hurt Zaara."

"You think Zaara won’t hurt you?" She whispered.

"She’ll smile in your face and steal Vincent from your bed. She’ll take your child and build that life you’ll never have. Unless you stop her."

I clutch my stomach.

I whispered again. "I’m not."

Mom leaned in, and whispered softly in my ear.

"Make Vincent yours. Make him choose. And when the Aetherions crown you the winner, you’ll have the money, the baby... and Vincent. You can start a new life in Sector A. Far from all of this. Far from pain. Far from being left behind."

My chest heaved.

"Don’t end up like , Nomi," she whispered. "Alone. Empty. Forgotten."

"Separate them. Make sure Zaara walks away...so when he’s broken, he has nowhere else to turn but you."

My vision swam with tears.

"That’s not love," I whispered.

Her smile was soft.

"No, baby. It’s survival."

I pressed a shaking hand to my belly.

"He’ll hate ," I said.

"No," she murmured, leaning close enough that her cold breath brushed my cheek. "He’ll need you. And that’s better."

My pulse fluttered.

She was right.

I could be the one he turned to.

I could be the one who never left.

I could make sure this baby never ended up unwanted, unloved, alone.

I closed my eyes, hating the part of that was listening.

But it was there.

I deserved love too.

When I opened my eyes, the tunnel was empty again.

No mother. No images.

Just darkness.

And the echo of her voice:

Separate them.

I pressed my palm over my heart.

I didn’t know if I was strong enough to do it.

But I knew I was terrified to find out.