Chapter 76: Pregnancy announcement
The notification popped up on Ella’s phone as she dried her hands in the bathroom.
Clara is LIVE: "I Owe You All the Truth"
Ella stared at it for a long second. Her thumb hovered over the screen.
She didn’t want to look.
She shouldn’t look.
But of course... she tapped it.
And just like that, Clara’s perfectly filtered face filled the screen, her mascara smudged ever so artfully, her lips trembling, one hand placed protectively over her slightly rounded belly.
The lighting was soft. The mood? Tragic.
"Hi everyone," Clara sniffled, voice wobbling just enough to seem raw without losing control. "I—um—I didn’t want to do this live. But I think it’s time. You all deserve to hear the truth... from me."
Ella arched a brow. The truth?
The truth was buried under a mountain of Clara’s carefully edited Instagram posts and sob-story captions about being "cut off" and "betrayed by family." The truth was something Clara hadn’t touched in years.