"FLATLINE"

A New Chapter

9 weeks later
October 13, 2024
Onika Maraj POV

I had hit the mark of 9 weeks into my pregnancy this morning. 9 weeks of constant nausea, pissing like a racehorse, strange cravings, and hiding it from my husband. I was more than ready to get the weight of knowing if it even is my husband's off of me. What better way to bring in 9 weeks than to finally have the dna results from the procedure I had done a week ago.

The results had been in my purse the entire morning because Jamie would not give me an inch of space to read them. Once he was dressed for work, he kissed me and headed out the door. I quickly sat them on the bed beside me.

They sat beside me for minutes while I tried my hardest to gain the strength to read them. It wasn't long until I decided that I couldn't. I put the results back in my purse and rushed to Beyoncé's gym. Jamie had left in a suit, so he must have been heading to a meeting or something. I prayed he would stay away from that gym long enough so Beyoncé and I could figure out what the next phases of our lives were going to consist of.

Once Bey's driver had gotten me to the gym, I walked in and headed straight for Beyoncé's office, ignoring her staff's greetings. If she wasn't already in her office, she was sure to see me run in here and head after behind me.

So I waited.

Moments later I heard the door open. Knowing it was her, I pulled the results out of my purse and sat them on her desk.

Her silhouette walked around the desk in my peripheral as I couldn't stand to look at her, afraid of what the future held. She stood across from me before picking up the envelope.

"Is thi-"

"I can't read it. You have to." I interjected nervously.

Beyoncé was definitely a rip the bandaid off type of person. She said nothing else as she immediately ripped the envelope and took out its contents.

"The alleged father is excluded as the biological father of the tested child. The probability of paternity is 0%" Her breathing hitched and her face dropped as she read it.

The realization of what this meant engulfed me. I processed it as quickly as I could before I noticed she was frozen in the same position of disbelief and disappointment.

I intervened quickly. "Beyoncé, I used Jamie's dna for the test, not yours."

"So I'm.."

"We're having a baby." I said smiling.

She immediately came from behind the desk to hug and kiss me but the celebration was short lived as I realized I couldn't hide the pregnancy from Jamie anymore. It would be more fucked up than it already was to drag it out knowing for certain it wasn't his.

"I have to tell him." I said quietly.

"I have to fire him." She said as she was still holding the paper, smiling ear to ear.

"Bey I'm happy...you're happy obviously, but his life is about to take a turn for the worse. He's losing his wife, his job, hell the man lives with you! Can you at least act concerned?"

She waved me off absentmindedly, still smiling. "I'll take care of him. Send him off with a fat check. I'll even let him tell the world he resigned."

"And when we're seen together..with a baby..what then?" I asked. I should be worry free and excited about my first baby but all I felt in this moment was guilt and shame. This wasn't the dynamic I had dreamed of raising a baby in.

"Listen." Beyoncé cupped my face. "I could care less about what anyone thinks. And you stressing about the inevitable won't do anything but endanger our child. I'll take care of him. I'll take care of anybody else that has anything to say. I promise."