When Nikki agrees to co-parent with her ex, she never expects to be treated like a surrogate by his new partner. But as the boundaries blur and the demands escalate, Nikki realizes this pregnancy isn’t just about babies… it’s about control. And she’s done being polite.
When Stan left me, it wasn’t dramatic. It was just a tight-lipped coffee shop conversation and an apologetic shrug.
“I’ve been talking to Ursula again,” he said. “I think we’ve got unfinished business, Nikki. And to be honest, I just want to make sure that she’s not the one who got away.”
A nonchalant man sitting in a coffee shop | Source: Midjourney
“I get it,” I said, smiling at the waiter when he brought my slice of baked cheesecake. “You have to see this through. Not a problem.”
“Aren’t you… upset?” he asked, frowning over his cup of coffee.
“I am a bit sad but let’s face it, Stan. We’ve only been together for three months and I’m not Ursula. So, we owe it to ourselves to see what the world has to offer.”
A slice of cheesecake on a table | Source: Midjourney
He nodded and asked for the check.
It was true, we had only been together for three months. It stung, sure. But I told myself to get over it. And I almost did.
Until two weeks later, when I found out I was pregnant. With twins.
A person holding a pregnancy test | Source: Pexels
I told Stan, of course. There was a long pause on the phone, then a sound I didn’t expect. There was laughter. Choked, stunned, and joyful laughter.
“Oh my God,” he said. “Twins?! Nikki! This is… this is incredible.”
“You’re actually happy about this?” I asked.
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “I am! These are two innocent babies who deserve the entire world!”
A smiling man talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
Apparently, Ursula had fertility issues. And Stan had always wanted kids.
Stan said that getting back together wasn’t on the table but he wanted to be involved. And Ursula?
She “just wanted to support the process.”
But support turned out to mean something very different to all of us involved.
A close up of a smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
Ursula insisted on meeting.
She and Stan came to my apartment like they were touring a rental with their eyes darting around, assessing the space. She didn’t even sit down before laying out her terms.
“We want a home birth,” she began, as if we were mid-negotiation. “Formula feeding only, Nikki. That way we can split custody from day one, you understand? And the babies will call me Mama. You’ll be Mommy. It’ll help avoid any confusion in the long run.”
A man sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
I blinked.
But it wasn’t from the surprise. It was from the sheer absurdity of what I was hearing.
Stan sat beside her, sipping coffee and eating chocolate brownies that I had made at midnight courtesy of cravings. He kept looking at Ursula like she was discussing furniture placement. He nodded a little, eyes on the floor whenever she spoke to him directly.
I felt something sink in my chest. He wasn’t going to stop her. He wasn’t even going to slow her down.
A brownie on a plate | Source: Midjourney
“You’re not serious,” I said, trying not to laugh but my voice came out a lot flatter than I meant it to.
Ursula smiled. She had one of those tight, rehearsed grins you see on reality shows. Calculated, not kind.
“It’s important to co-parent with intention,” she said, like she was reading something off a Pinterest graphic.
A frowning woman standing in a living room | Source: Midjourney
The room felt too small. My own home suddenly became foreign.
I stood up, quietly and deliberately. My knees felt shaky but I didn’t let it show. Without a word, I walked over to the door and opened it.
There was a pause and a kind of silence that crackles in the air.
A woman walking through a door | Source: Midjourney
They got up slowly, confused. Stan looked back once and I didn’t meet his eyes.
They left but her presence didn’t.
Ursula’s perfume lingered, some vanilla-amber blend that tried to smell expensive but gave me a headache. I closed the door and leaned against it, exhaling like I’d been holding my breath since they walked in.
A bottle of perfume on a vanity | Source: Midjourney
I knew then: this wasn’t going to be a shared journey.
This was going to be nothing but a war.
After that, Ursula texted me every day.
She asked me if I was walking enough. If I was eating the right fish. She told me to skip yoga and get prenatal acupuncture. She sent me name suggestions and nursery color palettes.
A person holding paint swatches | Source: Pexels
She also sent long, rambling messages about how her job wouldn’t grant her any maternity leave.
“It’s so unfair, Nikki. I get it, you’re carrying the twins. But it’s exhausting. I’m exhausted from the planning.”
Eventually, I stopped responding altogether.
A cellphone on a table | Source: Midjourney
Before I knew it, Ursula had scheduled a genetics appointment, without telling me first. It was a consultation with a genetics specialist, and involved us speaking about medical and family history. I was clean, Stan’s family had a lovely history of cardiac problems.
I expected him to show up, to talk about that, and see what risks our twins faced in their future. Instead, Ursula showed up without Stan. She tried to take over the whole meeting. She tried to give her family medical history, as if she were the one being scanned.
The counselor gently redirected her. Twice.
A woman sitting in a doctor’s office | Source: Midjourney
By the 20-week scan, I was allowed one guest. Stan asked if I could take Ursula along instead of him.
I said no.
“She’s really invested in this, Nikki,” he said, looking sheepish. “I think she’s just excited that we’ll be getting a part to play. And I’m going to propose this weekend.”
“I don’t care how invested she is, Stan,” I snapped ignoring his proposal announcement. “This isn’t a group project. I’m growing two humans. Not assembling a damn IKEA bunk bed.”
Naturally, three days later, Ursula became the fiancée, not the girlfriend anymore.
A close up of an angry woman | Source: Midjourney
Things got worse after I made the pregnancy public.
I posted a quiet, smiling bump photo. It was just me, glowing in the afternoon sun, feeling beautiful.
Hours later, Ursula posted a glittery Instagram reel with about a hundred filters.
“Expecting Twins! The non-traditional way. I’m feeling so blessed!”
A beautiful pregnant woman sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
There were pink and blue balloons. Some were shaped like bottles. I didn’t even know the genders yet.
But then… Ursula announced her baby shower.
And I wasn’t invited.
That wasn’t even the last straw.
Food at a white-themed baby shower | Source: Midjourney
It was late March when it happened. I was about 24 weeks along, belly heavy, ankles swollen, folding tiny cotton onesies on my couch. I was halfway through an episode of some home renovation show when I heard a knock.
Not a polite one. Not a neighbor-with-a-package knock.
It was a knock like they owned the door.
When I opened it, I felt my stomach twist.
A pile of white baby clothes | Source: Midjourney
Julie. Her mother.
She was wearing a quilted vest and too much perfume. Behind her, was Ursula, with her signature full-face of makeup and a takeaway cup of coffee in hand, like this was a PTA check-in.
“No text? No call?” I stood in the doorway, arms crossed over my bump.
A close up of an older woman | Source: Midjourney
“This won’t take long,” Ursula said, brushing past her mother like she was leading a boardroom presentation.
Julie stepped forward and smiled like we were old friends at a bridal shower for a colleague.
“We’ve been talking,” she said. “And… we think it makes sense.”
“What? What makes sense?” I asked.
A woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
“For you to give one of the babies to Ursula,” she said.
“I’m sorry, what?! Are you crazy?”
“You already have two. It’s only fair,” Ursula exhaled, exasperated.
Fair.
A pregnant woman standing in an apartment | Source: Midjourney
Like this was a board game. Like I rolled double sixes and won an extra baby I didn’t need.
I could’ve lost it. I could’ve screamed. Could’ve thrown the ceramic elephant I’d just folded onesies around.
But something inside me clicked.
A stillness. A steel lining.
A cute ceramic elephant | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, you want one of the babies? Okay, I can agree,” I smiled, calm and measured.
They exchanged a look. Julie smiled wider. Ursula leaned in, her eyes narrowing.
“What do you want?” she asked.
I tilted my head.
A woman wearing a mustard dress sitting on a couch | Source: Midjourney
“I want you to officially sign up as a surrogate,” I said. “For my future dog.”
“What?” Ursula blinked, looking at me as though I’d lost my entire mind.
“You know. Carry it for nine months. Natural birth. No epidural. Breastfeed it too, while you’re at it. That’s only fair, right? Life for a life?”
A puppy wrapped in a blanket | Source: Midjourney
Julie gasped like I’d slapped her.
“That’s not the same thing,” Ursula snapped, her face twisted in disbelief. “Are you insane? Do you really think that you’re fit to be a mother if you’re asking these kinds of things?”
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s not the same thing. Because a child isn’t a handbag. A child isn’t a pet. Or a prize. Or a consolation.”
I stepped forward just enough to make them flinch.
A pensive woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
“They’re my children. And you, Ursula, are nothing to them except being their father’s fiancée.”
Dead silence.
“And just so we’re clear,” I inhaled slowly. “If you or your mother ever come near me again, uninvited, I’ll have a restraining order so fast your ‘non-traditional family’ won’t know what hit it.”
I smiled. Sweet, icy, and deadly.
A close up of a frowning older woman | Source: Midjourney
“Have a nice day, ladies.”
Then I shut the door and locked it.
“Jeez, babies,” I said to my belly. “Your dad has us in for trouble, huh?”
Then I sat down with a bowl full of grapes and texted Stan.
A bowl of grapes | Source: Midjourney
“Your fiancée and her mother just came to my house to demand one of my twins. If I see either of them again, I’m getting a lawyer and full custody. You’ll get supervised visits only, Stan. Think carefully about who you tie your life to.”
He didn’t reply. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. Or maybe he knew I meant it.
The next morning, I had an emergency consult with a lawyer. They told me custody agreements couldn’t be arranged until after birth, but if I left the state before then, my state wouldn’t be considered the legal home of the children.
A lawyer sitting at her desk | Source: Pexels
That was all I needed to hear.
I packed in silence. I found a short-term rental three hours away and left the following week. I didn’t give any forwarding address, other than to my mother. There were no calls to Stan. My job was already halfway there, so that wouldn’t have been a problem for me to factor in.
It was just peace and two growing babies inside me.
For a while, it was quiet. No calls. No messages.
The exterior of a home | Source: Midjourney
Until someone sent Ursula a screenshot of my original post on social media. The one where I’d finally shared my story.
And then Ursula showed up at my workplace. Not my house.
My job.
I work at a learning center for toddlers. It’s all bright colors, scheduled snack times, and the quiet hours of naptime.
The interior of a learning center | Source: Midjourney
Ursula slashed my tires, shattered my passenger window, and broke a row of floor-to-ceiling windows near the playroom.
Screaming. Full-throated, wild screaming.
“You stole my life, Nikki!”
Over and over again.
Our staff had to evacuate the children. Then the police came and they arrested Ursula on the spot.
An upset woman standing in a parking lot | Source: Midjourney
The charges?
Criminal damage, trespassing, and child endangerment.
I filed an order of protection the next morning. The judge didn’t even blink. He smiled at my stomach and approved it on the spot.
“Good luck, missy,” he said. “I’m going to be a grandfather in a few months, too. I can’t wait!”
A gavel on a desk | Source: Pexels
Then I filed one against Stan.
It wasn’t easy. But when your ex-boyfriend enables the kind of obsessive delusion that shows up with lattes and custody demands, you don’t take chances.
After that, I left again. But this time it was across the country with my mother.
And I started fresh.
Suitcases in a living room | Source: Pexels
Stan and Ursula tried again. There were emails, text messages, and even DM requests from fake accounts.
And with the new evidence, I pressed charges in my new state and restraining orders followed.
Again.
Sometimes I sit in the quiet of my new apartment and wonder if any of it really happened. If I imagined the gender reveal party I wasn’t invited to. If I dreamed the look on Julie’s face when I told her daughter to carry a puppy.
A pregnant woman sitting on a couch and looking out the window | Source: Midjourney
It all feels surreal now. Like a fever dream I wrote on a napkin and left behind in another life.
The furniture here doesn’t creak the way the old stuff did. The air smells like lemon soap, hardwood, and chocolate brownies, because that craving never quite went away.
There are no texts lighting up my phone at midnight, no phantom footsteps outside, no voices raised behind closed doors.
A tray of chocolate brownies | Source: Midjourney
Now, it’s just me. And the shift I feel inside. The little kicks and the stretch of life beneath my ribs. They’re real. These two little humans, and they’re both mine.
I remember exactly what I walked away from… and how Stan had walked away from me first.
The babies will be here in a few weeks. I haven’t chosen names yet. I’m not rushing it. They’ll have my last name and that’s the most important part.
A smiling woman laying on a bed | Source: Midjourney
There’s more drama ahead—keep reading!
My Younger Sister Stole My Fiancé – But I Got the Ultimate Revenge at Her Wedding
When Paige’s sister steals her fiancé, betrayal isn’t enough, she wants to flaunt her little victory. One year later, an invitation arrives. Erica is getting married to the man she took, and she wants Paige to watch. But what Erica doesn’t know is that Paige has a plan. And before the night is over, the bride’s perfect day will be in ruins.
I wasn’t supposed to be at this wedding.
That much was clear from the sideways glances and the murmured whispers trailing behind me as I walked through the grand hall.
A smiling woman at a wedding | Source: Midjourney
I’ll admit, the wedding set up was stunning. Erica had taken her time to set the scene with shades of gold and ivory. The guests had come wearing their expensive gowns and tuxedos. Everything was… stunning.
But no amount of elegance could mask the rot beneath the surface.
This wasn’t just any wedding. This was her wedding.
Erica.
People at a wedding | Source: Midjourney
My younger sister. My parents’ golden child. The one who was handed everything on a silver platter while I scraped and clawed for every bit of success I had.
And now?
She had taken the one thing that was supposed to be mine.
Stan.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
Stan had been my fiancé. He had been my future. He was the man I loved and trusted, until I came home early from work one night and found them tangled together in our bed.
I still remember how he froze, his face twisted in guilt. As for my sister? She had only smirked, her voice dripping with smug satisfaction.
“I won, Paige,” she had said simply. “Checkmate.”
A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney
A month later, the wedding I had spent over a year planning was canceled, with all the vendors trying to keep my deposits. And what about Erica and Stan? They no longer had to sneak around. They were finally an official couple.
After that, I left town for a few weeks, moving around hotels while working remotely. I tried to put it all behind me, and eventually, I did. When I was ready, I moved back in and got myself a kitten.
A ginger kitten | Source: Midjourney
Then, the invitation arrived.
And now, a year after that entire fiasco, here I was, standing in the middle of their celebration, invited as nothing more than a spectator to their so-called victory.
I bet it was my parents who forced her to invite me. If Erica had her own way, she would never have invited me. Or maybe she would have… just to gloat. She was as nasty as they came.
A wedding invitation | Source: Midjourney
But what Erica didn’t know, what nobody knew, was that tonight, I wasn’t here to mourn my loss.
I was here to make sure that Erica would never forget what she had done to me. And with that, she would never forget the surprise I had planned for her wedding reception.
The ceremony was a blur. I stood near the back, barely listening as the officiant droned on about love and devotion. Honestly, they were just words that meant nothing.
A woman standing in a wedding venue | Source: Midjourney
Stan, dressed in a sharp black tuxedo, stared at Erica with a look of adoration I knew was fake. She, in turn, beamed up at him like she had won the grandest prize of all.
I almost laughed.
Enjoy it while you can, sweetheart, I thought while sipping my champagne.
A smiling couple | Source: Midjourney
By the time the reception began, the hall buzzed with laughter and clinking glasses. A massive screen behind the dance floor played a slideshow of their engagement photos, Stan lifting Erica into the air, their foreheads touching as they smiled at each other.
Honestly, if you didn’t know the history of how they got together, you would think they were genuinely happy.
And maybe they were. Maybe this was how things were supposed to turn out.
Glasses of champagne on a table | Source: Midjourney
But I wasn’t going to give in that easily. I wasn’t going to just let this go.
Why should Erica get the happily-ever-after, especially after all the pain and betrayal I had felt?
Nope. Not a chance.
Soon, their perfect little fairytale was about to take a turn.
I moved through the crowd unnoticed, my sleek black dress hugging my frame just right. I wasn’t dressed like a guest. I was dressed like a reckoning, and I felt confident, more confident than I had in a long time.
A woman walking through a wedding reception | Source: Midjourney
Reaching the laptop connected to the projector, I slipped in my flash drive. A few clicks, a deep breath, and then…
Showtime.
The first few seconds went unnoticed. The guests continued sipping champagne and nibbling on canapés, lost in conversation. The bridal couple made their way through the crowd, stopping to talk and hug people as they went.
Then, Stan’s voice filled the hall.
“Please, don’t leave me!”
A man sitting on a bed | Source: Midjourney
The video played on the massive screen, the footage grainy from the security camera mounted in my bedroom. Stan was on the bed, his face streaked with tears. I was standing on the other end listening to him try to ‘explain’ what had gone on between him and my sister.
“Erica means nothing to me, Paige! Absolutely nothing!” he sobbed. “She was a mistake! I love you, Paige! I made a huge mistake!”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
I turned to look at Erica.
Her face drained of color.
A shocked bride | Source: Midjourney
Stan, too, stood frozen, his eyes wide. His hands twitched at his sides.
But still, I wasn’t done.
The video cut to more security footage. I lived in a quiet neighborhood that was often targeted for break-ins, which was why I had security cameras installed everywhere and in every room.
Now, the footage showed Erica and Stan sneaking into my house together, slipping into my bedroom when they thought I was working late. Timestamp after timestamp, betrayal after betrayal.
A security camera on a porch | Source: Midjourney
Then, the final nail in the coffin.
Erica, lying in my bed, laughing.
“She’ll never know…” she whispered, her voice light and breathy.
“Paige who?” Stan said, laughing with her.
A collective gasp spread through the crowd. Someone dropped a champagne glass.
A broken champagne glass | Source: Midjourney
“Oh my God,” a woman murmured.
My mother looked like she might faint. My father’s jaw clenched so tightly I swore I heard his teeth grind.
And then, pure chaos.
Erica stumbled back, her hands shaking.
“This… this isn’t real!” she stammered.
A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney
But the proof was right there, glaring under the bright glow of the screen.
“Dinner will be served now!” she blurted, waving her hands in the air. “Everyone just take your seats and enjoy!”
Stan turned to her, his expression morphing into pure rage.
An angry bride | Source: Midjourney
“Erica, you told me that you went onto Paige’s computer and deleted the footage.”
“Oh?” I mused, my voice dripping with mock innocence. “You mean you knew about it? You knew that the security cameras were going to catch you in the act?”
His face paled, giving himself away.
The guests murmured louder now, judgment and disgust flickering through their faces.
A shocked groom | Source: Midjourney
And then, before Erica could retaliate, a voice cut through the tension.
“Paige.”
I turned.
Jack stepped forward from the crowd, his crisp white shirt visible beneath the black vest of his waiter’s uniform.
A smiling man holding a tray | Source: Midjourney
Month ago, when I told Jack about what I wanted to do, he was adamant that he needed to be with me. He had just come over after work and the first thing he saw was my sister’s wedding invitation on the table.
“I want to go to the wedding,” I said. “I just don’t want to be… I don’t know. Jack, Erica is a problem. She’s used to everything being about her. I want to teach her some kind of lesson.”
Jack moved around the kitchen, chopping whatever I asked him for.
“Then I’ll come with, Paige,” he said.
“But I don’t want to draw attention to you,” I said, handing him a bowl of ramen. “I don’t want Erica to spoil my moment before I even get to it. And if she sees you, that’s exactly what she’ll do.”
“Then I’ll come in as a waiter, if that’s what it takes!” he said. “But I want to be there. That way, if you need me, I’ll be right there.”
In the end, I gave in. I was switched off from my parents, and I hadn’t been close with my family for a long time, so knowing that Jack was around made me feel better.
A bowl of ramen | Source: Midjourney
Now, Jack set down his tray of champagne glasses on a table and smiled at me.
His sharp blue eyes met mine. They were steady and unwavering… and reassuring.
I had never been more grateful to see someone in my entire life. As much as I was surrounded by family, having Jack around was the one thing that had kept me grounded throughout the ceremony. I despised Erica and Stan but watching them actually get married did tug at my heart.
But now? Seeing Jack?
I was comforted.
“Shall we go?” I asked.
Jack shook his head and walked over to me.
A smiling man | Source: Midjourney
Gasps rippled through the crowd as he strode toward me, each step measured and purposeful. And then, without hesitation, he dropped to one knee.
The room, already reeling from the scandal on screen, now fell into a stunned silence.
Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it, revealing the most breathtaking ring I had ever seen.
“I’ve waited long enough to ask you this, my love,” he said, his voice strong, clear, and certain. “Paige, will you marry me?”
A beautiful engagement ring | Source: Midjourney
A sharp inhale swept through the crowd.
Erica let out a strangled sound.
“Are you… are you kidding me right now?” she screeched. “Paige! Why? What the hell? Now? At my wedding?!”
She looked like a deer in headlights but she also looked a canon about to burst through the room, taking everything down with her. For a moment, I felt bad. But on a whole… I felt vindicated.
A shouting bride | Source: Midjourney
I smiled, the weight of the past year lifting from my shoulders.
She had stolen the wrong man. Stan was nothing compared to Jack. Jack was everything that Stan hadn’t been. He was trustworthy and certain about life and his love for me.
Stan? Stan had just wanted a good time.
But as I looked at him now, he looked heartbroken. He looked like everything wrong had happened to him and the weight of it all was suffocating. He looked at Erica who was still fuming. He even tried to reach out to hold onto her hand but she tugged it away with such a force that he looked shocked.
I would have checked on him. But he wasn’t my problem.
A side view of a groom | Source: Midjourney
Instead, I turned back to Jack, my chest tight with emotion.
“Yes!” I said, my voice unwavering. “Yes, Jack! I will!”
The room erupted. Some guests, still reeling from the scandal, now cheered. My mother wiped away tears, not of shame this time, but of joy.
An emotional woman sitting at a table | Source: Midjourney
Erica’s face twisted in pure, unfiltered rage. There was something unfamiliar about her rage. I hadn’t seen her so upset in my entire life. Erica was used to getting everything she wanted but now on the most important day of her life, she had lost control. There was no joy in her actions. There was no victory over me anymore.
There was just… anger and hurt. And disappointment. I should have felt bad, right?
But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t bring myself to it.
“This is my day!” she shrieked, stamping her foot and knocking her chair over.
An upset bride holding her head | Source: Midjourney
I turned to her, tilting my head.
“Oh, honey,” I said, my voice dripping with sweetness. “You stole that fool from me and my wedding. I just returned the favor and stole the show.”
Then, with Jack’s hand firmly in mine, I walked out of the hall, leaving my sister standing at her wedding reception, humiliated, betrayed, and hurt.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
The wedding was far behind us, but my heart was still racing. The echoes of gasps, whispers, and Erica’s shriek still clung to the edges of my mind.
Now, though, it was just Jack and me.
We sat across from each other in a tiny 24-hour diner, both of us absurdly overdressed for a place that served greasy fries and milkshakes in chipped glasses. My sleek black dress felt out of place against the cracked leather booth, and Jack looked like he had just stepped out of a movie scene.
The interior of a diner | Source: Midjourney
And yet, this was the most comfortable I’d felt all night.
Jack slid a plate of fries toward me.
“Eat,” he commanded. “You’ve had a long day.”
“That’s an understatement,” I laughed, but I picked up a fry anyway.
A plate of fries | Source: Midjourney
For a while, we just sat there, the hum of the diner filling the silence. It wasn’t awkward, it was easy. But that had been life since I met Jack.
Finally, I set my drink down and met his gaze.
“So… how long were you planning that?”
“The proposal?” he smirked.
He exhaled, leaning back against the booth.
A smiling man | Source: Midjourney
“I’ve wanted to ask you for months, Paige. But I knew you weren’t ready. Not just for marriage, but the whole commitment thing? You needed time to heal. I wasn’t going to rush that.”
His fingers traced patterns on the table and then picked up his milkshake.
“But when I found out that she invited you? That was the final straw. I wasn’t going to let you stand there alone while she flaunted him in front of you.”
A lime milkshake on a diner table | Source: Midjourney
“And you got a job in the catering industry, or you snuck in?”
“I called in a favor, honey,” he grinned. “Apparently, I look good holding a tray.”
I laughed, really laughed, for the first time in a long time.
Jack leaned forward, his expression much softer now.
A woman sitting in a diner and laughing | Source: Midjourney
“I meant every word, Paige. I love you. And I’ll wait as long as you need. But this evening felt like the right moment to finally ask.”
“I think,” I said after a moment, “that you chose the perfect moment.”
And for the first time in a long time, I felt like I had won.
A smiling woman sitting outside | Source: Midjourney
