After I found out I was pregnant, my boyfriend's entire family decided to die.

It started with Lukas Tilley's grandmother, Freya Yarvell. She slammed her head into the wall right in front of me, leaving behind a secret.

Everyone who knew that secret ended up dead.

First, it was Lukas's father, Blake Tilley. Then his mother, Wren Murrow. And finally, Lukas himself swallowed a handful of pills and ended his life right before my eyes.

The media went wild, digging for answers. The police called me in for questioning over and over. And the internet was flooded with accusations, hatred, and endless speculation.

Everyone wanted to know what the secret was. They said I had cursed the Tilley family, destroyed them just to keep the secret for myself.

I never defended myself. I stayed silent.

Until the day of Lukas's funeral, when I saw someone at the service.

In that moment, my hand resting on my swollen belly, I felt utterly calm.

It was time for me and my baby to die, too.

***

After I got pregnant, Lukas took me home to meet his family.

Freya took one look at my pregnant belly and let out a wail, then hurled herself headfirst into the living room wall.

Blood splattered across the walls. She didn't die right away.

But what truly terrified us was the look in Freya's eyes—wide open, blood streaming down her cheeks like tears.

Her once gentle face was twisted in horror, as if she'd seen something unspeakable.

It was grotesque.

Wren fainted more than once. Blake clung to Freya's body, sobbing uncontrollably.

Neighbors who'd heard the commotion rushed over, urging us to listen. Freya seemed to have something to say.

We all fell silent, straining to hear her last words.

But in the end, only Blake heard them.

Freya told him a secret. Then she was gone.

Blake's face twisted with terror as he held her lifeless body, his hands trembling violently.

He broke down, shouting, "They won't let us live!"

His reaction sent panic through us. Wren rushed to steady him, whispering, "Honey, what did Freya say?"

Blake looked at us with haunted eyes, then shoved Wren aside. Before anyone could react, he slammed his head against the wall.

Blood pooled on the floor as he collapsed onto Freya's corpse.

Even in death, Blake's face mirrored Freya's—frozen in terror.

As he lay dying, Wren desperately begged him to hold on, saying the ambulance was on its way. But when she finally heard his last words, her face went ghostly pale. She hung up on 911 without another word.

After that, no matter who asked, Wren refused to repeat what Blake had said. Not even the police could get a word out of her.

After Freya and Blake's funeral, Lukas seemed to age overnight. Exhausted, he asked Wren, "What did Grandma say? Why did Dad kill himself right after hearing it?"

Wren clutched the family photo, tears streaming down her face.

"Don't ask. There was no secret," she whispered. "Freya and Blake's deaths were just a terrible accident. Don't read too much into it."

Lukas sobbed until his voice was hoarse, crying out, "That was my dad! My grandma raised me! I watched them kill themselves—how am I supposed to just accept that?

"At the very least, you owe me an explanation!"

My heart ached for Lukas. I tried to help, pleading with Wren, "Wren, Freya, and Blake died right in front of us. How can we just move on?

"And they both died after learning that secret. You heard Freya's last words too, Wren. We're worried about you..."

I knew my words were blunt, but I couldn't help it. I was terrified for her.

But before I could finish, Wren cut me off coldly.

She threw the family photo, her eyes blazing with hatred as she glared at me. "I told you—there is no secret!

"You two broke the rules, got pregnant before marriage, and drove them to their deaths—does that explanation work for you?"

Whenever Freya and Blake's deaths were mentioned, Wren couldn't stop crying. It was clear she was even more devastated than we were.

But soon she collected herself, took a deep breath, and apologized. "I'm sorry. I'm just overwhelmed with grief.

"Freya and Blake both had health issues. Times have been tough lately. Maybe they just didn't want to burden you.

"That's enough. Suicide isn't something to talk about. Don't bring it up again."

No matter how much we pressed, Wren refused to say another word on the subject.

But I couldn't shake the unease inside me. My hand trembled as I cradled my belly.

I needed to know—why would Freya, who had always liked me, kill herself the moment she found out I was pregnant?

What secret did she leave behind?

Lukas was even more desperate than I was to uncover that secret.

On the day of Blake's funeral, Wren was so overwhelmed by grief that she drank herself into a stupor, ranting and raving in a drunken haze.

Lukas seized the moment and managed to coax the secret out of her.

Wren's voice was barely a whisper—Lukas had to lean in close just to catch her words. But almost instantly, the same look of terror that had frozen Freya and Blake's faces appeared on his own.

I watched this horrifying scene, my anxiety mounting, and pressed him for answers.

"What is the secret? Why are you and Wren so terrified?"

But Lukas didn't answer. He just stood there, stunned, clinging to Wren as if his mind had gone blank with fear.

My nerves were shot. I rushed over, trying to get close enough to hear Wren for myself.

But Lukas's reaction shocked me even more.

Tears streamed down his face, wild and helpless. Then, unbelievably, he pushed me away, forcing me back from Wren.

I snapped, "I'm pregnant! Why are you pushing me?

"What did Wren say? Why are you keeping it from me?"

No matter how hard I pressed, Lukas refused to tell me.

He looked at me, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Evie, I wish you could go your whole life without ever knowing this secret."

I stood there, frozen, unable to fathom what kind of secret could drive Lukas's entire family to such despair.

What could be so horrifying that just hearing it would make Blake kill himself?

At that moment, Wren seemed to sober up. Her eyes were empty as she looked at us.

She gave a bitter, broken smile, her face gaunt and drawn. Then, slowly, Wren began to laugh—at first quietly, then so wildly that tears streamed down her cheeks.

She clutched Lukas's hand, laughing until she cried.

"Lukas, you insisted on knowing. Now you'll have to live with the same pain I do."

I felt utterly lost, unable to understand how things had come to this.

I'd arrived at the Tilley home with gifts, happy and excited to meet Lukas's family, believing the future would only get brighter.

Lukas was a good man—steady, gentle, even-tempered. In the three years we'd been together, we'd never once had a real fight.

His family was just like him—kind and warm. Freya was loving. Blake and Wren were devoted to each other, always speaking softly at home, never any harsh words between them.

Lukas often talked about me to his family. He said they all liked me and looked forward to meeting me.

Freya was especially fond of me. She often gave Lukas money to buy me gifts, told him to take care of me, and frequently sent me local treats with kind notes.

But everything changed the moment I announced I was pregnant.

Freya killed herself on the spot. Blake followed her soon after.

Wren fell apart, drifting through each day in a daze. Even Lukas became withdrawn, burdened by secrets he wouldn't share.

It felt like the whole world was against us, refusing to let us have a single day of peace.

Exhausted and heartsick, I couldn't stop wondering—what was the secret Freya left behind?

I wasn't alone. Many people shared my curiosity, especially after our neighbors posted about it online.

The next day, the police showed up at our door again, driven by the mounting pressure of public opinion.

Wren had gone back to her family's house, Lukas was at work, and I was the only one home to answer the police's questions.

The officer was tactful. "Elderly folks sometimes have issues with their minds. Is it possible Freya was suffering from some kind of brain disease? Maybe you didn't notice, but she might've been confused for a while."

I thought carefully, replaying every memory of Freya from the past three years. Finally, I shook my head with certainty. "No way. Freya had full physicals twice a year—she just had one a couple of weeks ago. She was in perfect health. No sign of dementia or anything like that."

The officer looked disappointed, hesitating before asking, "What about Lukas's father, Blake? I heard things weren't going well at work—his company was planning to let him go. Maybe he couldn't handle the shame?

"He killed himself right after hearing Freya's final words. Maybe Freya told him she was ending her life so she wouldn't be a burden to Lukas, and Blake, overwhelmed by guilt, followed her example?"

I had watched Freya and Blake die right in front of me, watched them change from living, breathing people to lifeless bodies. I knew, more than anyone, how determined they were in that moment.

There was no way they killed themselves for such ridiculous reasons.

The officer floated a few more theories, but I shot them all down. Seeing he was getting nowhere, he finally wrapped up the interview. After all, these were clear-cut suicides, not murders. If it weren't for the public outcry, the police wouldn't even be wasting resources on this.

But just a few minutes after they left, Deputy Chief Cruz Lorne hurried back inside.

He looked at me, scratching his head. "Can you get a hold of Lukas?

"Your future mother-in-law, Wren... she jumped from a building."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor, my breath catching in my chest like I might suffocate.

Since the police couldn't reach Lukas, they brought me to the scene. The building was already cordoned off, and a crowd of onlookers gathered outside.

As the officers helped me through, people started snapping photos with their phones.

"That's the future daughter-in-law of the woman who killed herself, isn't it? I heard her boyfriend's father and grandmother both died the day she came to visit!"

"What a curse. Some people probably think she drove them to it!"

"And that woman who jumped—her husband and mother-in-law are dead, but she still had her son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law. I heard the daughter-in-law is pregnant. How are the young couple supposed to go on?"

Their words barely registered in my head. My heart was already numb.

I knew Wren was devastated, but I never imagined she'd take her own life.

A cop gently pulled me aside. "It's a long fall. The body... It's not something you want to see. Where's Lukas?

"Some witnesses say Wren was mumbling about a 'secret' before she jumped. We think it's the same secret that drove Blake and Freya to suicide!"

Despite the officers' efforts to shield me, I managed to look past the layers of white sheets and saw Wren's shattered body.

Thirty-plus stories—there was no surviving that kind of fall. But she jumped anyway.

I couldn't hold it together anymore. I dropped to my knees and sobbed uncontrollably.

All I'd done was visit Lukas's family, like anyone else would, and now I'd watched them die, one after another, in the most horrific ways.

I just couldn't understand—what kind of secret could make them so desperate to end their lives?

Cruz looked at me with sympathy. "Evie, I know you're falling apart, but you have to pull yourself together. It's clear now—everyone who learns the secret ends up dead.

"What is the secret? Do you know? Or does Lukas?"

My mind was so overwhelmed with grief that I couldn't think at all. I could only shake my head helplessly through my tears.

I didn't know. I didn't know anything.

If anything, I wanted to know the secret even more desperately than the police did. What could possibly have driven Freya to take her own life the moment she learned I was pregnant?

Just then, Lukas arrived, breathless and pale.

He was like a pool of still water—accepting the news that his last living family member had killed herself with an eerie calm.

He stared at the shattered body on the ground, then told the officers, almost matter-of-factly, that he knew what the secret was.

"My grandma and my parents all killed themselves because of this secret.

"Now, I'm the only one who knows.

"But the time isn't right yet. I'm not ready to reveal it."

Lukas handled Wren's funeral arrangements with quiet efficiency, then brought me home.

I still didn't know what the secret was, but I had a vague suspicion it had something to do with my pregnancy.

I was terrified—terrified that Lukas, the last one who knew the secret, would end up like his family and choose to end his own life.

Every day, as my belly grew, I lived in fear, praying that Lukas wouldn't suddenly do something irreversible.

I was wrong. He remained calm. He went to work as usual, took meticulous care of me, and made sure everything was ready for me and the baby.

Slowly, I began to relax, thinking maybe he'd finally come to terms with his loss.

But from that day on, Lukas started avoiding me, spending hours holed up in his room, the sound of his keyboard tapping late into the night, as if he were recording something.

I had a feeling—an unshakable sense—that he was documenting the secret. But whenever I asked, Lukas would deny it, and I could only pretend not to notice.

I thought maybe our lives could go on like this, quietly, indefinitely. But one day, out of nowhere, Lukas started a livestream online. He looked dead serious as he announced that the time had come—he was going to share the secret with the world.

The number of viewers shot up to a hundred thousand in an instant. Lukas gripped my hand tightly, gazing at me with gentle eyes. "Evie, I know you've always wondered what Grandma's secret was.

"The time has come. I'll tell you everything."

He pulled me into his arms, his touch lingering on my slightly rounded belly, then leaned close and whispered the secret softly in my ear...

By the time I realized what I'd just heard, it was too late. My tears came faster than my thoughts. My eyes widened in terror, my whole body trembling violently.

I tried to question Lukas, but he was already backing away, tears streaming down his face. He staggered to the doorway, then suddenly coughed up a torrent of blood.

A chill ran down my spine. I scrambled to him in a panic.

"Lukas! Please, don't die! I'm begging you, don't leave me and the baby!"

But it was too late. Blood kept pouring from Lukas's mouth, and within seconds, his life was gone.

Just like Blake, Wren, and Freya, he chose to die right in front of me, leaving me alone with nothing but despair.

I knelt there, clutching my belly, watching the last breath leave his body. I begged him to stay, but he was already beyond my reach.

I cried until there were no tears left. I sat there like a puppet, hollow and broken, my heart shattered beyond words. All that remained was fear.

Because the secret Lukas told me was too terrifying to comprehend.

No wonder... No wonder they all chose death after learning the truth.

Now that I know the secret, it's my turn. My baby and I—we're meant to die, too.