Chapter 3

On the screen, I stared at Leo, my voice so hoarse I barely recognized it.

"You knew I was carrying your child, didn't you?"

I braced myself against the wall and slowly pushed myself to my feet.

Leo answered calmly. "Yes. I knew. So I already took care of it for you."

"What?" On the screen, I went completely still. "Took care of it? What does that mean?"

Leo's expression stayed flat, as if he were about to discuss something utterly ordinary.

"You know Emma's baby is gone. So your baby..."

Something flickered in his eyes. "...didn't need to stay either."

My mind went blank. Something inside me collapsed all at once.

"You... what did you say?"

Leo walked toward me, one step at a time.

"Emma's baby is gone, so yours had to die too. Do you understand?"

"But that was our child! How could you! Are you even human!"

I fisted the front of his coat. "When did you do it? When!"

Leo threw me off without even looking at me. "The sixth day you were in the basement.

"A doctor examined you. You were already weak."

He spoke without emotion. "I signed the form."

I lowered my head and pressed a hand to my stomach. I could not hold it in any longer, and the crying that tore out of me split my chest open.

"My baby! Mommy never gave you up! Mommy just didn't protect you well enough! I'm sorry!"

The force of the memory overwhelmed me, and static tore across the screen.

The entire arena went dead silent.

The people who had been screaming for my death a minute earlier were frozen in place.

"Leo did something that cold?"

"How is that possible? It was his own flesh and blood!"

The man beside him quickly caught his arm. "Shut up.

"This is the Valenti family's business."

"If Eva really did that to Emma, then her baby was that sin carrying on."

"Right! Emma lost her baby. What gave her the right to keep her own?"

"Leo did it to get justice for Emma."

"Hold on. That woman is filthy. For all we know, the baby was never Leo's."

"Exactly. Leo is a don. How stupid do you think he is!"

Listening to them, I suddenly started laughing.

I laughed so hard that tears streamed down my face.

So in their eyes, my baby had never been a child at all, only a life they could trade for someone else's.

Leo knew better than anyone that he was the only man I had ever been with, yet he stood there in silence.

He did not defend me. He let them tear me apart.

This was the husband I loved. Wonderful.

Leo's eyes were bloodshot. "You chose this memory on purpose to win their sympathy, didn't you!

"You think a baby is going to make me go soft on you? Dream on!"

My father stormed onto the platform, seized my shoulders, and shook me hard.

"So you lost a baby, so what! You're still standing here, aren't you! And what about my daughter, what about Emma!

"She still hasn't opened her eyes! And it's all because of you, because you brought a curse down on a family that used to be happy!"

The memory extractor let out a sharp warning tone.

The picture on the big screen flickered again.

The technician looked as if he had struck gold.

"Boss!"

"What is it?"

"The system has detected a large cache of memories sealed deep inside Donna's mind."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Is that so? Then that has to be the truth she's been burying!

"Keep digging into her memories!"

"But Don, Donna is close to giving out! If we continue, her body will tear itself apart!"

I shook my head at my father and Leo with the last of my strength. "Please. I'm begging you. Stop."

"I said keep going! Whether she lives or dies is my decision!" Leo did not waver.

The huge LED screen lit up again.

This time.

It showed nothing but a crumbling slum.