Chapter 2

Before I could finish the sentence, Vincent’s face darkened, and he charged straight at me.

I slammed my hand down on the panic button under the table first, the one Leo had installed just for emergencies, the one that would send the full estate security team straight to the main house the second it was pressed.

Then I scrambled backward until my back hit the wall.

Vincent saw exactly what I’d done. He didn’t panic, though. He just stopped in his tracks and let out a cold, mocking laugh.

“Hit the panic button? Good.” He took two slow steps forward, staring daggers at my pregnant belly. “I was worried there’d be no audience. Today, everyone in this estate’s gonna see exactly what kind of whore the so-called Mrs. Sorrentino is, and whose bastard she’s carrying.”

The second the words left his mouth, his right hand shot into his suit jacket, pulled out a loaded Beretta, and pressed the muzzle straight to my forehead.

The cold metal seeped through my skin, and my whole body went rigid. I clamped both hands over my stomach, holding my breath, scared to even breathe too hard in case he snapped and pulled the trigger.

Lena hurried to his side, a triumphant grin on her face. “Told you this was the only way. She’s been hiding behind that Mrs. Sorrentino title for too long. Today we make her tell the truth.”

Vincent kept the gun pressed hard to my forehead, his voice sharp and vicious, every word a threat: “I’m gonna ask you again. Whose bastard is it? ”

I gritted my teeth, and said every word slow and clear: “It’s not a bastard. It’s Leo’s baby.”

Vincent froze for a split second, then burst out laughing.

“Seraphina, are you fucking kidding me? Everyone in the New York underworld knows my uncle Leo took a bullet saving the Don ten years ago! He can’t have kids! You couldn’t even come up with a better lie than that?”

Lena jumped in right away, backing him up: “Vincent’s the only rightful heir to the Sorrentino family. The Don froze all his offshore accounts just to force him to come home and take over. You really think anyone’s gonna buy that you’re carrying Leo’s kid?”

Vincent had run off with Lena for three years, hadn’t called the family once.

The Don was well and truly done with him, that’s why he’d frozen the accounts, cut him off for good.

But Lena had him wrapped around her finger, blind with rage, and all he could see was hatred for me.

I stared at the gun in his hand, didn’t dare push him further.

I forced my voice steady, shaky but firm: “I’m not lying. It’s Leo’s baby. If you don’t believe me, I’ll call him. He’ll tell you himself.”

I kept one hand glued to my stomach, going for the satellite phone on the table.

But my fingers had barely brushed the phone when Vincent kicked the table so hard it slid across the room, the phone flying into the wall and shattering to pieces.

He stepped in closer, the gun now digging into my temple, his eyes black with rage.

“My uncle’s a loose cannon. The whole underworld’s scared shitless of him. If he finds out I couldn’t even handle my own wife cheating on me, he’ll think I’m weak. He’ll never hand the family over to me.”

“That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Calling Leo, so he can come in here and humiliate me in front of everyone?”

I shook my head fast, my voice cracking with fear: “No! I just want you to know the truth..."

Before I could finish, Lena stepped forward and shoved me hard by the shoulder. I stumbled back, a sharp, heavy cramp hit my stomach, and my face went white.

“Vincent, why are you even wasting your breath on her?”

Lena stared daggers at me, her voice sharp and venomous.

"When the security team gets here, everyone’ll see what a shameless whore she is! We’ll have proof to take to the Don, and she’ll never be able to call herself Mrs. Sorrentino again!”

The cramp in my stomach got worse, and I felt the baby flutter inside me. A wave of cold terror washed over me.

I stared at the gun in Vincent’s hand, begged him with every ounce of strength I had left: “Please. Save my baby.”

Lena pulled out her phone, flipped the camera on, and pointed it straight at my face, a cruel grin on her lips: “Get on your knees right now, and I’ll let your baby live.”