Chapter 2

By the time the list was done, Lucas's face had gone gray.

I tilted my head, all innocence. "Lucas, didn't you say the money was for your father's treatment? Was he getting his treatment at the casino?"

"And didn't you tell me you owed five hundred thousand? But this gentleman…"

The black-haired man supplied it flatly. "Ron."

"Ron says you only owe three hundred thousand."

Lucas couldn't get a word out. He just glared at Ron, livid.

I let my voice rise, sharp with anger. "Wow, Lucas. I was going to bail you out, and you tried to swindle me?"

The crowd caught up at last. Heads turned toward Lucas, the looks now openly scornful.

I steadied my tone. "I've changed my mind. I'm not paying off a gambler's debts. Who's to say you won't go right back to the table?"

Catherine saw the tide going wrong and rushed forward, grabbing my hand, breaking into loud sobs.

"Hazel, you can't just leave him to die! If you hadn't been sabotaging him at the company at every turn, with his abilities, he'd have paid this off ages ago!"

"If you don't want me near Lucas, I'll leave him. Just stop going after him!"

"Even though I'm carrying his child, if my leaving puts your mind at rest, I'll go away, take the baby, and never let you see me again!"

"I'm begging you, please!"

Before I could even react, she yanked my hand against her stomach and let herself drop to the ground.

She clutched her belly and let out a piercing scream. "Aaah—"

"My baby! Lucas, our baby!"

"Hazel, why did you push me? Do you hate me that much?"

Lucas rushed over to hold her up, his eyes burning into me.

"Hazel, you've made my life hell, you've held me back, and I bore it."

"But Catherine and our baby are innocent. Why won't you spare them?"

"Is it because we're Omegas? You think you can just trample over us however you like?"

Lucas's baby?

I almost laughed out loud.

Lucas didn't even know it himself, but he had a fertility defect — his sperm count and quality were too poor to conceive a child naturally.

In my last life, I'd gone through round after round of IVF because of him. My body had been wrecked by it.

And still, I never carried a child.

So whoever's baby was in Catherine's belly — it sure as hell wasn't his.

The crowd was muttering again, swept up in righteous outrage at my "cruelty."

Already forgotten was the greed and pretense on Lucas's face thirty seconds ago.

People always sided with whoever looked weakest.

But I wasn't going to change for that.

I just stood there, looking down at the two of them clinging to each other, saying nothing.

Lucas gritted his teeth and put on his most long-suffering expression.

"Just leave Catherine alone, and I'll be with you."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd — what a noble man Lucas was, what a martyr. And me, standing there with no expression, I looked cold and heartless by comparison.

Lucas pushed himself to his feet, his patience worn thin. "I already agreed. What more do you want from me?"

"Pay off my debt, now. Get Catherine to a hospital!"

"If anything happens to my baby, you and I are not done!"

I nodded. I signed a check for three hundred thousand.

Then I turned and held it out to Ron.

I gave him a small, deliberate smile. "Take the money. From now on, I want you collecting on Lucas three times a day, every day, no skipping, until it's paid in full."

"When it's done, I'll give you another hundred thousand."