Chapter 5

Flora’s POV

After what felt like forever, Luca finally looked at me. Our eyes met.

“Please, Flora, do this for me?” he said flatly. “The doctor already said your pregnancy was high risk, it won’t be stable. Best case, you save Annie. If the baby survives, fine. If not, at least you saved hers.”

The words hit harder than anything before.

My hands started to shake.

“Luca, you bastard—don’t you dare!” I snapped, fury breaking through. I reached for anything within arm’s reach, ready to throw it at him.

The room descended into chaos in seconds—and then the door swung open again.

Annie peeked in, her face pale. “Luca… the pain is back. My stomach…”

She coughed softly, every inch the fragile victim. Then her eyes found mine. “Sis… please. Save me. Save my baby. It’ll be yours too… please…”

Luca’s expression darkened with worry.

Annie stepped inside, her movements unsteady.

He rushed to her side immediately, catching her before she could stumble. “Why are you out of bed? The doctor said you need to rest.”

She clutched her stomach. “You were gone too long… I got worried.”

A soft sob escaped her. “It hurts… it’s starting again…”

Luca didn’t hesitate. As he brushed a strand of hair from Annie’s face, he shouted toward the door, “Now! Do the transfusion. She can’t hold on any longer.”

While his attention was elsewhere, Annie looked at me and smiled. Her lips moved silently. “You lost.”

The staged fall. The act. Everything. Annie was cornering me and somehow, the man who claimed to rule an empire couldn’t see through it.

I reached for my phone. But Luca moved faster.

He snatched it from my hand, his gaze snapping back to me. “Who are you calling? Isn’t this embarrassing enough? You want more people to see our family fall apart?”

“Give it back!” I struggled, my wrist still tied, unable to even sit up properly.

He stared at me for a second, then tossed the phone onto the bed.

“Fine. Take it,” he said coldly. “But listen carefully—if you make a call today, any call, I’ll drain every last dollar from the Kane accounts like it’s nothing.”

My breath caught.

After Papa died, and after I married into the Ricci family, most of the Kane assets had been merged into theirs.

I had once asked Mama why she didn’t keep more for herself.

She had smiled and said, “You’re married now. You need that money as your shield—especially in a family like the Ricci.”

And now—Luca was threatening to destroy it.

I bit down hard, so hard I tasted blood.

He could betray me. He could humiliate me. But he did not get to touch my family.

Luca mistook my silence for submission.

His voice softened as he stepped closer. “Flora, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Just donate the blood. Then we can all go home.”

I looked straight into his eyes. “So you’re willing to risk killing my baby… just to save hers?”

For a moment, something inside me shattered all over again.

How foolish of me to think that if Luca knew I was pregnant… he would choose me, even for a second.

“This is just a matter of risk. Annie’s pregnancy is stable. Yours isn’t,” Luca said, his tone turning measured. “Even if you keep it, there’s no guarantee you’ll carry to term. But if Annie loses hers now… we might never have a child at all.”

He stepped closer, voice softening. “Please. Do this for me. Annie already agreed to give us the baby. It will be yours too.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t have words. It was that none of them mattered anymore.

After all these years… We had really come to this.

My hand drifted to my stomach.

“I’m sorry,” I thought silently. “I couldn’t protect you.”

But after today, I would never let myself be this powerless again.

“Fine,” I said quietly. “Do the transfusion. It’s not like my opinion matters here.”

I turned my face away. “But remember this, Luca—if anything happens to my baby because of this, it will be on you. You chose another woman over me. Another woman’s child over ours.”

I saw the hesitation in the doctor’s eyes—just for a second—before he moved toward me. “Mrs. Ricci… I’m sorry,” he murmured, glancing briefly at Luca.

I gave him a faint smile. “It’s alright. Do what you have to. Otherwise, none of us are leaving this room.”

The needle pierced my skin, cold and sharp. But it wasn’t as cold as what I felt inside.

I took a slow breath, then another, trying to steady the chaos in my chest.

As the transfusion began, the soft hum of the machine filled the room.

Luca stayed by Annie’s side, hovering over her like she might break at any moment.

I had one nurse. That was all.

The dizziness came quickly. I closed my eyes, shaking my head slightly, trying to fight it off—but it only grew worse.

My lips parted. “Stop… I feel… tired…”

The nurse immediately moved to stop the transfusion.

But Luca stepped in, faster. “Wait,” he said sharply, stopping her. “Just a few more seconds. Annie still needs more.”

“Stop…” My voice was barely a whisper now.

Everything started to fade. Darkness crept in, swallowing the edges of my vision.

My last thought flickered through me— Regret, for letting myself end up here. Fear, for the tiny life inside me. Would my baby survive this?

Somewhere, distant and fading, I heard the nurse’s urgent voice.

“Don, Mrs. Ricci is losing consciousness. We have to stop—”

“Don’t stop,” Luca cut in. “Just a few more seconds.”