Chapter 5

Rain mixed with blood, streaming down my legs.

I heard myself say, "I'm pregnant," but my voice floated, like it didn't even come from my mouth.

Nico didn't react.

He was still holding Elena, saying over and over, "It's okay, it's okay."

"Nico!"

Elena saw it first.

She violently pushed him away, pointing at the dark red in the muddy water by my feet. Her voice cracked. "Blood! She's bleeding! She said she's pregnant!"

Nico froze.

He slowly turned his head. His eyes locked onto the blood under my dress. His pupils shrank.

"What did you say?" he asked hoarsely, like he couldn't process the words.

I didn't have the strength to answer.

A massive wave of agony exploded in my stomach. My vision went black, and I collapsed.

"Seraphina!"

He rushed over and caught me.

The blood soaked right into his pants.

The sharp smell of copper mixed with the muddy rain made the passersby step back in horror.

It was like someone had completely hollowed out Nico's brain.

He frantically scooped me up, didn't even shut the car door properly, and floored it.

He blew through red lights.

Even rammed straight through a patrol car blocking the intersection.

The car violently jolted. I felt more warm liquid gushing out of me.

I curled up in his arms, freezing, teeth chattering, but my mind was clearer than it had ever been.

I didn't want anything anymore.

Not his money, not his promised love, not a single inch of space in Chicago.

I just wanted to run.

Run away from him. Run away from this place built on gang wars and betrayal. As far as possible.

We hit the private hospital run by the Chicago Outfit.

Doctors and nurses were already waiting at the door. The second they saw the blood, they rushed a gurney over.

"Fetal heartbeat is unstable, we need to operate now," the doctor said rapidly.

"Save the kid!" Nico suddenly roared.

He violently shoved away a nurse trying to stop him, rushed the doctor, pulled the Beretta 92F from his waist, and jammed it against the doctor's temple.

"You save my kid, you hear me?!"

A few of his enforcers rushed up and pinned his arm down. The gun dropped to the floor with a harsh metallic clang.

"Nico, you're crazy!" I heard myself shout weakly.

The gurney was pushed into the OR. The doors slowly closed.

At the very last second, our eyes locked.

His face was twisted into something I didn't even recognize.

The doors clicked shut, cutting off all his screaming.

The anesthesia flowed into my veins. My consciousness started to fade.

I used my last ounce of strength to grab the doctor's white coat.

"Don't save the baby." My voice was broken but completely clear. "Just save me. Clean it all out. Don't tell him if it was a boy or a girl."

The doctor hesitated, but knowing I was once the heiress of a Southern mafia family, he nodded.

I knew exactly what I was doing.

If this child was born, it would only live under a thug's possessiveness and another woman's shadow.

I couldn't let my kid repeat my mistakes.

Right before I slipped under, I hallucinated the old Nico.

He was holding a floor plan, excitedly pointing at a small south-facing room. Said he'd paint it pale yellow, hang star lights. Said when the kid was born, we'd be a complete family.

Back then, his eyes were full of light.

But now, that light had been dead for a long time.

Before the darkness completely swallowed me, only one thought was left in my head.

Tomorrow will come.

But happiness never will again.