Chapter 2

An awkward silence fell over the room.

Carlo's face darkened. "Go home, Mia. Madison needs to rest."

He told her several times, but she refused to leave.

Instead, she glared at me and stepped forward to defend him.

"Madison, my lab team and I ran the tests twice. The Don's condition is real. You're his wife, yet you somehow got pregnant when he can't father a child. Aren't you ashamed of betraying him?"

I pushed myself upright, ignoring the ache in my body.

"I saw that report. It only showed observations taken before and after centrifugation. Is that what you call two complete tests?"

For a second, Mia's expression went stiff. When she answered, her voice had an odd, guarded edge.

"Both readings showed no sperm. The results aren't wrong."

I let out a cold laugh and raised my voice.

"You didn't even finish investigating. You sent Carlo a partial report, made him think I'd been unfaithful, and turned him against our baby. What exactly were you trying to accomplish?"

Carlo strode over and grabbed my arm.

"Madison. Watch what you say."

I slapped his hand away and stared at him in disbelief.

The problems with Mia's so-called evidence were right in front of him. Still, he thought I was the one talking nonsense.

Mia bit her lower lip. Her eyes filled with tears.

"I expose your secret, and you turn around and slander me? If you won't admit what you've done, there's nothing more I can say!"

She spun toward the door.

Carlo pulled out his phone and opened the photograph of his test report.

Only half the document had been captured. The crucial section containing details of the centrifugation procedure had been cropped out entirely.

He shut off the screen, irritated.

"I'll go to the lab tomorrow and get the original."

"Why not today?" I asked.

He opened his mouth, then stopped. In the end, he said nothing.

My eyes burned.

It wasn't that he couldn't go today. He didn't want to.

He'd already decided I was guilty. Facts weren't going to change his mind.

The following afternoon, Mia sent him another photograph. Once again, it contained only selected figures and a short conclusion.

Disappointment settled on my chest so heavily I could barely breathe.

"Didn't you promise you'd go to the lab yourself?"

Carlo kept scrolling through the image.

"The lab staff went to a conference in Aldmoor. Mia says this report is conclusive enough."

I gave a humorless smile.

"You really trust her that much?"

"She's the youngest andrologist at the family hospital. She's never made a mistake."

Tears threatened, but I fought them back.

"And I'm the wife who stood beside you while you fought your way up from nothing!"

For an instant, his face drained of color.

Then he looked away and took a prenatal report from his pocket.

"Look at this. The estimated start of your pregnancy falls on the day I was in Sorvana negotiating a smuggling deal."

The absurdity of it made my head spin.

I snatched the report away.

"That estimate is calculated from the first day of my last period! It isn't the exact day we had sex! Are you seriously going to interrogate me like some rat in your organization?"

I crumpled the paper and hurled it into the corner.

"You were so afraid your enemies would kidnap me that you had tracking devices and security everywhere I went. You know exactly when I get to the firm and when I come home to the estate. You know my schedule better than I do. And now one estimated date is enough for you to convict me? Does that make any sense?"

Carlo's face hardened. He still looked at me as though I were making excuses.

"If you won't tell me, I won't force you. We'll know what's true when the paternity results come back."

He walked straight out of the room.

For a long time, he didn't return.