Chapter 4

I only wanted to get away from that disgusting place as quickly as possible.

I had barely taken two steps when Isabella chased after me.

“Mrs. De Luca, wait! Please let me explain—”

Her strength was far greater than I expected. Her nails dug deeply into the flesh of my arm, causing a sharp, stabbing pain.

“Don’t touch me.”

I shook her off coldly.

But then her body suddenly swayed, as though she had lost her balance, and she lunged straight at me.

The staircase was directly behind me.

My body went over the edge, and I tumbled down the stairs.

A tearing pain exploded in my lower abdomen and spread through every part of my body.

Warm liquid gushed from beneath me.

I curled up on the floor and saw everyone’s faces turn pale.

Isabella fell to the ground beside me.

“I…I only wanted to explain things to Mrs. De Luca. I didn’t touch her at all…”

Antonio hurried over. The moment he saw the blood, his face turned deathly white.

“Zoya!”

He tried to pick me up, but I pushed him away with all the strength I had left.

“Go away. Don’t touch me…”

My consciousness slowly blurred.

The only thing left in my vision was Antonio’s panicked face.

When I woke up again, I was in the family’s private hospital.

The ceiling was stark white, and the air reeked of disinfectant.

The young nurse sighed.

“It’s a shame. The baby didn’t make it. Seven weeks old.”

The baby…

It was gone.

I raised my hand to cover my eyes as tears poured down my cheeks.

The child I had once looked forward to with all my heart, the child I had wanted to give everything good in the world—

was gone just like that.

The hospital room door opened.

Antonio walked in, with Isabella following behind him, her face pale.

“Zoya,” he said, his expression dark. “The doctor said you miscarried?”

There was no tenderness in his eyes, only a strange suspicion.

“When did you get pregnant? Why didn’t I know?”

I looked at him, then at Isabella.

“That’s right. You didn’t know. Your mind was too occupied with her.”

Isabella immediately burst into tears.

“Mr. De Luca, please believe me. I truly didn’t do it on purpose. I only touched her. How was I supposed to know she would fall down the stairs?”

“Enough.” Antonio cut her off.

His gaze became as sharp as a blade, pinning me in place.

“Zoya, did you plan this from the beginning? Did you invent a nonexistent child just to frame her? How long are you going to keep this up?”

I stared at him.

In his heart, I was the kind of woman who would even use her own child to frame someone else.

Seven years of love had turned out to be so fragile.

The heart that had once burned with passion gradually grew cold, until it finally sank into an abyss.

Without telling anyone, I pulled out my IV, changed my clothes, and booked the earliest flight to Sicily.

I had one million euros in savings.

That was enough to give me the courage to start over on my own.

When Antonio returned to the room, I was gone.

He called me, his voice impatient.

“Zoya, this farce needs to end. The church engagement ceremony has already been arranged. All that’s missing is you. Even though you fabricated the pregnancy, I’m willing to let it go. But you need to formally apologize to Isabella.”

All he received in response was the cold automated message informing him that my terminal was unreachable.

He collapsed onto the edge of the hospital bed. His eyes fell on the surface of the bedside table.

A crumpled sheet of paper lay there quietly.

His fingers trembled as he picked it up and slowly unfolded it.

It was the pregnancy diagnosis issued by the hospital.

【Name: Zoya】

【Diagnosis: Intrauterine early pregnancy, seven weeks】