CHAPTER 4

I couldn't breathe. The hospital room, which had felt like a sanctuary only moments ago, was suddenly closing in on me. I looked at the woman who had given me life, the woman I had spent years trying to make proud, sending her money and securing her status, but she was nothing but a predator preying on her daughter.

"What did you just say?" I rasped, my voice sounding like it was being dragged over sand.

"I said it's a blessing!" she snapped, her eyes darting to the nurse as if daring her to intervene. "Honestly, Anessa, think for once. A child would have tied you to Julian forever. It would have made the transition... difficult. Now, we have a clean slate. You're unburdened. You're ready."

"Ready for what?" I whispered.

She didn't answer. Instead, she reached out and grabbed my arm. Her fingers dug into my bruised skin with strength and before I could cry out, she yanked at me. My feet hit the cold floor, and a flare of pain erupted in my abdomen. I buckled, my knees hitting the ground, but she didn't let go.

"Stop! I'm still bleeding! I can't walk!" I cried out, the physical agony finally breaking through the shock.

"Ma'am, let go of her!" The nurse rushed forward, her face pale with horror. "She has just suffered a major trauma! She is medically unstable!”

"She is my daughter and I have signed the discharge papers!" my mother shrieked, her voice reaching a pitch that made the glass on the bedside table vibrate. "If you touch me, I will sue this hospital into the ground! Do you have any idea who I am? Do you want to lose your license today?"

The nurse hesitated, her eyes darting to the security guard at the door who looked equally uncertain. My mother used that momentary lapse to drag me toward the door. I was stumbling, my vision blurring.

"Please," I sobbed, my pride finally disintegrating. "Don't do this. I'm so tired."

"You'll sleep when we get there," she hissed in my ear. "Stop making a scene. You've embarrassed this family enough today by getting kicked out of your own home."

The humiliation was the final blow. To avoid the prying eyes of the other patients, to stop the screeching voice of the woman I once called 'Mom,' I stopped fighting. I let her lead me, half-carrying, half-dragging, out to a waiting black sedan.

As the car pulled away from the hospital, I leaned my head against the cool leather, trying to regulate my breathing. But as I looked out the window, I realized we weren't heading toward the familiar suburbs of our family home. We were heading toward the Steele Estate, the heart of the city's most elite and dangerous power players.

"Where are we going?" I asked, a fresh wave of nausea hitting me. "This isn't the way home."

My mother didn't even look at me. She was busy checking her reflection in a compact mirror, dabbing at her lipstick. "Home? Don't be ridiculous, Anessa. You don't have a home with us anymore. Julian made sure of that when he handed me those divorce papers." She snapped the compact shut and turned to me, her eyes cold and calculating. "I'm taking you to get married. Again."

My heart stopped. "What? I just... I lost my baby an hour ago! I just signed a divorce! You can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm very serious," she said, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. "They paid me a truly magnificent sum for your hand. A sum that will ensure your brother’s care at the private facility for the next decade. You’re being married off to an... older gentleman. He’s quite wealthy, but I heard that he's impotent. He needs a 'breeding woman' to sleep with another man of his choosing to provide him an heir. Honestly, I don't know why someone would want a broken, used-up woman like you, but I wasn't about to argue with the price."

"A breeding woman?" I screamed, the horror of it finally giving me a spark of life. "You sold me? Like cattle? After everything I did for you?"

"You did nothing!" she yelled back, her hand flying out and striking my cheek with a stinging slap. "You couldn't keep Julian! You couldn't keep the baby! This is for your own good! It's the only way you’re worth anything to anyone!"

"You just want the money!" I lunged for the door handle, screaming at the driver and slamming the door. "Stop the car! Let me out! I want to get out!" But we were already there.

The car glided through massive, obsidian iron gates and came to a halt in front of a mansion. Before I could even attempt to run, the door was yanked open. My mother shoved me out onto the ground. I tried to scramble to my feet, my eyes darting toward the exit, but two men in dark suits caught my arms instantly. I struggled, but my body was spent. Every move felt like my insides were being shredded.

"Wait! Stop!" I looked back, seeing her already getting back into the car.

She didn't even look sad. "Don't come back!" she shouted as the vehicle sped away, leaving me in the hands of strangers.

The guards didn't say a word. They dragged me through the house. They took me upstairs and pulled me into a dark bedroom. They slowly put me down and maybe it was just my imagination, but they were really so careful with me. I hit the bed, the soft silk sheets a cruel contrast to the violence of the last hour. To my absolute shock, before the men left, they turned toward me and bowed deeply.

The door shut, and I heard the unmistakable click of a lock. I sat there for a moment, gasping for air, the silence of the room more terrifying than the shouting. Slowly, I forced myself to stand. I went to the door, it was locked. I stumbled to the window, thinking of jumping, thinking that a fall would be better than being a "breeding woman" for some old man.

"I wouldn't advise that," a voice drawled from the shadows. "Even if you survived the drop, you wouldn't make it past the hounds at the gate."

I whirled around, my back against the glass, my heart hammering against my ribs. The room was vast and draped in shadows; I could only see the silhouette of a man sitting in a chair.

"Who are you?" I demanded, my voice trembling. "Come out! Show yourself!"

A low, melodic chuckle vibrated through the air. "I'm hurt, Anessa. Have you really been away so long that you don't recognize your own husband's voice?"

"I don't have a husband!" I shouted, my voice rising in panic. "Come out!"

"Well, your wish is my command," the voice said. A tall, broad-shouldered figure rose from the chair and stepped into the pale moonlight streaming through the window. As the light hit his face, the air left my lungs.

It wasn't an old man. It wasn't a frail, impotent stranger. Standing before me, looking as cold and lethal as a winter storm, was Darius Kade Steele. The Titan of the Steele Empire. The man everyone feared, and the one man Julian had always been terrified of.

My ex-husband's uncle.

"Darius?" I gasped, my legs finally giving way as I sank to the floor. "Why... why are you here?"

"Because, Anessa," he whispered, his voice a dangerous mix of ice and velvet as he stepped closer. "I've been waiting for Julian to throw you away. I don't like it when people waste perfection."