Chapter 2

The door flew open. Vince.

His eyes landed on Sophia in her pool of blood, and his face drained of all color.

"What did you do?" he roared, dropping to his knees beside her. He didn't even look at me. It was like I wasn't even there.

"She pushed me," Sophia sobbed, pointing a trembling finger at me. "She tried to kill our baby!"

What baby?

"Isabella!" Vince whipped his head toward me, his eyes burning with a rage from hell itself. "What did you do?"

"I didn't push her! I just—"

SMACK.

The blow sent me staggering back. My cheek exploded in pain. My ears rang.

And in the middle of the shock, a sharp cramp tore through my abdomen. A sickening warmth spread down my thighs.

"Are you insane?" Vince snarled, his voice dripping with disgust. "She's carrying my heir!"

Heir.

The word was a poisoned knife straight to my heart.

Vince scooped Sophia into his arms, her blood staining his white shirt. "Get a doctor! Now!"

"Vince, let me explain—"

"Explain what?" He was already moving toward the door with her. "That you tried to hurt an innocent woman? That you tried to kill my child?"

They disappeared down the hall. Vince’s men grabbed my arms before I could fall, dragging me after them like a prisoner.

I stood in a daze, my cheek on fire, the cramps in my stomach making it hard to stand.

Five years of marriage, and he didn't even look at me. Not for a second.

I tried to make it to the restroom to see how bad it was, but my legs gave out and I collapsed.

The last thing I heard was the doorman who'd recognized me earlier, screaming for a doctor for me.

"Ma'am, what's wrong? Hold on, we're almost at Sacred Heart Clinic!"

Sacred Heart was the Moretti family’s private clinic.

As they rushed me into the ER, I saw Vince pacing frantically outside an operating room.

Doctors and nurses were a blur of panicked motion.

They pushed me into another exam room.

The pain in my abdomen was getting worse, a deep, twisting agony. I gripped the bedsheets, my hair soaked with cold sweat.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged man in a white coat—Dr. Martin—ran out, a syringe in his hand.

"Boss!" he shouted, rushing to Vince's side. "It's bad. They're both hemorrhaging. Your wife and Miss Sophia."

Vince froze.

"We only have one dose of the serum," Dr. Martin pleaded. "It's the only thing that can stop this kind of bleeding and save the baby. Boss, you have to choose. Your wife... or Miss Sophia. We can only save one."

Time stopped.

I lay on that cold gurney, staring through the half-open door at Vince.

My husband. The father of my child.

Who would he choose?

He never even looked my way.

Without a second of hesitation, he pointed to Sophia's room. His voice was ice.

"Her. Save her."

And just like that, he signed my baby's death sentence.

"I need an heir," he added, his voice devoid of any emotion.

I watched Dr. Martin take the syringe that could have saved my baby and walk into the other woman's room, his face a mask of despair.

My world shattered.

The pain finally took over.

The last thing I heard was Vince's voice, cold and clear. "Secure the room. Make sure my heir is safe."

He called that liar's non-existent baby his heir.

And ours? Nothing.

Just... darkness.

When I woke up, there was a hollow ache deep in my belly, like something had been ripped out of me.

Dr. Martin stood by my bed, his face pale as a sheet.

"My baby…" My voice was a raw whisper.

The doctor wouldn't meet my eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Moretti. You lost the baby."