Chapter 1

Lena’s POV

My Don husband’s step sister showed up and told me she was carrying his child. I didn’t break down. I simply looked her in the eye and said, “You can have him.” I had no intention of staying with a lying, cheating man anyway.

“You knew Caleb never wanted me to show up in front of you.” Ruby—Caleb’s step-sister—looked at me with a smug smile, her eyes slowly studying my face. “But I had to. He mentioned you’re pregnant now?”

Her gaze dropped to my stomach.

“Too bad,” she continued lightly. “Mine’s a boy, and I’m already close to my due date.”

My eyes lowered to the photos and transaction records Ruby had dumped on the table earlier. In every picture, Caleb and Ruby were close—intimate, like they were the real married couple.

I gathered them and began flipping through them slowly.

The oldest photo dated back three years. I stared at the date. It was unmistakable. That was the day I lost my first baby.

Also the day Caleb had disappeared for the entire day. Later, he told me an urgent meeting had come up.

As the Don of the Stone House, urgent meetings were common. His business was dark and complicated. Disappearances happened all the time.

I had never questioned it.

I just had never imagined that his so-called urgent meeting was spending the entire day with Ruby—his so-called step-sister.

According to the photos, it had been quite a luxurious day. First, he took her to one of the most expensive restaurants downtown. Later, there was a poker night with some of his friends.

My fingers tightened around the photo. Compared to them, that day had been very different for me.

The doctor said the baby should be stable by then. But that afternoon, a sharp cramp twisted through my stomach. Blood ran down my legs as I shouted for the maid to call an ambulance—and Caleb.

In that ambulance, I truly thought I might die, that I will never see Caleb or meet our baby.

I had been terrified, desperate.

Turns out that all that time I was fighting for our child—fighting for Caleb—he was spending his nights with Ruby.

While I lay on the operating table, waiting for the doctor to begin the surgery to remove my first baby from my body… Caleb was raising a glass with Ruby, celebrating their win at poker.

My eyes stung, but I forced the tears back. Crying in front of Ruby was the last thing I would allow.

And it wasn’t Caleb—or our ruined marriage—that made my chest ache now. It was the memory of losing my first baby.

I kept flipping through the photos. In one of them, Caleb was down on one knee, holding a huge diamond ring. The date stamp caught my eye. It was my birthday last year.

Strangely, after so many shock, I didn’t feel much anymore. The idea that he had spent my birthday kneeling in front of Ruby, giving her a ring, didn’t even shock me the way it should have.

“Well, don’t be sad, Lena,” Ruby said lightly. “Caleb always made sure you didn’t feel less than me. Whatever he gave me, he practically gave you the same.”

She smiled, resting a hand on her swollen belly. “But now my baby is about to be born. I really want the Donna title back, you know. My son deserves the right to inherit the Stone family.”

Her fingers brushed the necklace around her neck.

I recognized it immediately. It was almost identical to the one Caleb had given me for our anniversary this year. Almost.

The one on Ruby’s neck shone brighter. The diamonds were larger, more numerous, more valuable than mine.

“Well, now that you know everything,” Ruby said as she stood, smoothing down her dress. “I should head back. Caleb might worry if he comes home and doesn’t find me there.”

Caleb had told me he needed to fly to Italy to deal with the casino business. He hadn’t told me he was already back.

After Ruby left, I went to my room and took out the necklace Caleb had given me. I held it in my palm and stared at it.

When I first received it, I had been so happy. I had wanted this piece for so long, and I thought Caleb had finally remembered.

Now, looking at it only made my stomach turn.

It wasn’t hard to find Ruby’s social media. She loved posting about her luxurious life.

Before today, I never thought much about the things we had in common. Ruby was Caleb’s step-sister. Of course she had money.

But as I scrolled through her photos, the similarities became impossible to ignore.

Chanel bags. Gucci heels. Rings.

All the same styles. Only hers were often rarer, more expensive, better.

I kept scrolling through Ruby’s feed. She never showed Caleb’s face. Maybe he had told her not to. But I could see him everywhere. Sometimes it was just a hand resting on the table. Sometimes a pair of shoes beside hers.

One of Ruby’s posts was pinned to the top of her page. I clicked it.

Almost immediately, Caleb’s voice drifted out of the speaker. “Ruby, I love you. There is no one I love more than you.”

The post was new. Maybe Ruby had pinned it because she knew I would eventually come looking.

I didn’t stop the video. Caleb’s voice kept playing in the background.

I slowly lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling railing. His voice sounded distant now. The loudest thing in the room was my own heartbeat, pounding faster and faster in my ears.

If Caleb loved Ruby this much, then why had he married me?

Or maybe the answer was simple. I had just been the convenient choice. A wife who looked respectable. A woman who could stand beside him as his Donna, manage the family affairs, host the gatherings, smile for the other families.

While the woman he truly loved could have him without any of those burdens.

I wasn’t even the second choice. I was just a placeholder.

When I faced Ruby earlier, I thought I had been calm.

But now I understood. It wasn’t calmness. I had been so shocked that my mind simply shut down for a moment. It felt as if I had stepped out of my own body, watching myself live someone else’s life.

The sadness came anyway. I couldn’t deny it, even if I felt foolish for still feeling anything for Caleb.

I placed a hand gently over my stomach. The baby was still too small for me to feel. “Don’t blame me, baby,” I whispered softly. “I have to get us out of here.”

I had no intention of confronting Caleb.

As the Don, he had more than enough power to make me disappear—or force me to stay exactly where he wanted me.

Leaving the place I once called home—and disappearing from Caleb’s life completely—was the only choice I had. Perhaps the safer one, too.