Chapter 4

I bit my lip and looked up at her.

"Get your foot off that bottle. I'm Monica. My brother is the Don of the Turner Family, and he'll be here any minute."

"When he gets here, not a single member of your family will be left alive."

Beth frowned.

"Is that so? Oh, I'm so scared."

Then she laughed even harder, turning to the crowd. "Is there anything this woman won't do? She's even pretending to be Monica."

"Let me guess. You found out tonight is Monica's first public appearance, and no one has ever seen her face, so you got here early to beat her to it?"

The crowd gasped.

My heart was racing. I glanced back at Colton. His breathing was getting weaker by the second. There was no time to waste.

"Miss Garry, don't let this go too far. He really is in bad shape. This is Miss Turner's event, after all. The last thing we need is someone dying here."

The bodyguard warned her again.

Beth looked irritated.

I clenched my fists, about to speak.

Then a commotion broke out deep in the crowd, but with so many people, I couldn't see what was happening back there.

I could only hear that someone important had arrived.

Hope surged through me, and I jerked my head up.

"Dominic, I'm over here."

My voice was hoarse. I pushed through the crowd, wanting to throw myself into my brother's arms and pour out my grievances to him, the way I always did.

The guests recoiled from me.

Beth's eyes flickered with panic.

When I flung myself into the man's arms and looked up, I found myself staring at a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

The man looked at me in surprise.

Then he pushed me away with obvious distaste.

"It's Dillon. That's him."

I didn't recognize the name. I froze. This wasn't my brother.

It was the man from the photo.

It was Beth's husband!

The next second, I grabbed his suit jacket. "Tell her! I don't know you! And the woman in that photo isn't me!"

Beth's expression darkened.

Dillon frowned and pushed me off.

He straightened his suit and walked over with a child in tow.

All he had to do was say he didn't know me, and I could get the pills back and save Colton.

But Dillon said nothing for a long time.

He cleared his throat and let go of the child's hand.

"I've already told you. This woman came on to me first."

"I brought the kid. Children don't lie. I've told you before, this isn't my child."

My ears rang, and my mind went completely blank.

Before I could say a word in my defense, the child threw himself at me, clinging to my leg and calling me Mommy.

My blood ran cold.

"Who are you?!" I pushed him away.

The child clung to me. "Mommy, please don't do this."

"I'll be good from now on. I promise I'll listen. I'll call him Daddy. Just please don't leave me."

The child burst into tears.

His tears stained my gown.

The crowd started pointing at me.

"How could she be so heartless, abandoning a child that young?"

"She's truly vicious, willing to do anything to claw her way to the top!"

Dillon adjusted his clothes.

"See? I told you the child isn't mine, and you didn't believe me."

"She seduced me and then insisted the child was mine."

"Good thing I found out the truth."

He turned and took Beth's hand. "Next time, can you let me explain before you jump to conclusions?"

They held each other tenderly, putting on a grand show of reconciliation.

And I stood frozen in place, completely lost.

"Are you out of your mind?! Do you hear what you're saying?!" It hit me then. The child was Dillon's.

He didn't dare admit it. If Beth ever found the real mistress, she would kill her.

I was the perfect scapegoat.

I stepped forward to demand an explanation, and Beth slapped me across the face. I staggered back.

She kicked me again and again.

Her stiletto dug into my stomach. My whole body shook with pain, every breath agony.

Beth spat, "Whore! You think you can use your bastard to threaten us?"

The child stood nearby, too scared to say a word.

Colton crawled toward me.

My arms were trembling.

"You'll all rot in hell." It took everything I had to force those words out.

Dillon flinched for a moment.

Then he recovered quickly.

"A woman like this is nothing but trouble. Throw her into the sea and let the fish have her."

Beth added, "That idiot too. Throw them both."

The moment the order was given, the bodyguards grabbed us and tied Colton and me up.

I struggled with everything I had.

Colton had no strength left.

I screamed, "If you do this, the Turner Family will never let you get away with it. Let him go!"

My voice was so raw I could barely speak.

Every shout tore at my throat.

I closed my eyes in despair. Tears streamed down my face.

I begged them. "Please don't do this. He has nothing to do with it. Let him go!"

Colton started convulsing, blood spilling from his mouth.

His face was twisted in agony, and he was teetering on the edge of death.

"Let him go! He has nothing to do with this." I screamed until my voice gave out.

"I told you to beg me earlier. Why didn't you?" Beth crouched in front of me. "I'm going to make your death very, very painful."

"I'll cut out your hearts before I throw you in the sea."

"You'll regret this!" I forced the words through gritted teeth.

But no one cared what I said. Beth took the knife from Dillon's hand and turned toward Colton, choosing where to start.

She wanted to watch me writhe in agony, desperate to die but unable to.

"Don't!"

A gunshot rang out from the entrance.

The room went dead silent. The knife nearly slipped from Beth's hand. She sprang to her feet and whipped around toward the door.

Someone shouted, "The Don is here!"