Chapter 4

When I pushed open the door to the basement guest room, the sight of it landed like a blow.

Every piece of my life had been dumped there, my clothes, my books, everything I owned, thrown onto the cold, damp floor in no particular order. Several boxes had been deliberately broken in the move, their contents scattered everywhere.

I crouched down and picked up a sterling silver dagger from the pile. He had given it to me on the day of our engagement, in front of both families, in the old tradition.

It was supposed to mean something. Now it was lying in the mildew, the ruby missing from its sheath and lost somewhere in the mess.

Next to it was my wedding veil, white lace now crushed under dirty boot prints and ruined beyond saving.

He knew what these things meant to me. He'd always known. And he'd let this happen anyway.

Jessica, you fool. You were the only one keeping those illusions alive. Seven years, and you were the only one.

Footsteps landed above me. The basement had no insulation, and I could hear everything from the master suite. Dorian and Elena, settling in.

"Dorian..." Elena's voice was soft with its usual performance of innocence. "Are you sure it's okay, putting Jessica down here? She's a Morretti. What if she gets angry? I'm worried..."

"Let her." His voice was flat, almost amused. "She's spent years defining herself by how much she loves me. She doesn't have a self left outside of this. She's not going anywhere."

Then the creak of the bed, and his voice dropping into command mode.

"Your only job right now is to stay healthy and give me a healthy heir. Everybody else is irrelevant."

Every word landed like a bullet.

A sharp cramp cut through my abdomen without warning. I went pale and sank to the floor, both hands pressed hard against my stomach, cold sweat soaking through the back of my dress in seconds.

"I'm sorry, baby," I whispered into the dark. My voice broke. Tears mixed with water dripping down from above and I tasted salt. "Don't be afraid. We're getting out of here. I promise."

I survived the night in pain. By morning the cramps had dulled to a low ache, but there was something else wrong. The air was thick with a heavy, overwhelming fragrance.

He really had done it. Overnight, every corridor of the estate had been filled with red roses, fresh-cut, walls of them, petals already shedding.

The pollen hit my throat immediately. I was severely allergic and the reaction had been worsening for years. My throat started burning, then tightening. Breathing became difficult, and the low ache in my belly was getting worse.

I have to protect this baby.

My emergency allergy medication and inhaler were in the first-floor medicine cabinet. I forced myself up, shoved the heavy basement door open, and started making my way toward the main hall, fighting to stay upright.

I almost made it.

Elena was waiting in the corridor. There were no bodyguards and no Dorian in sight, so she dropped the act immediately. Her eyes went cold and ugly, and she walked straight toward me on her heels like she had all the time in the world.

"Well, look at this. The great Jessica Morretti, reduced to living in a basement." She got close enough that her red-tipped finger nearly grazed my face. "You couldn't get pregnant in seven years. You're useless. You don't deserve that title. Dorian never loved you. He's always loved me."

"Move." I barely had breath to speak. The allergic reaction was blurring my vision and I just needed to get to the medicine cabinet.

Then her eyes flicked past me to the far end of the hall, where Dorian was walking toward us. Her whole face changed.

She grabbed my arm and yanked hard, shoved me toward the staircase, then let herself fall backward onto the flat carpet with a shriek.

I went down the stone stairs without anything to grab onto.

"Elena!" Dorian was running. He reached her first and pulled her into his arms while she sobbed against his chest.

"Dorian, I just came to say good morning, I was being kind, and she attacked me! She tried to push me down the stairs! She's jealous of the baby — I'm so scared—"

He hadn't looked at me once. I was on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding and unable to get up. When he finally looked up, his eyes were full of cold rage.

"Jessica." His voice filled the hall. "I never thought you'd sink this low. A pregnant woman. An unborn child. You couldn't even leave them alone."

He shook his head like I was something he'd tracked in on his shoe. "You don't deserve to be the Donna of anything."

He lifted Elena into his arms without another word and walked out with his bodyguards trailing behind him, leaving me lying on the floor of my own house. The marble was cold beneath my cheek. I could see blood spreading across the white stone from where I lay.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone with badly shaking hands. Dialed 911.

"Please... please help me... my baby..."

I felt that faint, fragile life slipping away with every pulse of blood leaving my body. The darkness came up from the edges, and I stopped fighting it.