Chapter 1

“I want you to stage a plane crash for me so that I can leave Damian’s side forever.”

Chester, my best friend, was in disbelief. “Have you lost your mind, Annie?”

Then, he lowered his volume, worried that someone might be eavesdropping.

“You’re Damian’s reason for living. If you ‘die,’ he’s going to search through the entire Western Shore and kill all those who might have caused the plane crash, including me.”

I sneered as I stared at the large blue crystal on my ring. Damian had given me the ring on our third wedding anniversary. Apparently, in order to get the crystal, he had killed a disobedient arms dealer.

“He won’t suspect you. He’ll just think that this is God’s punishment for his sin,” I whispered.

Damian Morrety. That name meant absolute rule in Zolnah’s underground.

He was the sole heir of the Morrety family, a huge criminal empire that had seized control over the borders of the far east and Auropa.

As for me, I was just a dirt-covered weed who crawled out of the slums at the borders.

According to the rumors, our union was a real-life mafia fairy tale.

The Morrety family’s heir had fallen in love with a poor girl who was washing dishes at the port. It was love at first sight.

For my sake, he broke the Morrety family’s iron rule of not marrying someone from outside the family.

He had also set up countless sanctuaries in my name in the southeastern region. On paper, it was a form of charity. In truth, though, he was setting up a network of spies for me, claiming that if he died one day, all the people who had benefited from my kindness would become my shield.

To marry me, he let his family punish him sixteen times during the family meetings. He was whipped with a steel whip soaked in salt water, and each lash tore off a bit of flesh from his body.

I cleaned the wounds on his back with my own hands. The criss-crossing scars were still a part of his body, even to this date.

For me, he sent away all the women by his side and installed the best GPS tracking system on himself so that it could tell me his whereabouts every day.

Everyone believed that I was the happiest woman on the planet. I believed that as well until I saw that video.

My darling husband was holding a woman and a pair of one-year-old twins in his arms in a manor less than three miles away from mine. He was smiling so happily that he looked like an apostle of God who had never taken another life.

That woman was Alice Kent, Damian’s childhood friend and the bully who had her subordinates break my ribs and stuff dirt into my mouth.

For me, Damian had sent the entire Kent family into hell.

However, it was all just a show.

He turned Alice’s hell into a nice cage and hid his darling in it, away from my sight.

“Annie?” I heard Damian’s voice at the door.

I snapped out of my reverie, and Chester quietly vanished into the shadows.

Damian walked in, and I could smell the faint traces of gunpowder and expensive cologne on him.

He removed his blood-drenched, black trench coat, strode over to me, and hugged me tight.

“Why didn’t you turn on the lights?” He kissed my crown and asked in a soft, gentle voice. It was magnetic in a way that seemed to pull me under. “I heard from my men that you didn’t have a good appetite today, so I pushed back my meeting with the Lassian and came back to keep you company.”

I leaned into his cold shirt and felt my heart bleed.

“Damian, do you love me?” I asked softly.

He chuckled and put my hand over his heart before saying in a firm tone, “Of course. I would gouge out my heart for you. You’re my god and my faith.”

He gazed at me with such sincere eyes that I felt sick.

After all, half an hour ago, I received another photo on my phone. He had used those very same hands to gently stroke the twins’ faces, and Alice had been carrying them at that time.

“I have one piece of good news for you, Damian. I’m pregnant.” I looked into his eyes and lied.

Damian froze for a moment before crazed delight shone in his eyes.

He picked me up and spun around a few times. He acted as if he were a young man who had just become a father for the first time.

“We’re going to have a baby! I’m going to have an heir!”

He kissed my face. “Annie, I’ll prepare a huge gift for our baby. I’ll give the baby the entire maritime route!”

When I saw his delight, I felt sick to my stomach.

If the baby really did exist, who would their mother be?

Me? Or would they eventually belong to Alice?

Damian’s phone vibrated on the table.

He gave it one look before his gaze turned fierce. When he turned to me, his eyes were gentle again.

“I have an emergency at the company. I need to go take care of it. Be good and wait for me for dinner.”

He hurried off.

Half an hour later, I received a video from Alice.