Chapter 3

I burst out of the main hall and stumbled toward the backyard pool.

Matteo chased after me, his grip like a vise on my shoulder. "Mandy! Enough! I already checked on Nico. He's gone. We'll dispose of him quietly. This ends here. It was an accident. Turn the page!"

I violently tore out of his grip and rushed to the edge.

The water was perfectly still. Empty.

The black stroller and the baby inside were gone!

My blood ran cold. I grabbed the lapels of his custom suit. "Where is the baby?! Where is he?!"

Right then, two of Matteo's soldiers on security duty jogged over. "Boss, is there a problem?"

Matteo was fast.

He clamped a massive hand over my mouth and dragged me against his chest. The veins on the back of his hand bulged.

He flashed them an exasperated smile. "Nothing. Just a marital spat. She's had too much to drink."

His mother and Isla hurried over to cover for him. "Yes, postpartum depression. She's unstable. Go keep an eye on the front gates."

The soldiers gave me a suspicious look but nodded and walked away.

The second they were out of earshot, Matteo let me go.

"Mandy, do you think I don't care that our son is dead?"

"But if you make a scene and everyone finds out, how is Bianca supposed to survive in our circle? How does our Family save face?!"

I wiped the cold tears from my cheeks. "Does any of that matter more than a human life?"

I looked around frantically, trying to find the child.

But there was nothing. I scoured every inch of the backyard, but the tiny body was nowhere to be seen.

Until my eyes landed on the humming industrial trash compactor outside the estate's main kitchen.

Isla followed my gaze and her face dropped.

She rushed to block my path, spreading her arms. "What are you doing? It's filthy over there!"

I shoved her hard out of my way and sprinted to the compactor.

The metal hatch was half-open, reeking of garbage.

Among the rotting vegetables and leftover food, I clearly saw the corner of that familiar baby blanket.

My blood turned to ice.

"Are you even human?!" I pointed at the machine and let out an agonizing scream. "That's a baby!"

Isla caught her balance and adjusted her diamond necklace.

She didn't look ashamed. Instead, she lifted her chin with arrogant pride.

"It's just a worthless life!" she sneered proudly. "I'm fixing a problem for the Family! If the guests see a dead body, our reputation is ruined. Crushing it in that machine is the cleanest way to handle it!"

"You absolute viper!" I glared at her, my teeth grinding together.

Bianca hid behind Isla, poking her head out to make a face at me. "Stop screaming! You just want to use your dead baby to get sympathy and steal the Family's money! Bitch!"

My heart bled. I whipped my head to Matteo, staring him down. "Get the baby out! Now!"

Matteo glanced at the stinking compactor with utter disgust. He took a step back, afraid of dirtying his expensive leather shoes.

"Enough, Mandy," he said casually. "Dead is dead. Tomorrow I'll order that yacht you liked. Consider it compensation. Are we good?"

A yacht.

A human life was only worth a fucking yacht to him.

The sheer toxicity of this family drained all my strength.

I only had one thought left in my mind. I needed to know who this baby was.

"Just get the baby out. We'll... we'll give him a proper burial."

Matteo took a deep breath, resigning himself to operate the machine.

But Isla stepped in front of him, eyeing me with deep suspicion. "Matteo, your wife is playing you. The second you pull that body out, she's going to run to her father with the evidence!"

Bianca tugged at his jacket. "Uncle Matteo, I don't want to get in trouble... I have a school dance tomorrow."

Matteo dropped the operating tool. "The kid is dead, Mandy. Stop making a fuss over him."

I closed my eyes, laughing bitterly.

"Fine. You better not regret this."

With that, I stumbled toward the estate's exit.

"Going somewhere?" Isla grabbed my wrist. "You're not leaving until that compactor finishes the job! We can't have you barking out on the streets!"

By then, the baby's body would be crushed to a pulp. There would be no evidence left to prove he was deliberately drowned.

"Tie her up!" the matriarch coldly ordered the maids.

Rough hemp rope was tightly bound around my wrists.

They pushed and shoved me, dragging me forcefully toward the underground wine cellar.

I fought back desperately, throwing a pleading look at Matteo.

But he just looked away in annoyance. "A few days locked up will help you cool off."

The wine cellar was dark and freezing. I was tied securely to a heavy chair.

While the adults were outside plotting, Bianca slipped into the cellar.

Slap!

She struck me hard across the face.

"That's for hitting me!" She stuck her tongue out, her face twisted in pure malice.

Then, she raised her expensive little leather shoe and kicked me viciously in the stomach.

Right where my C-section scar hadn't fully healed.

A tearing, blinding agony ripped through me. I doubled over in pain. A cold sweat broke out all over my body.

Matteo walked into the doorway just in time to see it.

He didn't stop her. He just shrugged it off. "How much power can a kid have anyway? You scared her earlier, let her vent."

Enabled by Matteo, Bianca grew even bolder.

She pointed a finger in my face and screeched, "Your bastard son deserved to die! He deserves to be ground into trash!"

Before her words even settled, the heavy iron doors of the estate were violently blown open from the outside.

Dozens of heavily armed men in black suits flooded in like a tidal wave. Guns were drawn. Every exit was secured in seconds.

Surrounded by his top enforcers, my father—the Don of the Sterling Family—strode into the mansion.

Tucked safely in his arms was a crying, wailing baby.

It was my three-month-old, very much alive son, Nico!

"Who the fuck said my grandson was dead?!"