Chapter 2

"You want to know what real pain is?"

"Then let me teach you a lesson. Have a taste of my pet."

Gianna held the black viper in front of my face.

Its forked tongue flicked in the air as its cold scales brushed against my arm.

"No!"

Before I could scream the word, sharp, searing pain shot through my arm as the viper's fangs sank deep into my flesh.

Venom burned through my veins like acid, each heartbeat pumping the poison deeper into my body.

I forced myself to remain calm, one hand clamped protectively over my stomach, the other pressing desperately against the wound.

But the venom was an anticoagulant. Blood gushed from the wound, thin and dark, refusing to clot.

I curled into a ball, shivering, too afraid to even move.

"My snake is very well-behaved, it never bites." Gianna cooed, retrieving her snake.

But as she drew it back, she felt its scales turn slick in her hand. She glanced down and saw dark blood dripping from its fangs.

My vision began to blur.

It felt as if a thousand blades were shredding my womb from the inside.

The snakebite on my arm was already a deathly shade of purple-black, and blood still oozed from the wound.

I could feel my life draining away, bit by bit.

Gianna didn't leave. Her expression twisted from satisfaction to a crazed fury.

"You bitch! What did you do?!"

Her boot slammed into my abdomen.

The force of the blow nearly made me pass out again.

"My Medusa!" she shrieked. "You crazy woman! You made her bleed! She's worth more than you and that bastard child combined!"

The room was dim. She grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking my head up to inspect me.

"You hurt her! You disgusting slut!"

She cooed at the snake. "My baby must have been terrified of you."

Another kick. Each movement was a hammer blow against me and my unborn child.

All I could do was curl my body around my stomach, too weak to fight back.

"Why aren't you screaming now? Keep up the act!"

"Please... don't kick the baby..."

"The baby?" Gianna sneered. "Stop using the child as a shield. It doesn't make you worthy of the Falcone name."

She stroked the viper with one hand while pulling a small spray bottle from her bag with the other.

A white mist filled the room.

My consciousness began to fade.

"Now you can lie there quietly and reflect on your place," she hissed. "And don't get your hopes up. Only Scarlett's bloodline is worthy of inheriting the family's throne, destined to rule our empire."

"Perhaps this will help you reflect on your place in this family, Alessia," she said, her voice dripping with contempt. "A little something to… quiet your nerves."

She left in a rage, but not before spraying more of the hallucinogenic gas around the room.

The heavy mist sent my body into violent spasms, layering a new kind of agony on top of the snake venom that was already coursing through my veins.

Adrift in a haze of pain, I heard it: the faint sobs of my unborn child.

A tiny voice echoed in my mind.

"Mommy... Mommy, help me..."

It was my baby's voice.

In the hallucination, I saw a small figure reaching out to me.

"Mommy, I'm so scared... It hurts so much..."

"Baby, Mommy's here..."

I reached out a trembling hand, trying to embrace him.

But my arms closed on empty air every time.

I was supposed to welcome my baby today, to hold him tight in my arms.

He was just a breath away.

Why was fate so cruel to me and my child?

My spirit finally broke, and tears streamed silently down my face.

Despair, sharp as a dagger, pierced my heart.

I gently stroked my belly. "My sweet baby, Mommy failed you..."

"If there is a next life, I hope you are born into a loving family, where your parents cherish each other."

My breathing grew faint, the blood thickening in my veins.

Suddenly, the door clicked open, and a blinding light flooded the room.

"My God..."

Seeing me lying in a pool of blood, the family doctor recoiled in horror.

"My God... Who are you? What did you do to make the Boss punish you like this?"

Even as a doctor, his first instinct wasn't to save me.

"I'm... Vito's wife," I rasped.

With a great effort, I lifted my hand to show him my wedding band.

The engraved initials were caked with blood, but the letters for Vito and me were faintly visible.

He recognized the ring and moved to help, then hesitated.

He paused, then cautiously dialed Vito's number.

"Boss, I found Mrs. Alessia in the underground surgical room. Her condition is critical, she's lost a lot of blood, and it looks like she's been poisoned..."

Vito's reply was laced with suspicion. "Poisoned? That's impossible. She's not bleeding, Doctor. That's my sister's snake's blood. Gianna already called me, furious that Alessia somehow hurt her precious pet. "

His tone turned cold and dismissive. "She's perfectly healthy. Just another desperate ploy to deliver first. Don't mind her. I'll deal with this mess myself."

The doctor tried to explain further, but Vito had already hung up.

He glanced at me with a look of pity, then walked past me to move some equipment.

Just as I thought he was going to abandon me, he turned back.

It seemed a sliver of his conscience had survived.

"There are two lives here... I'm a doctor. I can't just watch you die," he said, his voice firming with resolve. "My own wife is pregnant too. I wouldn’t want her to face trouble alone with no one to help. That’s why I’m helping you."

Finally, he lifted me from the pool of blood and carried me toward the family's medical center.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief. My baby was saved.

But when we reached the medical center, we both froze.

The room was empty.

All the medical equipment, the medicine, even the surgical tables, were gone.

"The equipment?" the doctor murmured. "Where did it all go?"

The answer was painfully obvious.

Vito had moved every last piece of medical equipment to Scarlett’s private luxury clinic.

Everything that could have saved me and my child.