Chapter 5

Lux watched Lorenzo's expression darken little by little until his face turned completely cold.

Even Bianca, who had been sitting in the VIP section desperately trying to maintain her composure, froze the moment those words left Lux's mouth.

Without giving anyone the chance to question her, Lux walked straight through the chaos of the ballroom and headed for the dressing room on the second floor.

The door shut behind her.

Only then did she realize her palms were slick with sweat.

The woman in the mirror looked pale, but her eyes burned with a frightening brightness. She stared at herself for a few seconds and had just reached for her lipstick when she heard the sharp click of the lock behind her.

Bianca had followed her in.

There were still tears on her face, but the fragile expression from earlier was gone.

"You think making a scene out there will pressure Lorenzo into going back to you?" Bianca walked toward her slowly. "Lux, you're still just as naive as before. Right now, the Antara family only cares about the baby I'm carrying. As long as this child is born safely, he'll become the Antara heir. Everything you're doing is like throwing an egg at a stone wall."

Lux turned around and looked at her calmly.

"Are you really sure that baby belongs to the Antara family?"

Bianca's expression shifted instantly.

Lux pulled out her phone and swiped through several photos: Bianca wrapped around another man in the alley behind a nightclub, kissing him shamelessly in the dark.

"Sleeping with my husband wasn't enough," Lux said softly. Her gaze drifted to Bianca's stomach, her tone so light it almost sounded cruel. "You've been fooling around with other men too."

"Bianca, do you even know who the father of that child is?"

Bianca lunged for the phone, her eyes immediately turning red.

"Are you insane? If you show Lorenzo those, he'll only hate you more!"

Lux pulled the phone back and gave a cold laugh.

"Still better than you. At least I'm not clinging to a rotten man like he's some priceless treasure."

Something twisted violently across Bianca's face, like Lux had ripped open the one truth she could never bear to confront.

She suddenly grabbed Lux by the hair, her voice shaking with venom.

"What gives you the right to act so superior?

"Do you know what happened while you were kidnapped? That adoptive mother of yours knelt outside the Antara estate like a dog, begging Lorenzo to save you. She smashed her head against the ground until she was covered in blood, then died right there on the front steps.

"Lorenzo never even opened the door.

"He was already sick of you. You were just too stupid to see it."

Lux went completely still.

If it had only been insults, she would not have cared.

However, her adoptive mother was different.

She was the only person in this world who had ever truly loved her.

The warmth vanished from Lux's eyes.

In the next second, she grabbed Bianca by the throat and slapped her across the face with all her strength.

The crack echoed through the room.

A bright red handprint bloomed instantly across Bianca's cheek.

"You dare hit me?" Bianca screamed in disbelief.

Lux shoved her backward hard enough to pin her against the floor-to-ceiling window. Her voice was low, but every word carried a brutal edge.

"Not only would I hit you, I could ruin your reputation and throw you out of the Vitale family for good."

Bianca's upper body pressed helplessly against the glass as the color drained from her face.

"That kidnapping was meant for you," Lux said, staring directly at her. "Because of you, I was taken. Because of you, my mother died."

"Bianca, how do you want to settle that debt?"

"I'm carrying Lorenzo's child!" Bianca shrieked in panic. "If you touch me, the Antara family will never let you go!"

"What exactly do you think I'm afraid of?"

Before Lux could finish speaking, the dressing room door was kicked open.

Lorenzo stormed in with several bodyguards behind him.

The black suit only made him look colder, harder.

His eyes first landed on Bianca pinned against the window, then on the slap mark across her face. The shock in his expression quickly darkened into fury.

Like someone finally seeing her savior arrive, Bianca shoved herself free from Lux and stumbled toward Lorenzo. As she passed Lux, she deliberately slammed into her shoulder before collapsing dramatically onto the floor.

The next second, blood began spreading beneath her legs.

"Lorenzo…"

Bianca clutched her stomach, her face ghostly pale.

"She tried to push me out the window… She said she'd never let me give birth to this baby…

"Please… save our child…"

The temperature in Lorenzo's eyes dropped to ice.

He stared at Lux, his voice colder than steel.

"You've gone too far today. If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll only become more unhinged."

Lux looked at him and suddenly laughed.

"Lorenzo, do I look like someone who was raised to be afraid?"

Lorenzo said nothing else. He simply turned to the bodyguards behind him.

"Take her to the top floor. Hang her from the exterior maintenance platform.

"Without my permission, nobody lets her down."

Bianca leaned weakly against his chest, tears still hanging from her lashes, but the corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly.

Lux saw it.

She stopped struggling.

As the bodyguards dragged her from the room, she looked back at Lorenzo one last time.

By then, every last bit of disappointment in her had already burned to ash.