Chapter 2

My knees struck the asphalt. The street fell silent. Even the expressionless lead guard frowned.

Camilla laughed. "You actually did it." She aimed the phone at my face. "Go on. Tell everyone you deliberately ran in front of my car to extort the Valentis."

I stared at the bloodstained shoe. If this could save my child, I would confess to anything.

"Today's accident was my fault..."

A violent contraction tore through me. I doubled over, both hands protecting my stomach.

"Keep going," Camilla said. "You haven't admitted that you impersonated Dante's wife."

"If I finish, you'll let the doctors through?"

"Of course. Everyone here can witness my promise."

I forced out the words. "I don't know Dante Valenti. I'm not his wife. Everything I said was meant to..."

Before I finished, Camilla stopped recording.

"Never mind. You look terrible. The footage is useless."

I stared at her. "You promised."

"I promised to consider it after you recorded the statement. The family attorney isn't here yet. Keep waiting."

"You lied to me."

She waved the phone. "A woman willing to deny her own identity has no right to demand honesty from me."

Something inside me broke. I lunged at her and pinned her against the hood of the Porsche, my hands around her throat.

"Let the doctors through! If my baby dies, I'll kill you!"

Camilla screamed. Two guards dragged me away.

"The Don gave an order," their leader warned. "Don't force us to hurt you."

"He doesn't know who I am. Bring Dante here. Once he sees me, every one of you will answer for this."

Camilla slapped me. "You're still threatening me with his name? Make her stay down."

The guard hesitated, then obeyed. He avoided my abdomen and drove his boot into my right leg. Bone cracked. Agony ripped through me, and I collapsed, my leg twisted at an unnatural angle. The bleeding beneath my dress worsened.

The lead guard finally looked alarmed. "Something really is wrong."

"Pregnant women bleed," Camilla snapped. "If you release her and this is a Marino operation, who takes the blame? Dante ordered you to control the scene, not pity her."

Then an engine roared beyond the crowd.

"Move those cars!" a truck driver shouted. "The paramedics say she's going to lose the baby."

The guards refused. The driver gritted his teeth and accelerated. His loaded truck slammed into one of the black SUVs, forcing it aside and opening a gap.

He jumped down with a heavy wrench. "I'll pay for the truck. I'll go to prison if I have to. But I won't watch you trap a woman and her baby here until they die."

The crowd surged. Dozens of bystanders broke through the remaining line, shouting for the paramedics.

A doctor reached me, cut through my blood-soaked skirt, and pressed a portable fetal monitor to my abdomen. A weak, chaotic heartbeat came through the speaker.

His expression changed. "Probable severe placental abruption. The fetus is losing oxygen, and the mother is at risk of hemorrhagic shock. She needs blood and an emergency C-section now."

I seized his arm. "Is my baby alive?"

"She has a heartbeat right now. We have to move."

As they loaded me into the ambulance, Camilla called Dante again.

"They attacked your guards and rammed a family vehicle. That woman is heading to Valenti Medical, still claiming she's your wife. I told you this could be a trap."

Dante asked, "Teresa confirmed Sienna is at the safe house?"

"Just now. If this woman were Sienna, how could Teresa fail to recognize her own employer?"

That crushed his remaining doubt.

"Put Valenti Medical under security lockdown. Until Marco confirms their identities, no one connected to the accident enters the family operating wing or accesses the blood bank."

The ambulance doors closed as Camilla answered, "Understood."