Chapter 8

After I left the hospital, my car had barely turned off the main road when an unfamiliar dark sedan appeared in the rearview mirror.

I did not think much of it at first. It was normal for cars to follow on a suburban road at night.

But then I turned at the next curve, and the sedan surged forward, headlights filling the mirror. I pressed the gas, but the other car was faster, pulling alongside and forcing me toward the shoulder. The tires hit gravel.

The car jolted and stopped. The door was pulled open, and a hand reached in, grabbed my arm, and dragged me out of the driver’s seat.

My shoulder hit the door frame, and the back of my head struck something hard. Before I could react, another hand covered my mouth and pushed me into the back seat.

The door slammed shut.

A man sitting in the front passenger seat turned to look at me.

“Your husband ruined my company. He caused me to lose everything. I want five million dollars as compensation.”

He leaned closer.

“If you cannot get the money, I will kill you and the child in your stomach.”

My blood ran cold.

“Call him.”

My hands shook as I picked up my phone.

I called Dante.

Once.Twice.Ten times.

No answer.

I sent message after message.

[Dante, help me. They said they will kill our child if you don’t pay.]

[Please answer.]

There was no reply.

The man’s expression darkened.

“So you really are not the one he love about.”

He looked away in disgust.

“We should have kidnapped that woman instead.”

The next second, his foot slammed into my stomach.

A sharp pain tore through me. I fell out of the car as they pushed me away.

The last thing I remembered was the cold ground beneath me.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the city hospital. The doctor looked at me with pity: “I am sorry. We couldn’t save the baby.”

I stared at the ceiling, unable to say a word. The nurse told me they had called the number saved as my husband, but no one answered.

“Do you have any other family members we can contact?”

I took the phone from her: “I will contact them myself.”

The moment I unlocked the screen, it lit up with an incoming call. Dante's name. His voice came through first, cold and clipped: "Why did you send people to follow Serena?"

I froze. “What?”

“Someone threw things at her house and threatened her. They said she did not deserve the shares of Il Nido.”

My fingers tightened around the phone. “I did not do that.”

"You were angry about the shares. You made that very clear. I do not know what you expected to happen, but this is going too far."

"Dante," I said, "I was kidnapped last night."

The line went quiet. I heard him breathe, but he did not speak.

"They took me off the road. They told me they would kill me and the baby if you did not pay. I called you. I sent you messages. You did not answer."

I closed my eyes. "The baby is gone. It happened during the kidnapping. They kicked me in the belly and pushed me out of the car. I bled on the side of the road until someone found me."

The other side went silent. I could hear static, then a muffled sound, like someone was moving the phone. Then Serena's voice came through the speaker, soft and shaky, like she had been crying.

“Yvette, please don’t do this.”

"I know you are angry. I know you are hurt because of the shares. But the child is innocent. Please don't say things you can't take back. Don't curse a child just because you are in pain."

Then she turned to Dante. "Dante, go to her. Please. She needs you. Do not be angry with her. She did not mean what she said. I know she did not. She is not a bad person. She just loves you too much, and she could not handle it when you were not there. She wanted you there, and when you were not, she broke. That is not her fault. That is love."

A few seconds later, Dante took the phone back. His voice was colder than I had ever heard it, flat and distant, like he was talking to someone he no longer recognized.

"Yvette, I do not know what you are trying to do. I do not know if you are trying to punish me or if you are trying to punish Serena. But this is not how we solve things."

"Serena told me everything," he continued, "She told me someone threw things at her house. She told me they threatened her. She is scared, Yvette. She is not making this up. I was there. I saw her."

"I called you ten times. I sent you messages. I told you they were going to kill my child. Our child, Dante. "

The line went quiet. I heard him exhale, slow and heavy. "You have been angry for months. You have been distant. You have been pushing me away. Do you really expect me to believe that on the same night Serena was attacked, you were kidnapped by someone who wanted to hurt you and our child? I am not stupid. I know what this looks like."

"You need to calm down. When you realize what you did wrong, I will come back. I cannot talk to you like this."

I heard him exhale, slow and deliberate, like he was ending a conversation he had already decided was over. "Get some rest."

The call ended.

A moment later, it buzzed. Elena's message came through: "The documents are ready. Il Nido is yours. The shares, the leases, the artist contracts, everything. It is done. The person for you is already there."

Then I got out of bed. The hospital corridor was quiet. A nurse looked up as I walked past, but she did not stop me.

The helicopter was already waiting on the rooftop pad.

The wind pulled at my coat as I stepped inside.

This time, I did not look back.

From now on, I would not be Yvette Rossetti. I would not be Dante's wife. I would not be the woman who waited by the window. I did not know exactly who I would be yet, but I knew I would not be her anymore. And I would step into that new beginning myself.