Chapter 4

Sherry gazed at Quill, her eyes wide with feigned innocence as tears streamed down her face.

"Sweetheart, there's no way I can let her have this baby!

"It would be a massive insult to me, to you, and to the entire Moretti Family!"

A hint of hesitation flickered across Quill's face before he wrapped his arm around Sherry's waist.

"Darling, the way I see it..."

But before he could finish, his phone rang.

"Mr. Moretti, the last shipment you arranged for me was excellent. I'd like to place a much bigger order."

It was a longtime client calling.

He responded at once, "One moment, please. Don't hang up." Then he turned to Raul. "Stay with my wife and handle the situation."

And he hurried off.

But as Quill passed by me, he fixed me with a long look.

There was something in those eyes that almost seemed like...

Reluctance?

I immediately shook the thought away.

He was nothing but a monster. Monsters don't have human feelings.

At Sherry's command, Raul called in several of his men.

Then they tied me up.

What they didn't know was that just before they dragged me away, the watch on my wrist was actually an encrypted satellite communicator. The moment I was restrained, it would automatically transmit my location to Giovanni, who was in Japan.

Giovanni had always been worried about my safety.

He'd set up a permanent private security team for me in Sicily. My bakery manager, Lucy Bennett, was actually a dedicated intelligence operative Giovanni had planted by my side.

When Lucy saw me being hauled away, her expression stayed calm, but behind her back, she urgently messaged Giovanni to let him know that Quill's people had taken me.

I calculated silently. In two hours, Giovanni would be on his private jet, racing back from Japan.

Until then, I braced myself for whatever these people might do to me.

But the moment I stepped inside Quill's villa and saw this familiar yet frigid place, a wave of nausea hit me, and I started dry-heaving.

Sherry leaned close to Raul's ear and whispered something.

The next second, Raul pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed me to a chair.

Then he took out a lighter and ran the flame back and forth across my pregnant belly.

I screamed in agony, the image of my first baby being poisoned flashing through my mind.

Instinctively, I shielded my stomach with both hands and locked eyes with Raul through gritted teeth.

"You piece of filth! If you harm my baby in the slightest, I swear I will end you!"

Raul kicked me so hard that I toppled over, chair and all, crashing to the floor. Pain seized every muscle in my body.

He let out a wild, vicious laugh.

"Just a bastard. It was never meant to be born!"

Sherry watched the whole scene with perfect composure.

She sat cross-legged on the couch, biting into an apple between slow, deliberate mouthfuls, humming a cheerful little tune.

I understood exactly why Sherry was so desperate to get rid of me.

I'd once overheard several of Quill's servants whispering while cleaning the study.

"Word is Sherry's family business hasn't been doing well. The only way to save it is for her to marry Mr. Moretti and become the Donna of the Moretti Family."

Sherry's family empire was entirely dependent on the Morettis. If Quill abandoned her, her family would go bankrupt.

"Filthy slut!"

Raul slapped me across the face, again and again. Blood trickled from my mouth.

"The Don built this Family's business through blood and sweat. No way in hell am I letting you destroy it!"

He seized a fistful of my hair, yanked my head up, and pressed the barrel of his gun against my temple.

"Stop!"

A voice of absolute authority thundered through the hall.