Chapter 1

Back at the estate, I packed a few of my things. I was staring at the prenatal record from three years ago when Dante came home.

"Angry?"

The impatience from the call was gone, and his tone was gentle.

"Ana, you know this. The Sarti family has plenty of influence too. If we want to keep growing, we need them.

"Besides, the mafia world is complicated and dangerous. You don't understand anything. Keeping you out of it is for your own protection.

"Vivi has been spoiled since she was a child. She isn't tough like you. You've been through far worse. Why pick a fight with her?"

Right. Vivienne is the pampered princess everyone has to indulge and give way to.

Me included.

My parents had abandoned me when I was young. I had endured more than my share of hardship to finish school and make it to the top.

I worked my way through school and earned a master's degree. With my expertise in finance, I solved countless problems for Dante's company.

That was how I caught his eye.

Everyone thought marrying Dante was the best thing that could ever have happened to me.

So apparently, I was supposed to accept every humiliation without complaint.

I nodded and forced the tears back before they could fall.

When I said nothing, Dante took an elegant gift box out of his bag.

"Vivi knows she upset you. She asked me to bring this back as an apology."

I took it and opened it carefully.

Inside was a blue diamond bracelet.

And all at once, I remembered a post Vivienne had made not long ago.

"A birthday present from him and I asked for a freebie too. What do you all think?"

The photo showed an extremely rare pigeon-blood ruby ring.

The blue diamond bracelet had been tossed carelessly to one side.

I smiled coldly. I put the bracelet back in the box and set it on the table.

"I don't need it."

Dante looked at me and sighed.

"You're my wife. Can't you be more generous?"

I took a breath, and a dull pain spread through my lower belly.

"I'm petty? We've been married for five years, and you've never once acknowledged me to anyone. Yet you and Vivienne go everywhere together like a couple.

"You said I couldn't get pregnant and that you urgently needed an heir. You said the Sarti family could help, so I turned a blind eye to you two sleeping behind my back. I never imagined this was how she'd help: by having your child herself.

"Have you forgotten how we lost our first child? Have you forgotten that gunfight three years ago? Have you forgotten—"

"That's enough. Stop."

Dante cut me off.

"What's past is past. Don't bring it up again."

My breath caught in my chest. My face turned red, but I couldn't get a single word out.

Three years ago, Dante got into a gun battle on the docks with his worst enemy over territory. I was taken hostage while protecting him and tortured for three days and three nights.

By the time his people got me out, blood had soaked through my clothes.

The baby was gone.

And my body was ruined for good.

Back then, Dante stayed at my bedside for two weeks.

He said he would love me forever and cherish me for the rest of his life.

He also said he wanted only me, that he was happy to spend his life with just the two of us, and that he didn't care about having a biological heir as long as he had me.

And in three years, he had forgotten every word of it.

"Ana, we should be looking forward to a better future, shouldn't we? Now we can have the best of both worlds, can't we?"

Dante's patience was running out.

I felt a chill running down my spine.

A stabbing pain ripped through my lower belly. I slowly sank into a crouch and squeezed my eyes shut against it.

Dante's phone rang.

"Vivi? What is it? Your stomach hurts again? Don't do anything. Wait for me to get there. Understand?"

Vivienne's sweet voice came through the line.

"But I know I upset Ana today. Maybe you shouldn't worry about me. You should stay with her."

"Nonsense!"

Dante was beside himself with panic.

"You're carrying an heir to the Greco family. You're the hope of this whole family! Right now, you're what matters most. As for Ana, I'll explain everything to her later. Wait for me. I'm coming now."

The words were barely out before he hurried toward the door.

I looked up, sweat beading at my temples.

"Dante!"

He turned back impatiently.

"What? Don't tell me you're still jealous. Ana, are you going to keep treating me like I'm some kind of criminal?"

I gritted my teeth, clutched my belly, and got to my feet, cold all the way through.

The words "I'm pregnant" reached my lips, but I never said them.

I said quietly, "Vivienne is allergic to antibiotics. Don't forget about this."

The front door slammed, and my heart sank with the sound.

I took an agreement out of the study and signed my name at the bottom right corner.