Chapter 4

As several people lifted me into the ambulance, one image stayed burned into my mind beneath the bright lights.

I saw Dante frantically shielding Vivienne.

Both hands were pressed protectively over her belly.

I closed my eyes.

In the emergency room, the doctor inserted a long needle into my vein.

"Ma'am, we can't save your baby."

I stared blankly at the ceiling as my last emotional defense finally crumbled.

I opened my cracked lips and said quietly, "Then don't let anyone know my baby ever existed. Please."

Violent pain swept over me, and I quickly lost consciousness.

When I woke, the doctor told me the procedure had gone well.

But it had been difficult for me to get pregnant in the first place, and because the miscarriage was caused by trauma, I would never be able to have children again.

It felt as though someone had ripped my heart apart.

I nodded, pulled the blanket over my head, and sobbed uncontrollably.

My phone chimed several times.

It was Dante.

"Are you feeling better? Vivi got quite a scare. I'll stay with her tonight and come see you tomorrow."

I bit my lip and didn't answer.

On my second day in the hospital, I felt a little stronger. I got up and drafted my resignation again.

When I returned, Dante was buried in problems with an arms-smuggling deal.

Seeing me, he asked coldly, "So you finally remembered your way back?"

I walked up to him and handed him my resignation and a USB drive.

"Let me go."

I spoke softly, but my resolve was absolute.

I didn't want to remain the nameless woman hidden in his shadow.

For years, I had risked my life for his family.

I wanted to be myself again.

Dante's face darkened.

"I said nobody resigns. Was I not clear enough for you?"

I pointed at the drive.

"I'm not here to negotiate. You'd better take a good look at what's on that drive before you make a decision. That drive contains backups of every account from the last several years. If you dare lay a hand on me, copies will be sent automatically to the FBI and several major financial news outlets."

Dante stared at me for a long moment. Then he pressed his gun to my forehead.

"Why do you have to go? Why?"

There was the faintest tremor in Dante's voice.

Strangely, I heard a trace of pain in it.

I said coldly, "You know exactly why."

The words were barely out when his phone chimed.

The email I'd scheduled had been sent to the family's internal inbox.

"All these years, you've been keeping backups of every account for this exact moment, haven't you?"

Dante drew a deep breath, fury blazing in his eyes.

"You've never truly loved me. You've been protecting yourself from me this whole time, getting ready to cut every tie between us. Anna, I had underestimated you."

I took the agreement out of my bag and set it on the desk.

"Do you remember this? When you signed it, you said you would love only me for the rest of your life. And now?

"Can you swear that every kindness you showed Vivienne was only because you needed an heir? Can you swear you never felt anything for her?"

Dante fell silent.

After a long moment, he removed the gun from my forehead.

He closed his eyes.

"Go. I'll have the lawyers transfer your share of our assets into your account. The gift I bought for you at the auction will be sent as well."

I turned away and finally let out the breath I'd been holding.

Anna, you're free.

"If you never trusted me from the start, why did you agree to marry me?"

Behind me, Dante's voice drifted over, hollow and faint.

I didn't answer him, and I didn't look back.

The office door slammed behind me. The confrontation had left my knees so weak that I nearly fell.

That was when I realized several of the medical records were missing from my bag.

At the same time, Dante picked up the agreement and leafed through it.

When he reached the last page, his eyes widened.

It was a medical record.

"Eight weeks pregnant. Fetal demise caused by external trauma. Surgical evacuation completed. Follow-up required in one month."

Dante's heart jolted.

He rushed out of the office, but I was already gone.

He called his assistant at once.

"I don't care how you do it. Bring Anna back to me right now!"

By the time they came after me, I was on my way to the airport.

I recognized them at a glance. In the car behind me were Dante's best enforcers and bodyguards.

He only deployed that team for armed confrontations with rival families.

He regrets it. He wants me dead.

They forced my taxi to stop, chambered rounds, and aimed their guns at me.

Bang!

The shot went off.

I plunged headfirst from the bridge into the sea, blood from my shoulder turning the water red.