Chapter 2

As I walked back up to the main house, the wind picked up and almond blossoms rained down on me.

They all came from the tree Lucas had planted for me.

A man whose entire world was guns and bloodshed had planted an almond tree for me with his own hands.

I had always been a spoiled little princess who cried over a scraped fingertip.

Yet when the enemy's car slammed into us, my first instinct was to throw myself over the already wounded Lucas and shield him with my body.

Lost in those memories, I stopped and turned to the gardener pulling weeds nearby.

"Cut this tree down."

The gardener looked horrified. "The Don planted it himself! For three years, he came out here every day. He'd sit under it for hours."

"And when was the last time he came?" The gardener just stared at me, and I laughed. "He's not coming back. So cut it down."

With no other choice, the gardener did as he was told.

I went up to my bedroom and fell asleep, exhausted. In the middle of the night, someone kicked the door open.

Lucas stormed over, yanked back the covers, seized my wrist, and shouted, "Somebody cut Bianca's brake line on her way back to the South Port. She and the baby are in the ER right now!"

He was gripping hard enough that it hurt, but I still looked at him coldly.

"So? What are you here for?"

Lucas's grip tightened.

"You're still playing innocent?"

"The cameras caught the man who cut the line. We picked him up, and he says the order came from you!"

That woke me right up.

"What are you talking about? I never did that!"

Lucas stared at me and gave a cold laugh.

"You never did it? The South Port used to be your territory. Who wants it back more than you do? And here I thought you were being so gracious at the council today. You were just hiding what you really wanted!"

"But I never thought you'd be willing to kill even a baby over one little piece of land!"

My head snapped up.

"Lucas, you'd better have proof before you say something like that!"

"If I'd given that order, the man who cut the line would already be feeding the fish at the bottom of the sea. You think he'd still be alive for you to catch so he could point the finger at me? What do you take me for, an idiot!"

None of it moved Lucas at all.

"Maybe you just didn't get to him in time."

I was so angry I laughed out loud.

"So no matter what I say, you've already decided it was me?"

"Yes."

He answered without hesitation.

"Bianca is kind. She's never made an enemy in her life. The only person in this world who wants to hurt her is you."

"Believe what you want. I didn't do it."

I didn't have the energy to keep fighting with him. I threw the covers back and started to get up.

The bodyguard in the doorway blocked me.

I frowned. "Lucas, what is this?"

He looked at me coldly. "Ever since that accident three years ago, fast cars scare you more than anything, don't they?"

The blood drained out of my face.

Ever since I woke up, I shook all over whenever a car picked up even a little speed. Sometimes I couldn't breathe.

Lucas knew that better than anyone.

He had even ordered that I travel by helicopter whenever possible so I wouldn't be afraid.

But now he gave the order to his bodyguard himself. "Take her up to West Ridge. Let her find out what it feels like when the brakes don't work."

"Lucas!" I screamed at him. "Don't you forget that if I hadn't saved you, I would never have ended up like this!"

"You saved my life, and I'll repay you for that." Lucas didn't give an inch. "But hurting Bianca and my son is a different matter!"

By the time he finished, his bodyguard had already dragged me to the car.

The panic hit me all at once, and I threw my weight back, away from the car.

But Lucas shoved me into the back seat with his own hands and yanked the seat belt tight across me.

I grabbed him by the collar, my eyes burning.

"Lucas, looking at you right now, I honestly can't tell which one of us is the stand-in!"

"If I could do it over again, I would never save you!"

Lucas stared at me like he couldn't believe it.

"What did you say?"

"I said I should have let that car kill you. It should have been you lying in a hospital bed for three years!"

"And while you were lying there, I'd go find myself another man, and when you woke up I'd tell you it was only because I missed you so much! If you never woke up, I'd spend my life with him and have a whole brood of children to carve up your empire! How about it? Want to hear it again?!"

Bang!

He slammed the car door.

His cold voice carried through the glass. "Drive."

Before I could even react, the car was already tearing away.

The force of it threw me back into the seat, and my stomach heaved.

My breathing came faster and faster, as if a weight were crushing my chest.

I broke out in a cold sweat and gasped for air, but none would come.

"Stop the car..."

Before I could finish, everything went black.