Chapter 2

On the drive to the hospital, no one said a word. No one tried to talk me out of it.

Before I went into the operating room, Sally grabbed my hand. Her eyes were raw and red. "Ivina, we can raise the baby together."

I patted her hand, smiled without saying a word, and entered the operating room.

After dying once, I didn't want a single trace of Simon on me—whether it was a child carrying his genes or anything else.

As the anesthesia flowed in, a warm dizziness spread through me.

I let out a long, quiet breath.

Thankfully, it was still early enough in my pregnancy to have an abortion.

Before I slipped under, the corridor outside erupted in noise.

"All obstetric doctors and nurses, get in here now! If anything happens to her, there won't be a single hospital left willing to hire you!"

That was Simon's voice.

He knew I was here?

Panic reached up inside me.

The doctor hurriedly explained, "Sir, please calm down! This is the surgical area! She's just experiencing morning sickness. It's not an emergency! We have patients waiting for surgery!"

"Shut up! When I tell you to examine her, you follow orders! One more frown out of her, and this hospital closes today!"

A gunshot slammed into the floor with a deafening crack, making the nurse beside me flinch.

She was inserting a curette into me. When her hand shook, it jabbed sharply against my uterine wall.

I groaned in pain. Even under anesthesia, a cold sweat broke out over me.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am! B-But I have to step out now. Wait for me. I'll be right back!"

The nurse apologized and stumbled away.

I lay on the table, my legs spread in that humiliating position. Pain, numbness, and a biting cold washed over me.

I forced a bitter laugh.

How stupid of me. How could I have thought Simon came because he found out I was going through an abortion?

His eyes were only for Giara. Even her morning sickness had him this worried.

The anesthesia chewed at my thoughts, and I drifted into a scatter of dreams.

First was the memory of when we met.

Back then, Simon wasn't the all-powerful Don. He was just the overlooked second son of the Rossi family, eager to make his mark and prove his worth.

I was the daughter of a mafia family who refused an arranged match and fled home on my coming-of-age night.

Somehow, I ended up working under him.

During a firefight, I had barreled into danger and dragged his bleeding, unconscious body out.

I had taken five bullets. When I was sewing my wounds, Simon woke. He leaned back against the wall and watched me for a long time.

"Ivina," he called out, smiling at me for the first time. "Why did you risk your life? Do you have feelings for me?"

I bit down on the bandage as I wrapped my wound, then looked up at him. "You're my boss. Protecting you is my job."

"Ha!" His eyes lit up instantly as he lunged at me.

I instinctively pushed him away, and he slammed into the wall. Grimacing in pain, he smiled even brighter.

"It's the first time I've seen a woman like you. You've got fire."

Simon pulled out a cigar and held it between his teeth. "Marry me."

We fell in love in the time it took one cigar to burn down.

Later, we learned we were meant to be each other's arranged match.

He had said more than once, "Lucky it was you. I'm sick of those fragile dolls who only think about girly things and faint at the sight of blood."

I was happy too. I thought I had found the perfect partner who respected me.

Happiness faded into a blur. When things came back into focus, it was the day of blood and fire.

Simon looked down at me, his face splattered with the blood of my crew.

"Ivina Coleo, you crossed a line. Giara is not like you. She doesn't know anything, and she's an orphan. Only I can protect her. I'll honor your wishes and have her sent away before our wedding. And once we're married, my entire armory will be yours. But you have to learn a lesson."

He leveled the gun at Sally as she crawled forward to shield me.

"No!"

The shot hit her square in the chest.

Simon lowered the weapon and patted my face. "She's the one who egged you on to abduct Giara, right? Now she can't lead you astray anymore."

The nightmare throbbed through me even in that half-conscious haze. I struggled and groaned.

The doctor and nurse were still gone. The curette was shoved in deeper with my involuntary flinch. The pain swept me under.

When I came to again, everything was stark white. Sally and a few others were around me.

"Ivina, you're finally awake! How do you feel? We stopped Don Rossi and tried to make him leave at least one doctor behind. But we couldn't say it was you inside… He just wouldn't listen. He went mad and took every doctor and nurse with him."

I tugged at the corner of my mouth, trying to smile and show I was fine. "Well done… I'm okay now, aren't I?"

Serena ground her teeth. "Okay? The doctor said if they'd been one minute later, you would have had a uterine perforation and massive bleeding! You're covered in scars from taking bullets for him. How could he do this to you for that bitch?"

Maria Camacho, the quietest of them, had already stood. "I'm going to kill her."

"Come back!" I summoned all my strength to stop her.

Gasping, I continued, "If she dies, Simon will have us all killed. To him, she's not just a lover. She's his life. Listen, while I recover, your job is to move the assets we've accumulated in the Rossi family. We'll go home when I can walk again."