Chapter 3

At the end of the hallway, Serena was standing there.

“Done talking?” she asked.

I walked past her without stopping.

“Diana.” She called after me. “You don’t actually think Ethan is going to let you raise that child, do you?”

I stopped.

“Do you know why Ethan married you?” She took one step toward me. “For money. The last of the Diana family fortune went straight into the Leone family’s black hole. What do you even have left now?”

I took a deep breath and turned to leave.

“Oh, and one more thing—”

Her voice slid into my ear.

“Is the baby in your belly really Ethan’s?”

My steps faltered.

I was just about to turn around when a brutal shove hit me from behind.

My whole body pitched toward the stairs.

My knee slammed against the edge of a step, and a sharp pain tore through my lower abdomen.

Serena dropped to the floor and started screaming.

“Ethan! Help me!”

Footsteps thundered down from upstairs.

Ethan was the first to rush over.

He saw Serena sitting on the floor.

He saw me lying half-collapsed against the stairs.

Then he slapped me hard across the face.

“Diana, you—” His voice shook. “Do you have any idea she’s carrying my child? If you’re angry, take it out on me!”

I opened my mouth to explain, but blood was already trickling from the corner of my lips.

Only then did he notice the blood between my legs.

His face went white.

But he said nothing.

Serena clutched her abdomen and sobbed like she couldn’t breathe.

“She pushed me… she pushed me…”

“I didn’t.”

Ethan lifted Serena into his arms and rushed out the door.

I lay on the floor, blood slowly seeping from between my legs.

With trembling fingers, I pulled out my phone and called the family doctor.

“Doctor… please… save me…”

Then everything went black.

When I woke up again, I was lying in a bed at the family’s private clinic.

My lower abdomen felt hollow.

As if something had been carved out of me.

The doctor stood beside the bed, his eyes red.

I closed my eyes.

I already knew.

I hadn’t planned to keep this child.

I had already scheduled the abortion.

But that should have been my choice.

Not being shoved down the stairs.

Not having Serena take that choice from me.

Not having Ethan see the blood and choose to look away.

Those were different things.

I had the right to decide I didn’t want this child.

Serena had no right to decide for me.

And Ethan had no right to pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

I thought back on all these years in the Leone family. All these years since I had met Ethan.

Tears slipped down silently.

Neither the doctor nor I spoke.

After I finished crying, I said, “Discharge me.”

“You need to stay under observation for at least a week.”

“Discharge me.”

He looked at me for a long moment.

In the end, he sighed and left the room.

I picked up the phone beside my bed, opened my contacts, and found a number I hadn’t called in a very long time.

Lucien.

My family lawyer. After my parents died, he helped me handle every piece of my inheritance and every property sale.

After I married into the Leone family, he slowly faded out of my life.

The call connected. I got straight to the point.

“Lucien, it’s Diana. I need you to do something for me.”

“What is it?” Lucien asked, professional enough not to ask unnecessary questions.

“The money I loaned the Leone family three years ago. Do you still have the loan agreement?”

“Of course. I keep every original document. The three-year term ends next month.”

“Prepare a demand notice,” I said. “Down to the last cent.”

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

“Diana, are you sure? If you call in that loan, the Leone family will—”

“Go bankrupt,” I said. “I know.”

“Then why—”

“Lucien.” I cut him off. “I’m no longer part of the Leone family.”

Another two seconds of silence.

“I understand,” he said. “I’ll have the documents ready tomorrow.”

After I hung up, I stared at the ceiling.

Outside the window came the sound of a car engine. Someone had arrived.

The door opened. Ethan stood there, his shirt still stained with blood. Probably Serena’s blood from giving birth.

His eyes were red.

“Diana, listen to me. I didn’t know you were pregnant. I really didn’t. If I had known—”

“What would you have done?” I looked at him. “Made Serena get rid of her baby?”

He said nothing.

“You wouldn’t have done anything,” I said. “You would’ve done what you always do—listen to Serena.”

I looked at his pathetic face. He hardly looked like a Don at all. I laughed.

“Serena was your stepmother first. Then your brother’s lover. Now she’s your mistress. She gave birth to your child. What’s next? Make her your Donna? Get rid of me too?”

“Shut up!”

Ethan slammed his fist into the wall.

I watched him coldly.

He was panting, eyes bloodshot. The skin over his knuckles split open, and blood ran down the wall.

“Diana…” His voice suddenly softened. “Come home with me. Let’s start over.”

“Home?” I said. “That’s your home. Not mine.”

“What do you mean?”

I sat up in bed, enduring the sharp pain in my abdomen, and placed my feet on the floor.

“I want a divorce.”

“Are you insane?”

“I’m not insane,” I said. “You are. You kept a poisonous snake beside you and convinced yourself she was family.”

“Serena isn’t—”

“You know exactly what Serena is. You’re just too much of a coward to face it.”

I put on my shoes and walked past him.

“Diana!” He grabbed my wrist. “You can’t leave. I—”

I yanked my hand free and walked out of the room.

Behind me came the sound of him smashing things.

I didn’t look back.