Chapter 3

Nerissa's POV

Renata shifted slightly, her breathing altering.

My heart nearly leaped out of my chest. I jammed my hands against Silvano's chest, freezing in sheer terror.

Silvano paused, his dark eyes boring into mine, a low warning in his throat: "Don't make a sound."

Renata tossed her head to the side, let out a soft, strained sigh, and drifted back into a deep sleep. It was only then that I noticed how ash-gray her lips had become in the shadows.

I violently shoved Silvano off me and adjusted my dress. "Enough."

He straightened his coat, and we rode the rest of the way in absolute, suffocating silence.

Three days later, the family doctor handed me the folder.

"Congratulations, Nerissa. You're pregnant."

When the news reached the Vespucci estate, my father looked me in the eye for the first time in my life. Marchesa even had her personal maids deliver imported bird's nest and tonics to my quarters.

"Guard this child with your life," she commanded. "This baby is the future of both our families."

When Silvano arrived, I was wearing a loose silk gown, my stomach still perfectly flat. He dropped to his knees before me, placing his large, warm palm over my lower abdomen. The triumph in his eyes was blinding.

"Our child," he murmured, his voice thick with a strange intensity. "Nerissa, you've finally given me an heir."

I didn't say a word. The estate was throwing banquets, yet I felt like a corpse carrying a seed. It was a transaction. Nothing more.

On Renata's birthday, my father threw a massive gala. The manor was crawling with high society, champagne flowing like water. Renata made a brief, fragile appearance before Silvano had to carry her back upstairs.

"I'm just a little tired," she whispered, squeezing my hand dynamically. "Nerissa, please look after our guests for me."

The noise inside was suffocating, and the morning sickness made my head spin. Seeking air, I slipped out to the terrace and stood by the glowing blue pool.

"What? Finding out you don't belong in their world, so you run here to cry?"

Carmine's voice cut through the dark.

I whipped around. He stood there, magnificent in his black suit, but his eyes were a turbulent storm of agony.

I tried to brush past him, but he stepped into my path, blocking me.

"Move, Carmine."

"Why? So you can run back to Silvano?"

I stepped back, but my heel slipped on the wet tile. Before I could scream, I fell backward into the deep end of the pool.

The freezing water rushed into my nose and throat. Through the bubbles, I saw Carmine plunge in without hesitation. His powerful arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me to the surface.

I clung to his shoulders, gasping, looking at the face I loved so desperately. In that split second, the temptation to scream the truth—to tell him I was doing this to save him—almost broke me.

But the Vespucci and Arcuri snipers were always watching from the balconies. One word, and Carmine would be dead before morning.

"Thank you," I choked out, forcing my voice to harden. "Now let me go."

His grip only tightened, his frame trembling in the cold water. "Whose baby is it?"

I thrashed against him. "It has nothing to do with you!"

The last ember of hope in his eyes went cold.

"Come with me," he pleaded, his voice cracking with desperation. "Let's leave Thalassa City tonight. I don't care whose child it is. I'll raise them as mine. Just come with me, Nerissa."

His pure, unwavering devotion felt like a dagger to my ribs. The more he loved me, the faster I had to push him away to keep him breathing.

"With you? On a doctor's salary?" I scoffed, letting the words drip with poison. "You can't give me what I want anymore, Carmine. Don't flatter yourself."

Carmine’s expression shattered. In a fit of grief and rage, he pulled me flush against him and kissed me—hard, desperate, punishing. I fought him with everything I had, finally freeing my hand to strike his face.

SLAP!

He froze. I dragged myself out of the pool, dripping wet, and left him standing in the freezing water without looking back.

I couldn't sleep that night. My dreams were a twisted carousel of Carmine's broken eyes and Silvano’s predatory smirk.

In the dead of night, my door clicked open. Silvano stepped inside. I bolted upright, instantly shoving his hands away.

"Get out!"

He seized my wrists, pinning them to the mattress. "Are you planning to cast me aside the second this baby is born, Nerissa?"

"Let me go!" I screamed, thrashing wildly.

I had been quiet, compliant, and obedient for too long. But seeing Carmine's torment tonight had broken something inside me.

"Yes!" I gasped, glaring up at him with pure hatred. "This is a transaction. I yielded because I had to, just to keep Renata's family happy. Outside of this baby, our relationship is a sham. You are my sister’s fiancé, and I am your surrogate. We are nothing!"

Silvano’s eyes darkened into a dangerous ebony. "Just a transaction?"

"Yes!"

His restraint snapped. He pinned my body beneath his with terrifying force.

"I am the father of your child," he growled. "This transaction will never end."

When the door finally closed hours later, my room was in ruins.

The next morning, I pulled back the duvet and saw a stark splash of crimson on the white sheets. Looking at the blood, a dark, wicked hope rose in my chest: Let it end. Let the child go, and let me be free.

But the estate doctor delivered a crushing verdict. "The fetus is completely unharmed."

Before I could even process the despair, he added softly:

"However, Miss Renata's condition has taken a turn for the worse. She doesn't have much time left."