Chapter 2

I didn’t sleep that night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I woke up crying.

Later, I stopped forcing myself to fall asleep, and instead found myself thinking about my past with Gideon.

At eighteen I met Gideon when he was just a street enforcer. I loved him. My father was furious. "He's nobody, Bella. Just another foot soldier who'll end up dead in an alley before he turns twenty-five."

"Give him five years," I'd begged. "If he becomes a boss, accept our marriage."

My father finally said yes.

Those years were brutal. I stitched up his wounds at our kitchen table. Drank until I threw up blood at business dinners. Every sacrifice was for us, for our future.

And Gideon fought for us too. He took a knife to the ribs defending me.

"When I'm running this city," he'd promised, "I'll pay back every sacrifice a thousand times over."

We did it. Five years of blood and bullets until Gideon became the boss of all five boroughs.

And I was Isabella Moretti, the wife everyone said he loved more than power itself.

We actually did it. But somewhere along the way, he turned our story into a lie.

At dawn, I opened the nightstand drawer and took out the divorce agreement I'd prepared in secret.

I'd hoped I wouldn't need them. Turns out I was an idiot.

The papers shook in my hands.

I took a breath and headed downstairs to Gideon's study.

He was already back. He didn't look up when I walked in. His phone kept lighting up.

"Gideon."

"Mm." He made a sound but didn't look at me.

I stepped closer and put the folder on his desk. "I need you to sign something."

"What is it?" Still staring at his screen. "Insurance? Another charity thing?"

My throat got tight. "Just... can you look at it? Please?"

His phone buzzed again.

His whole face changed. Soft. Gentle. The way he used to look at me.

He grabbed a pen. "Should be fine, right? You handle all this stuff anyway."

"Gideon—"

He flipped to the back page and signed his name without reading a single word. "There. Done." He pushed the folder back. "And hey, if you need to buy something, go ahead. Call it an apology for last night. I know that whole thing was... uncomfortable."

He just signed away our marriage without even looking at what he was signing.

I picked up the folder. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped it.

"Okay," I whispered. "Goodbye, Gideon."

But he was already calling her.

"Daisy? Hey, it's me..." His voice got so soft.

I walked out. He never even noticed.

I made it halfway down the hall before I started crying. I pressed my hand over my mouth, clutching the divorce papers with the other hand.

I spent the afternoon packing.

I'd just closed the second suitcase when someone started yelling downstairs.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

Oh God. Gideon's mother, Maeve. She'd always hated me, believing Gideon deserved to marry an heiress.

My door slammed open before I could move. Maeve stormed in with two huge guys behind her.

"You." She pointed at me. "You disgusting whore."

"Maeve, I don't—"

"Those photos." Her voice shook. "Those filthy photos. Do you have any idea what you've done to this family? To my son?"

"I won't let you destroy us," she said. "And I won't let you trap my son with a bastard."

"I'm not—"

"Grab her."

The two men moved fast. One caught my arm, the other grabbed my waist, and suddenly they were dragging me toward the door.

"Let me go!" I tried to pull free. "Maeve, please—"

"You're going to a clinic," she said. "You're getting sterilized. No child of yours will ever have the Moretti name."

My stomach dropped. "You can't do this!"

"I can do whatever I want. You have no rights. You're nothing."

They dragged me through the house toward a black car outside. I fought the whole way, screaming, kicking, but they just held me tighter.

"Stop! Please!" My voice cracked. "I'm pregnant! I'm already pregnant!"

Maeve paused, and I thought maybe she'd drop it, but no, she came back twice as angry.

"That baby isn't my son's. I know it's not."

"Yes it is! I swear—"

"My son has been busy these past two months. Building his empire. He barely comes home. So tell me, Isabella, who's the real father?"

"That's crazy! Gideon is the only—"

"Lying won't help." She turned to the two men. "Take her to the basement. Use the bats. Make sure that thing doesn't survive."

I felt a cold shock wash over me. Gideon was the one who cheated, not me.

My trembling fingers found my phone. I called Gideon.

"Bella? I'm kind of in the middle of—"

"Your mother is trying to kill our baby!" I was sobbing. "Please, Gideon, please help me, they're going to—"

"My mother would never do that. And you're not even pregnant. Stop lying!"

"It IS true! I swear, I—"

"Bella, I don't have time for drama right now. Daisy needs me. I'll talk to my mother later."

Then he hung up.

I was utterly desperate. I had to call again, had to—

Maeve's foot slammed into my hand. The phone went flying.

"Who else are you going to call? No one's coming to help you!" she said. Then she nodded at the men. "Do it."

The bat hit my side. I screamed.

"Stop! Please!"

But the blows didn't stop.

Pain exploded through my abdomen, white-hot, searing, wrong. Then another strike. I curled into myself, trying to shield what mattered most, but it was useless.

The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. My vision blurred.

Then I felt it, warmth spreading down my thighs, soaking through my clothes. Thick and wet and terrifying.