I struggled to focus, but the drug blurred everything.

I could make out my own handwriting.

Silvana began to read aloud, her voice shrill and piercing.

"My dearest Marco, Darren has another meeting tonight, so we can finally be alone..."

"No..." I managed to shake my head, my tongue still numb. "I didn't write that..."

"Our son will have my intelligence and your good looks, a world away from that fool Darren..."

"Next month, we'll take the baby and escape from here, start a new life in Paris..."

"None of this is true!" I tried with all my might to refute her.

"Still pretending?" Silvana sneered. "Angelina gave these to me herself. She said you hid them well, but secrets have a way of coming out."

She produced a man’s gold cufflink.

It was engraved with an unfamiliar initial.

"This was found in your vanity drawer," she said, dangling it in front of my eyes. "It belongs to Marco Jackson. Angelina said you two often met here when Darren was away."

“What are you talking about! I’ve never even met a Marco!”

Silvana stood up and kicked me in the ribs.

The sharp pain made me curl into a ball.

"Forged?" Her voice cut like a knife. "Then explain why there was another man's belongings in your vanity. Explain why these letters are in your handwriting."

I wanted to argue, but the words were stuck in my throat.

Angelina's setup was too perfect.

"How many family traditions did my brother break for you?" Silvana continued kicking me. "He gave you the best life, the greatest respect! And for what?"

Her voice grew more hysterical. I could only shield my belly.

Time ticked by. No one was coming to save me.

Until Dr. Russo appeared again, the syringe in his hand now filled with a deep red liquid.

"An enhanced formula. By special request of the Boss."

The needle pierced my vein once more.

This time, the drug burned even hotter, like lava flowing through my blood.

My heartbeat became erratic, my chest heaving violently.

"Dr. Russo..." I gasped. "Something's... wrong..."

He checked my pulse and frowned. "Don't worry, you won't die. It's just a bit uncomfortable. You'll have to bear with it."

After the injection, an unprecedented wave of agony washed over me.

My skin flushed and burned. My breathing grew ragged and shallow.

"What's... what's wrong with her?" Silvana took a few steps back.

Dr. Russo checked my eyes. "An allergic reaction. A severe one."

I began to convulse, foam frothing at my mouth. I feared...

"Save... my baby..." I managed to choke out.

Silvana watched me in my agony, hesitating for a moment, but she had heard the doctor say I wouldn't die.

"You deserve it!" she snarled. "You whore!"

She grabbed my hair and stomped on my hand with her heel.

A tearing pain shot through me.

I wanted to fight back, but I had no strength left. My body was too weak.

“My only job today is to make sure you don’t give birth. The Falcone heir can’t be a bastard.”

"He's not a bastard!" I used my last ounce of strength to protect my stomach. "I told you, he's Darren's child..."

I felt a warm gush of liquid between my legs.

It was blood. A lot of blood.

"Stop... please, stop..."

She paid no attention, continuing to kick and punch me.

"The Falcone bloodline will not be tainted!"

Despair washed over me. I knew my baby wasn't going to make it.

I lost consciousness completely.

When I woke up again, Silvana was gone.

A servant, Leo, came in with a tray of food and froze in shock at the bloody scene.

The tray slipped from his hands, the porcelain shattering on the floor. I was lying in a pool of my own blood.

"My God..." Leo rushed over. "What happened to you?"

"I have to call the Boss."

When the call connected, Darren's impatient voice came through.

"What is it? I'm busy."

"Boss, the Madam... she's bleeding badly. I think her condition is critical..."

"Blood?" Darren scoffed. "Scarlett is strong. She can handle it. Don't let her fool you."

"Tell her I won't let her die, but that child is not to be born before Angelina's."

“If she behaves, I might let the bastard live.”

The line went dead.

Leo stood there, stunned, unable to believe what he had just heard.

He looked at my dying form, his conscience and loyalty at war.

Finally, he made a decision.

"I can't just watch you die here." He knelt down and carefully lifted me into his arms. "I know a place that can help you."

He rushed out of the room with me in his arms.

A trail of blood dripped onto the marble floor of the hallway.

I drifted in and out of consciousness in his embrace, aware only of the jostling and the pain.

The car sped through the city streets at night.

Leo was constantly on the phone, arranging something.

"It's me... yes, an emergency... pregnant woman, massive bleeding..."

After what felt like an eternity, the car stopped.

Leo kept reassuring me. "Hang on, we're almost there."

But when we arrived at the clinic, the old, bearded doctor saw the needle marks on my arm, and his face went deathly pale.

"Good God... what kind of devil's work is this..."

"I... I don't know... The family's private doctor injected her..."

The doctor's hands began to tremble.

He turned to me, his eyes filled with despair.

"There's no antidote for this kind of poison."

"You need to call the Boss, now!" the underground clinic doctor grabbed Leo's arm. "This toxin is attacking her nervous system! I need professional equipment!"

"She's going to die!"

Leo's hand shook as he dialed the number.

"Boss, the doctor says we need professional equipment to save Madam Scarlett..."

"Specialized equipment?" Darren's voice was laced with scorn. "Leo, have you forgotten who all the city's top medical resources are for? They are for the true heir."

To ensure Angelina's safety, Darren had monopolized nearly all of New York City's top-tier medical resources.

All the renowned obstetricians had been "invited" to the private hospital controlled by the Falcone family.

"It was just a few injections. She'll be fine."

“In a couple of days, after Angelina has delivered safely, we can treat her. It won’t be too late.”

The phone was hung up abruptly.

The old doctor looked at me with despair, his eyes full of helplessness and pity. "I know one place."

"Maybe... maybe there will be a miracle."

He picked me up again and rushed to the black car parked outside.

I curled up in the back seat, feeling life slowly draining from my lower body.

The baby's kicks in my belly grew weaker, as if in a final protest.

"Hang on," Leo whispered in my ear. "We're going to St. Mary's Hospital."

That was also where Angelina was waiting to give birth.

When the car pulled up to the hospital, I saw a scene of utter hopelessness.

The entire maternity wing was on lockdown, crawling with Falcone's men.

A long line of ambulances stood ready, all for Angelina alone.

Leo helped me stumble toward the emergency room.

A nurse saw me covered in blood and recoiled in horror.

"Oh my God! What happened?"

"She's Darren Falcone's wife," Leo said urgently. "She needs surgery immediately!"

The nurse's face went pale, and her voice trembled.

"But... the Boss's orders. All our resources are reserved for Ms. Angelina."

I was pushed onto a gurney in the hallway, listening to their conversation.

The drug's side effects left me unable to speak, forced to watch as they debated my life and death.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the maternity wing, I could see the bright lights inside.

Darren was in there, gently keeping Angelina company.

"Please..." Leo begged. "At least let us see the Boss..."

The head nurse hesitated for a moment before picking up the internal phone.

A few minutes later, Darren's second-in-command, Tony, strode over.

He saw me, covered in blood, and his brow furrowed. He anxiously pulled out his phone and called Darren.

"Boss, there's a woman at the hospital entrance, covered in blood. She looks a lot like... the madam."

"You fell for it too? I told you, a little shot of that drug couldn't make her bleed like that."

Tony spoke cautiously. "Should I come up to confirm? If it really is the madam, she's in grave danger..."

"I said it's impossible!" Darren roared hysterically.

"Scarlett is obsessed with her appearance. If it were that serious, she would have stormed in here to find me herself. Why would she let herself get so disheveled?"

Meanwhile, the head of the emergency room was pleading for a single set of surgical equipment.

But Darren responded with a cold threat.

"I don't care who it is. Not a single resource meant for Angelina will be touched by anyone else!"

"Angelina and the child in her belly are the true bloodline of the Falcone family!"

“Anyone who touches anything knows the consequences.”

The doctor finally gave up in despair, shaking his head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do."

Having already crawled out of hell, I refused to give up on even the slimmest chance for my child's survival.

Enduring the tearing pain, I took Leo's satellite phone with a trembling hand.

I dialed the number I had once sworn never to call again.

It was my brother Stephan's private line.

"Stephan..." my voice was a bare thread of sound. "I was wrong. I'll never defy you again..."

"Save me..."

Stephan's voice was as cold as ice, asking no questions.

"Address."

The moment I heard his voice, all my pent-up grievances and despair erupted.

I cried hysterically, like a lost child trying to find her way home.

Regret, anger, desperation… a flood of emotions poured out.

In less than eight minutes, the low thrum of a helicopter filled the night sky.

A black, state-of-the-art medevac landed on the hospital rooftop, its rotors kicking up a powerful gust of wind.

A team of heavily armed, professional medics descended.

I was quickly carried onto the helicopter, which was equipped with medical facilities more advanced than any hospital.

"Prepare for a C-section!" a doctor commanded.

A precision scalpel sliced across my lower abdomen. Even with a powerful anesthetic, I could still feel the agony of flesh being separated.

I could hear the doctors' tense conversation and the urgent beeping of the monitors.

After a long while, the lead surgeon finally let out a sigh of relief.

"The baby's out!"

But the cabin was filled with a dead silence.

There was no cry of a newborn, no breath of new life.

Only the beeping of the equipment and my own desperate heartbeat.

A terrible premonition washed over me like ice water. I choked out the question.

"My baby... how is he?"

The doctors exchanged heavy glances, then one gently touched my shoulder.

"The baby suffered severe toxin exposure and prolonged oxygen deprivation..."

"We need to transport him to the medical center in Sicily immediately. They have the most advanced neonatal intensive care equipment there."

My world collapsed in that moment. I could only nod numbly.

Meanwhile, in a maternity room at St. Mary's Hospital.

Darren stood guard outside the operating room like a loyal hound.

When the door opened, he rushed forward to ask.

"How is Angelina? Is the baby healthy?"

"Mother and son are both fine, Boss," the doctor reported respectfully.

Darren walked into the warm, comfortable room and gently picked up the swaddled infant.

His eyes filled with a father's love as he whispered.

"He looks just like you. A little angel."

After he spoke, he seemed to drift off for a moment.

He allowed himself to imagine what his child with Scarlett would have looked like.

If it were a girl, she would definitely have her beautiful eyes...

After lulling the baby to sleep, Darren checked his watch.

It was already the next morning. It was time to have someone bring Scarlett over.

He tossed his car keys to Tony.

"Go back to the estate. Bring my wife here."

“Whatever it takes, that child needs to be delivered. I want a DNA test the moment it's born.”

Tony stood frozen, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.

He didn't dare look Darren in the eye, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Darren noticed something was wrong and frowned.

"What is it? Get a move on."

Tony finally summoned the courage, his voice shaking.

"Boss... Madam Scarlett... she's dead..."