After Victor left, I sat dead on the floor.

My empty eyes dropped to my flat stomach. A violent wave of nausea rushed up my throat.

I did five rounds of IVF to give him this so-called Costello heir. My belly was horribly covered in thick clusters of needle marks. Purple and blue, hard lump after hard lump. Not a single inch of intact skin.

On the operating table, the sharp pain of cold metal tools scraping inside me brought out buckets of cold sweat.

Every time I shook from the pain and bit my lip bloody, Victor would hold my hand tightly. He would look at me with those deep, loving eyes and kiss the sweat off my forehead.

"Hold on a little longer, Vivienne," he used to tell me in his deep, magnetic voice. "I want a child with both our blood so badly. It's proof that we saved each other."

Saved each other.

Now, those sugar-coated lies turned into the most wicked curse!

I stared at the bruises on my belly, trembling violently. When he watched me endure a living hell, ruining my own body for him, what the hell was he thinking? Was he thinking about how jealous Dominic would be when he saw me pregnant?

I actually threw half my life away for a madman's revenge game!

Memories crashed in like a broken dam. They tasted like rust and blood, tearing at my fragile nerves.

It was fifteen years ago in the Brooklyn slums. Dominic wasn't a Mafia Don back then. He was just a low-level thug who could get hacked to death in the streets at any moment. Rainy nights in New York were always freezing. I will never forget that abandoned garage.

Dominic was hunted down by enemies. He lay in a muddy puddle, covered in blood, coughing up blood.

It was me. I starved myself every day, saving all my lunch money to buy expensive black-market antibiotics and bandages. To protect his pathetic pride, I slipped the meds under the crack of the garage door in secret. I did it for three whole years.

One winter, an enemy’s knife aimed straight for his heart. I threw myself in front of him, taking the blade meant for his heart! My back still has an ugly ten-inch scar to this day.

I thought risking my life would earn me his true love.

But what did I get at our high school graduation?

I stood in a dark corner of the hall, clutching a greeting card I bought for him. I watched with my own eyes as Dominic, in a cheap suit, grabbed Chloe's hands excitedly.

"Chloe, I found out everything. For the past three years, if you hadn't secretly slipped me those meds, I would’ve died in that gutter." Dominic's eyes were full of crazy gratitude. "You saved my life."

And my so-called "best friend" Chloe just blushed shyly and leaned into his arms.

"I just wanted you to be safe, Dominic."

Hiding in the shadows, my heart was ripped to shreds.

But I was too stupid. I thought if I stayed by his side, he would eventually see who really loved him. Later, they broke up. Dominic fought his way up in the mob. I stayed with him in unheated basements, washing the blood out of his shirts.

He finally made it. He became the Boss of the Russo family and married me.

I thought I had finally won.

But the very first thing he did after reaching the top was bring Chloe into our home.

I bit my lip hard, tears streaming down my face.

Neither of them ever loved me. Dominic loved Chloe, his so-called "savior" from his darkest days. And the safe haven Victor built with everything he had was also for Chloe, the woman who betrayed him.

The three of them were tangled in a twisted, sick game—but they dragged me down to skin me alive.

The storm on the dark web hit suddenly.

Someone posted a bounty thread on an underground forum, exposing the messy love triangle between Chloe, Dominic, and Victor. The post called Chloe a mob whore who wrecked the marriages of the Russo and Costello Dons, playing two Mafia Bosses against each other.

The thread blew up. Soon, the Bosses on the Commission saw it.

The Commission lost their minds. Countless mobsters demanded she be executed by Mafia law for risking an all-out gang war.

That afternoon, Victor and Dominic stormed into my estate with their guards.

Dominic pointed a finger in my face and screamed.

"Vivienne, you vicious bitch! Chloe is pregnant. Are you trying to get her killed with this hit post?!"

I sneered. Before I could even speak, Victor stepped up and stood in front of me.

"Enough, Dominic. This is my house." Victor turned to me, slipping right back into his arrogant Don persona. "Vivienne," his voice was sickeningly calm. "I know this isn't fair. But the Commission wants blood now. Chloe is in danger."

"And?" I looked at the face I once loved deeply. He felt like a total stranger.

"I need you to post a video on the dark web using your real name," Victor ordered, looking down at me. "Tell them you made the whole thing up out of jealousy and spite."

I couldn't believe my ears.

"Victor, I'm a respected art restorer. If I admit to slander, my career in high society is completely ruined. Did you even think about me at all?"

Victor frowned. "I’ll compensate you. However much money you want, millions in offshore accounts—it's yours. You never have to work again, I can take care of you for life. But not Chloe. She can't handle this kind of shock right now."

I laughed out of pure anger. "I'm not taking the fall for this."

Victor’s eyes turned ice-cold. He pulled out a document and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Vivienne, I’m trying to let you keep your dignity. If you don't clear her name, don't blame me for being ruthless."

I looked down, my pupils shrinking.

It was a divorce agreement drafted by a lawyer. And right underneath it was a photocopy.

It was Victor and Chloe’s secret marriage certificate! Issued exactly one week ago.

"What does this mean?" I was freezing all over, my voice shaking.

"You still don't get it?" Victor calmly dropped the cruelest truth. "A month ago, when I took you to sign the family trust papers, I slipped the divorce papers in."

"You signed them a long time ago, Vivienne."

"The child in Chloe's belly has to be the legitimate Costello heir. She needs the title."

My mind went completely blank. Nausea rolled wildly in my stomach again.

"By the way, I’ve already issued a statement on the dark web under the Costello family name," Victor said, adjusting his tie. "It clearly states that I kicked you out a month ago. That bounty thread was just the insane ramblings of a pathetic, mentally unstable ex-wife out for revenge."

I trembled, my nails biting deep into my palms.

Seeing me about to collapse, a flash of charitable pity actually crossed Victor's eyes. He took a step forward, trying to stroke my hair like he used to.

"Be a good girl, Vivienne." He spoke with the ultimate gentleness, saying the most vicious words. "Just play along for now. Once Chloe has the baby and secures the family inheritance, the Commission will back off. Then I’ll divorce her immediately and marry you again."

Smack!

Using every ounce of my strength, I slapped him hard across the face. The blow was so heavy that Victor's head snapped to the side. His gold-rimmed glasses hit the floor, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Get out." I pointed at the door, my voice like ice. "Take your precious Chloe and get the hell out of my house!"

Victor touched his lip. His eyes grew dark and dangerous.

Beside him, Dominic laughed, gloating. "Wake up, Vivienne. No one is ever going to love a boring woman like you."

They slammed the door and left.

Drained of all strength, I slid to the floor.

Victor's statement blew up. The homepage of my gallery was swarmed. Countless insults and curses flooded in.

[So Vivienne Costello was the crazy, obsessed stalker all along.]

[Disgusting. Making up rumors about someone else just because she got dumped. How is a bitch like this even allowed in the art world?!]

High society's blacklist came faster than I expected.

In just one day, I lost all my restoration orders and was forced to sell my gallery for pennies.

Walking down the street, former clients who used to greet me with warm smiles now dodged me like a plague, whispering behind my back.

"That's her. The crazy woman kicked out of the Costello family."

"So shameless. Spreading rumors about someone being a mistress when she was the one thrown out on the street."

I pulled my light trench coat tighter and picked up my pace, my face blank.

Just as I reached the corner near my old gallery, a gang of rival mob thugs ambushed me from an alley. Fired up by the dark web bounty and the rumors, they took all their rage out on me—the discarded "ex-wife."

"Beat this gang-war-starting bitch to death!" someone shouted.

The next second, a brick flew through the air and smashed into my shoulder. I stumbled backward. Before I could catch my balance, a heavy metal baseball bat slammed violently into my back.

Thud!

The agonizing pain made my vision go black. I hit the pavement hard. Broken glass pierced my palms; my knees were scraped raw and bloody. Surrounded by the thugs' crazy screaming and kicking, I could only curl into a tight ball, desperately shielding my stomach.

Suddenly, a familiar, tearing cramp struck deep in my lower belly.

A warm liquid gushed down my thighs, quickly soaking my light coat in red.

"The baby... my baby..."

Fear coiled around my heart like a venomous snake. I was breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain, my breathing shaky.

"Stop!"

Tires screeched as a dozen black, bulletproof Maybachs violently pulled up to the curb. Heavily armed guards stormed out and quickly scattered the thugs.

The car doors opened. Victor and Dominic, one on each side, carefully escorted Chloe—and her small baby bump—out of the car. It turned out they were in the area for Chloe’s checkup at a nearby high-end private clinic.

Seeing me lying on the ground covered in blood, Victor stopped dead in his tracks. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his pupils shrank. Instinctively, he started to step toward me.

"Victor..." Using every ounce of strength I had left, I reached my bloody hand out to him. My voice was a broken rasp. "Please... save the baby... our baby..."

My fingertips were trembling. It was the final plea for the child I had risked my life to conceive.

Just as Victor was about to take another step...

Chloe gripped his arm tightly. Her voice shook. "Victor, I'm so scared... Is she faking it again? She used to fake being sick all the time to keep Dominic..."

Dominic immediately chimed in. "Vivienne, have you no shame?! Faking a miscarriage? That is low, even for you!"

Victor stopped.

"Vivienne, drop the pathetic act. I told you, once Chloe has the baby, we’ll remarry. Stop throwing tantrums until then."

He turned his back, shielded Chloe, and walked toward the bulletproof Maybach without looking back once. Dominic sneered coldly and followed right behind them.

I watched their retreating backs in pure despair.

The pain robbed me of my senses. I could feel the tiny life I had sacrificed half my own to create slipping away from my body, drop by drop.

When I woke up, three days had passed.

The harsh smell of disinfectant filled the room. The doctor held my chart, looking at me with pity.

"Mrs. Costello, I'm so sorry. Because your body was already damaged from multiple rounds of IVF, combined with the heavy trauma and delayed treatment... we couldn't save the baby. And it will be nearly impossible for you to conceive again."

I lay in the pale hospital bed, listening quietly. No hysterical breakdowns. No wailing or crying.

When your heart completely shatters, it doesn't make a sound. Now I understood.

I pulled out my SIM card, flooded with thousands of death threats, and tossed it into the trash.

On the day I was discharged, I went back to the estate. I packed up everything I owned and shipped it away.

Sitting in the empty living room, I pulled out two waterproof courier bags.

In the first bag, I put the medical records of my miscarriage. Addressed to: Victor Costello.

In the second bag, I put a stack of yellowed black-market antibiotic receipts, a photo of the bloody shirt from when I took a knife for him, and the bank receipts.

On top of it all, I placed a newly written note with the exact same words I left for him fifteen years ago.

Addressed to: Dominic Russo.

The precious savior he worshipped half his life was nothing but a downright thief.

After mailing the packages, I grabbed my suitcase and walked out of the city that had trapped me for six years.

I am never coming back.