Blair. The senator's daughter. The key he would use to legitimize his family and ascend into the "proper" world.

So, I had paved a "brighter" future for him with the blood of my own family.

An invisible hand seemed to clench around my heart, squeezing the air from my lungs.

"So, that's it?" My voice trembled, my nails digging into my palms. "You're just... annulling our marriage?"

He avoided my gaze, his voice stiff and cold. "This was always the plan. Alessia, you knew our marriage was a contract. The contract is now fulfilled."

"You were a pawn. A peace hostage. As long as your family held any power, I had to keep you by my side to appease the old guard."

"I was good to you for five years to ensure your obedience, to make you and your foolish family believe in this ridiculous alliance."

Every word was a cold blade, twisting deeper into my heart.

Five years. All those days and nights, all the possessive tenderness and domineering affection—it all became a colossal joke in an instant.

I fought back the tears, pulling the slightly crumpled pregnancy report from my clutch. I held it out to him, a desperate, humble offering.

"Colin, look... I'm pregnant... It's our child..."

Colin's expression froze. He stared at the paper, a flicker of panic in his eyes before it was swallowed by an even deeper coldness.

He snatched the report from my hand, glanced at it, and crumpled it into a tight ball.

Then, I heard the cruelest words of my life.

"Get rid of it."

He looked down at me, his eyes as hard and cold as stone, devoid of emotion.

"This is a critical time for the Morton family's transition. This child is an ill-timed complication."

"A complication? A problem?"

A soft, broken laugh escaped my lips—a desolate sound, like a rusty blade scraping against my heart.

Tears finally streamed down my face, mingling with my makeup in a pathetic ruin.

Colin's brows furrowed, a flash of impatience on his face. "Have you gone mad?"

I wasn't mad.

In that moment, the illusion had simply shattered.

I bent down, trembling, to pick up the balled-up paper he'd thrown on the floor, but his polished leather shoe landed on it first.

This was my child. The only connection I had to the man I had loved for five years.

But in his eyes, it was just a "problem" hindering his new empire.

I looked up, meeting his cold gaze, my voice so hoarse it wasn't my own. "Colin, you used my family to build your empire. Did you ever once consider what my sacrifice meant?"

He sneered as if I were a petulant child. "Don't be difficult, Alessia. You know this is for the best."

Just then, the phone in his pocket rang, a jarring interruption. The name dancing on the screen was "Blair."

The frost on Colin's face melted instantly. The tone he used was one I'd never heard before—an indulgence so gentle it was like warm honey.

"Blair, it's almost over. Be patient, I'll be with you soon."

That tenderness was a white-hot spike driven through my heart.

After he hung up, his gaze reverted to that impatient coldness.

He gave me one last, unreadable look before turning to the Soldati at the door and issuing a cold command. "Watch her. Take her to Dr. Phillips's clinic in the morning."

With that, he left without a backward glance, plunging me into a vast, silent room that felt like an icy cellar.

A sharp, cramping pain shot through my lower abdomen, and my face went pale with a sudden, chilling fear.

A moment later, the door clicked open.

A woman glided in, a vision in a pristine white silk gown. Her face was pale, her beauty as delicate and deliberate as an oil painting.

It was Blair.

Seeing me standing there alone, a triumphant smirk played on her lips. Her gaze fell to my pale features, and her smile widened.

"Alessia, is it? Colin left. He asked me to 'comfort' you."

Blair smiled sweetly, but her eyes were like poisoned needles. She raised a hand to stroke a shining platinum insignia on her own neck, then her gaze dropped to the crumpled paper on the floor. She bent, picked it up, and slowly unfolded it.

"Pregnant?"

She chuckled softly. "You really know how to pick your moments. But an ill-timed child would only be a burden to Colin."

Her soft, vicious words were daggers in my heart.

I was freezing, my only thought to snatch that report back.

I lunged for it, but she deliberately pulled her hand away.

She leaned in close, her breath a cold whisper in my ear. "An accident," she murmured, her eyes glinting with malice, "can solve so many problems."

Before the words had faded, she "tripped." Her body seemed to fall weakly against me, but a hand found my shoulder and gave it a vicious shove.

Caught off guard, I staggered back. My hip struck the sharp corner of a table, and I collapsed.

In that instant, I felt a sickening warmth between my legs as a hot liquid streamed down my thighs.

I looked down in despair and saw the bright red bloom spreading across my dress.

My child...

No! I couldn't lose him! He was the only family I had left.

Ignoring the pain, I scrambled up, running on pure adrenaline.

"Get her!" The angry shouts of the bodyguards echoed behind me.

I couldn't care about anything else. There was only one thought in my mind: escape.

I fumbled in my clutch for a satellite phone I had prepared long ago but never used, and dialed a number I knew by heart.

"Julian! Save me!"

I swear it, Colin Morton. For the humiliation of this day, you will pay with your entire empire. Blood for blood.