By the fourth day, my fingers were itching for something to do. With Boyd out of the house, I headed to the shooting range.

It had been days since I'd held a gun, and my hands were rusty. I'd barely squeezed off a few rounds when a coy little voice piped up beside me.

"Miss Winfield, what a lovely mood you must be in, finding time to practice your aim."

"I heard you used to be the princess of the Black Tiger Syndicate. So how is it that you're content being someone's caged bird now, clinging to a man who doesn't want you?"

"If your late father could see you, I wonder how disappointed he'd be."

I lowered the gun and turned to face Gail.

Her expression was pure provocation, not a trace of the timid act she'd put on the other day. Her performance skills were impressive, I had to give her that.

I pulled off my safety glasses and studied the woman in front of me through narrowed eyes. After a moment, I let out a dry laugh.

"You were there that day. You heard him. He's the one who won't let me leave."

"So who's really clinging to whom, Miss Walter? Can you truly not tell?"

A flash of humiliation crossed Gail's face, but she clenched her jaw and forced the words out, one by one.

"Once the baby in my belly is born, what will you possibly have left to compete with me?"

"The great princess of the Black Tiger Syndicate, feared across the underworld, reduced to a little caged bird." A vicious smile curled her lips. "Your father is probably rolling in his grave."

What cut her off was my palm cracking across her face.

The slap sent Gail staggering. When she lifted her head again, her eyes were full of venom.

But before she could get a word out, a voice erupted behind us, thick with fury.

"Faith! What the hell are you doing!"

The instant she heard Boyd's voice, Gail's expression transformed into something pitiful and wounded.

"I'm sorry, Miss Winfield. I only came to explain things to you. I didn't want you and Boyd fighting because of me again."

"I grew up without parents. Boyd just feels sorry for me, that's all. There's really nothing between us. It's not what you think."

Boyd's gaze slid to the red, swollen mark on Gail's cheek. His eyes were ice.

"Faith, I told you she's pregnant."

"How could you hit her?"

My answer was the gun rising in my hand.

Bang.

The bullet grazed Gail's arm with surgical precision.

Blood poured instantly.

I lowered my wrist and regarded the two of them with cold eyes.

"That shot I didn't take last time? Consider it returned."

"Boyd, keep your dog on a leash. Next time, the bullet goes between her eyes."

Boyd swept Gail up into his arms. When he looked at me, his eyes were bloodshot, barely containing a rage that seemed ready to detonate.

A long silence passed before he ground the words out through clenched teeth.

"Today was Gail's fault. She shouldn't have come to bother you."

"You're even now."

With that, he didn't spare me another glance. He turned and walked away, carrying Gail.

I don't know if Boyd did it on purpose.

As he passed me, his shoulder slammed into mine.

I wasn't braced for it. The force knocked me off my feet, and the small of my back crashed into the edge of the shooting bench.

Blinding pain exploded through my body, radiating from my lower back in waves so intense I couldn't breathe.

Behind me, my bodyguard's panicked shout cut through the ringing in my ears.

"Miss Winfield! You're bleeding!"

I looked down, numb, and stared at the crimson spreading beneath me. Red, everywhere. The sharp, metallic smell of blood filled my nose.

My legs gave out. My vision went black, and I lost consciousness.

When I woke, I was in a hospital.

The nurse changing my IV bag hurried out and returned with the doctor.

His eyes were full of regret.

"It was already seven weeks along."

"Your body was already fragile, and the impact was too much. The baby didn't make it."

The doctor sighed softly and continued.

"I don't know what's going on today. So many injured pregnant women coming in. They rushed another one into the room next door just now."

"Fortunately, her baby is fine."

"You young women really need to learn to take better care of yourselves."

After the doctor left the room, I pressed a trembling hand to my flat stomach. It felt like a massive fist had closed around my heart and squeezed.

Without my ever knowing, there had been a child here.

I lay on the hospital bed, tears sliding from the corners of my eyes, disappearing into my hair at the temples.

Under the haze of anesthesia, I drifted off again.

I was woken in the dead of night by the chime of a text message.

"Next door. There's a surprise for you."

I pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed.

The room next door was steeped in intimacy. A woman's voice floated out, honeyed and cloying enough to melt bone.

"Oh, careful... I'm still pregnant, you know. What if you hurt the baby?"

"And we're in a hospital. Someone might hear."

The man's voice was raw, thick with desire.

"I'll be gentle. Don't worry, I won't hurt our baby."

"I already shut the door. Relax. No one's going to hear."

At the peak of it all, Gail shifted her gaze from beneath Boyd, and her eyes found mine across the dim space.

What was left for me not to understand?

Boyd said he'd shut the door.

But the door was clearly cracked open.

Gail had done it on purpose.

I lowered my eyes, turned away, and sat down on a chair in the corridor.

The hospital hallway was deserted at this hour.

I sat there, motionless, punishing myself by listening to the sounds of them together.

I didn't know how long I'd been sitting there when a nurse's voice reached me, gentle and close.

"Miss Winfield? Why are you crying so hard?"

"Are you in pain somewhere?"

Only then did I realize I'd been crying the entire time.

My whole body was shaking with sobs, my fingers trembling without my permission.

I swiped roughly at my tears and looked up at the nurse.

"I'm fine. I'll go back to my room now."

After the nurse left, I stood up.

But I didn't go back to my room. I walked straight toward the hospital's front entrance.

Three days passed before Boyd came home.

Seeing how thinly I was dressed, he reached for a blanket nearby and draped it over my shoulders, casual as anything.

"What's the staff been doing? How are you wearing so little?"

I didn't answer. I just looked up at him, eyes level and unblinking.

"How's Gail? Out of the hospital?"

Boyd let out a long sigh. The look he gave me was full of weary patience.

"Faith, she's young. Let it go."

"I've already warned her. She won't come near you again."

"Forgive her this once, okay?"

Okay?

That single word landed somewhere hollow inside me. I felt nothing. If anything, I almost wanted to laugh.

I took a long drag of the slim cigarette between my fingers. When I spoke, smoke curled from my lips.

Through the haze, Boyd's face blurred at the edges.

"Boyd, did you know?"

"We had a child."

A flash of wild joy crossed his eyes.

The next second, I crushed the cigarette into the ashtray, grinding it until there was nothing left.

"But it's dead."

"Three days ago. You killed it when you knocked me down."

Boyd's entire body went rigid. His lips moved, trembling, searching for words.

Nothing came out.

Four years together. He was too sharp a man not to hear what I meant.

After a long silence, Boyd covered his face. When he spoke, his voice was raw.

"It's my fault. All of it."

He pulled me tight against his chest.

"We'll do better from now on."

"I swear, nothing like this will ever happen again."

I pushed him away. The sound of my own voice sent a chill down my spine.

"Don't bother, Boyd."

"Just let me go."

The moment the words left my mouth, the temperature in the living room seemed to drop.

What broke the silence was his phone ringing.

The room was quiet enough that even without speakerphone, I heard every word from the other end.

"Boyd, I know I shouldn't be bothering you right now."

"But my stomach really hurts, and I'm scared. Can you come be with me?"

He didn't even hang up before he was on his feet.

At the door, his steps faltered.

"I told you. You belong to me."

"Before. Now. Always."

Then he walked out without looking back.

For an entire week after that, Boyd didn't come home.

He arranged a housekeeper, a private doctor, and dozens of bodyguards.

He made sure every one of my needs was taken care of.

And at the same time, he stripped away every last shred of my freedom.

I couldn't find a way out.

On an ordinary afternoon, another email arrived, along with a text message.

Check your inbox. There are things you don't know.

Oh, Faith. You really are pitiful.

The sender was Gail.

Five years ago, my father had been assassinated, and the Black Tiger Syndicate vanished from the streets overnight. I was the syndicate boss's daughter, and the rival gang had taken me, sold me to the biggest club in Kingsport: Nightfall Lounge.

Boyd was the one who found me. He brought me home.

Now he was the most feared man in the underworld, ruthless beyond measure.

I wanted for nothing materially, but if I tried to go up against him, I didn't stand a chance.

After reading through everything Gail had sent, I sat on the balcony and lit a cigarette.

I exhaled a thin stream of smoke, watching the guards patrol the courtyard below.

After a while, I dialed a number. One of my father's old men.

"I need you to stage my death."

"The sooner the better."