I remembered the night six years ago. Luca had placed the bracelet in my palm as if closing a business deal.

"The man who had it asked for a lot."

I cried so hard I couldn't speak. When I asked how I was supposed to repay him, he looked down at me with a cold mouth and impossibly soft eyes.

"Then pay me back with yourself."

[Vivi, marry me. I don't know how to give you a home, but I'll learn. I brought back what your mother left behind. From now on, I'll protect you too.]

He used that bracelet in place of a proposal ring. I once thought it was the clumsiest and truest confession of his life.

Now he held the same bracelet and said, "I gave it to you because you were my wife. If you want a divorce, you won't be Mrs. Bellandi anymore. What right do you have to take it? You can't seriously think you're still worth thirty million dollars, Vivian."

One sentence crushed my pride. I dug my nails into my palm and forced my voice steady. "I'll pay you back. I'll find a way to get thirty million."

"You think I need your money?" Luca snapped.

[I need you to stay. I just can't let you take it and leave. If you leave with it, you'll never come back. Vivi, I'm scared.]

But his hand had already closed around Ava's wrist. He clasped the emerald bracelet on her, the same way he had done for me six years ago.

Ava lifted her wrist and admired it. From an angle Luca couldn't see, she shaped the words with her lips.

"A dead woman's trinket. How unlucky."

Something exploded in my head. That was the only thing my mother had left me.

I rushed forward, trembling. "If it's so unlucky, give it back."

My fingers had barely touched Ava when she screamed and threw herself backward. Her wrist struck the edge of the coffee table, and the emerald bracelet cracked. Stones and broken metal scattered across the floor.

The world went silent.

Then Ava lifted her bleeding arm and sobbed beautifully. "Luca, it hurts."

Luca snapped out of it and shoved me away. My lower back hit the cabinet, and a sharp pain tore through my abdomen.

"Vivian, are you insane?" he shouted. "That was your mother's only keepsake. To hurt Ava, you didn't even care if you destroyed it?"

I collapsed to the floor, my face white. "I didn't push her. She fell on purpose. She broke it on purpose."

"Enough!" The veins in Luca's neck stood out. "You lose your mind and still blame her?"

His thoughts were a mess. [What do I do? The bracelet is broken. The thing Vivi loved most is broken. Now I don't even have the last thing that could keep her with me.]

He was panicking, but even his panic hurt me.

He dragged me down the hall to the wine storage room, the coldest and darkest room in the apartment. The pain in my abdomen sharpened, as if something inside me was being torn loose.

He pushed me inside. "You hurt Ava, and you're not thinking straight. Stay there tonight. When you calm down tomorrow, you can come out and apologize."

The lock clicked. Darkness swallowed me.

I clutched my stomach and felt warmth slowly seep between my legs. When I touched it, my fingers came away red.

"Luca." I hit the door, trying to keep my voice steady. "Luca, I'm bleeding. Open the door. I need the hospital."

No answer came. I heard Ava sniffling, Luca asking if her wound hurt, and the medicine kit opening.

I hit the door again. The pain was so bad I could barely stand. "Luca, I'm not lying. My stomach hurts. I'm really bleeding."

This time, he answered, his voice flat through the wood. "Vivian, I've known you for ten years. I never knew you were this good at acting. Ava is the one who's hurt. I pushed you once, and now you're screaming about blood. Your period isn't due until next week."

I almost broke. "Exactly. It's next week. So why am I bleeding?"

I didn't dare think about the answer. I had wanted a child for so many years that hope itself felt dangerous. A few days ago, I had lost my appetite. In the mornings, I felt sick. I told myself it was stress and didn't even dare buy a pregnancy test.

Now the pain terrified me.

"Luca, please." I slid down against the door, sweat coating my palms. "Let me out. I only need the hospital. I swear I'll explain the bracelet later."

Ava's soft voice floated from outside. "Vivian, you're really going to lie about something like this just to dodge what you did to me? Maybe she wants to run on the way to the hospital, Luca. She packed her suitcase tonight. If she leaves, what about the thirty million for the bracelet? And the South Harbor ledgers still have to face the Capos tomorrow. I don't even know if I can handle that meeting with my arm like this."

Luca's breathing grew heavy.

[Run away? Vivi, are you really trying to run? You'd even use blood to lie to me because you want to leave that badly?]

[No. Even if I have to lock you up forever, I can't lose you.]

I went cold all over. He didn't hear my cry for help. He heard only his fear. In his mind, Ava's cut, the South Harbor books, and the Capos' mood tomorrow mattered more than my pain.

At last Luca said, "Stay there and calm down. I'm taking Ava to the hospital."

"Luca!" I hit the door with the last of my strength. "I'm going to die."

For one moment, there was silence. I heard his heart tremble.

[Vivi, don't scare me like that. I want to open the door. But you always know how to make me soft. Are you lying again?]

Then his footsteps moved away, and the front door slammed shut.

The apartment fell dead quiet. I collapsed on the cold floor as the pain came in waves. Blood spread beneath my skirt, taking what little warmth my body had left.

Before my mind went dark, I remembered the pregnancy test in the bathroom trash that morning.

Two very faint pink lines.

I hadn't believed it yet. I had planned to tell Luca after the family dinner. I had imagined him being stubborn and saying it was trouble, while secretly grinning like an idiot inside.

Now all I could do was press my hand to my stomach in the dark.

"Baby, I'm sorry."