I couldn't hear the doctor anymore. I couldn't feel the IV in the back of my hand either.

All I felt was a hollow ache in my lower abdomen. I hadn't even had time to give my baby a name, and it was gone before I ever got to meet it.

I kept imagining the child Stefano and I might have had, over and over. Maybe it'd have Stefano's eyes and my hair.

That baby was meant to save our marriage, my last hope. But Stefano took our baby's life with his own hands.

Numb, I yanked the IV out of my hand and set my bare feet on the cold tile. My head spun.

The doctor rushed over to stop me. "Mrs. Pace, you're still weak! Where are you going?"

"Where is Stefano?" I asked, my voice hoarse and hollow.

She hesitated, then pointed to the next room.

I pushed the door open and saw Stefano gently holding a slice of apple to Isla's lips. Isla was propped against the headboard, a barely there smirk playing at her lips.

I walked over slowly. "Stefano, we lost the baby," I said.

He froze, then blinked at me like I'd said something ridiculous. "A baby? Sylvie, are you crazy? We don't have a baby."

He looked at me with sheer disappointment. "You'd make up a lie like that just to get my sympathy?"

"I'm not lying. I was pregnant—"

I didn't get the sentence out before a brutal cramp ripped through my lower belly. I doubled over as warmth ran down my legs, turning my pants red.

Isla pinched her nose, disgust in her eyes as she said, "Ugh, did Sylvie just get her period?"

Stefano stared at the blood on the floor, contempt in his eyes. "Sylvie, you make me sick. Go clean yourself up. Don't make Isla look at this."

He turned his back on me, the same back I used to lean on. He shut me out of his world without a shred of mercy.

I left without a word.

When I got back to my room, the nurse rushed to stop the bleeding. Seeing how pale I was, she asked, "Mrs. Pace, are you hurting? Do you want something for the pain?"

"No, I'm fine."

Maybe the pain had hollowed me out. I stared out the hospital window at the bleak gray sky, feeling nothing.

…

Two days later, I left the hospital. I went back to the empty house by myself and finished packing the suitcase I'd left half-packed.

Then I pulled out my phone and dialed the number I hadn't called in seven years.

A deep voice came on the line. "Sylvie, you finally decided to call me?"

"Dad, I'm ready to come back and take over the Sassi family," I said evenly.

"Welcome home. Everyone in the Sassi family has been waiting for you."

After I hung up, I pulled out the divorce papers I'd already prepared and signed them. I set them on the table in the middle of the living room, making sure they'd be the first thing Stefano saw when he walked in.

Then I walked out without looking back, leaving the cage that had held me for seven years.

While I was waiting to board my flight, Stefano called, furious. "Sylvie, divorce isn't a joke!"

I laughed. "I'm not joking. Sign it. We're done."

After a beat, he said, "Let's talk. Where are you?"

"I'm at…"

I could hear an engine turn on through the phone. I knew if I told him where I was, he'd be on me in minutes.

"I'm in the car with the black stockings on the passenger seat. If you can't tell which one, ask Isla."

I hung up and turned my phone off. That small click sealed seven years of my life. I was heading back to take over the Sassi family.

Stefano and Isla had taken my baby and made me bleed. They'd answer for it in blood!