Vince's POV

Pain tore through every inch of my body. The blood on my skin had long dried, sticking to me like glue and reeking of rot.

Because of that, Albion gagged and covered his nose, looking as though he might vomit. “Mr. Carr, you know I can’t stand the smell of blood. You refused to clean yourself up on purpose, didn’t you? Just to make me faint?”

Hearing that, Luisa shot me a look of pure disgust. “Look at you. You smell like a corpse and you look insane. You’re a total embarrassment.”

She waved her hand, and the bodyguards started dumping buckets of cold water over me again and again until I turned pale and my body trembled uncontrollably from the cold. Only then did she tell them to stop.

But Albion wasn’t done playing the victim.

“Mr. Carr,” he whimpered, “please… don’t take my son away. If you’re really going to steal him from me, then I’ll just jump out this window!”

He then staggered toward the ledge, putting on a show, and Luisa immediately rushed to hold him back.

Finally, she snapped.

She spun around and kicked my hand away from where I was clinging to his pant leg. Leaning down, her voice dropped cold and sharp, “You think talking my mom into backing you makes you worthy of being the heir’s father? Think again. You’re never going to take what belongs to Albion and his child. I’ve already had the old estate locked up. I don’t care what you’re plotting. It’s over.”

“Also,” she hissed, “I’ve warned you how many times. Don’t touch Albion or his child. But you never listen. So now I have no choice but to use more permanent methods.”

After that, she turned to the guards and barked, “He pushed Albion to the brink. He needs to pay the price. Go pull the oxygen tube from his father. Then throw this trash off the building.”

“No!” I screamed, my voice ripping through my throat. “Luisa, are you insane?! That’s my father! He saved your life!”

She scoffed. “So what? He only did that to get my favor. So that you'd marry into a wealthy family and your child with me could inherit my family fortune. Well, congratulations. You got what you wanted. I married into your world. I carried your children. But your babies… they just weren’t fast enough. They were born after Albion’s son returned. I’ve paid my debt. I don’t owe your family a damn thing anymore.”

“Do it!” she ordered the guards.

I lunged at the guards in a frenzy, trying to stop them. But they beat me down hard, ripping my clothes in the process.

My dried wounds tore open, blood gushing out like a dam had burst, soaking the floor in seconds.

I curled up on the ground, screaming in agony.

Luisa stepped forward, ready to drag me again, but then she suddenly froze.

Her eyes landed on something that had fallen from my shredded clothes—a crumpled ICU emergency notice, the kind issued during a newborn’s critical rescue.

Seeing that, her face went pale.

She dropped to her knees beside me and grabbed my shoulders, then turned to Albion and the guards, her voice panicked and sharp.

“What is this?! I told you to bring him to the press conference not to beat him half to death! Who did this?! And this medical notice, where did it come from?! Albion, you said you hired a professional to care for the babies. You said they were fine!”

Albion’s face twitched. But within seconds, he forced a look of shock and quickly pulled out his phone.

“I swear, I didn’t know anything about this. The babies were perfectly fine when I left. I—I knew Mr. Carr might try to frame me, so I asked the nanny to record a video. Here, look.”

He handed over his phone. On the screen was a grainy, poorly edited video of a baby who was clearly over a month old.

The footage was so fake that it was laughable.

The guards, relieved to have something to latch onto, immediately jumped in.

“We would never lay a hand on Mr. Carr. He probably faked this himself—maybe used special effects makeup to trick you, worried you'd punish him for what happened to your boy toys earlier.”

Vince's POV

Luisa glanced at the video on the phone and immediately believed it.

Hearing the bodyguards back up the lie, her fury boiled over. Without warning, she lifted her heel and slammed it down on my head.

My skull hit the floor with a sickening thud, and blood gushed instantly.

“You dare lie to me?” she growled. “You faked your wounds? Faked an ICU emergency notice? Just to make me feel guilty?! You’re disgusting. Absolutely disgusting!”

She stomped down again, once, twice, over and over, each blow crashing into my gut like a hammer.

With every kick, my blood splattered across the floor, mixing with my screams.

“Stop… please… don’t…” I could barely speak. My throat felt like it was tearing apart. My body grew colder and stiffer by the second.

Eventually, I couldn’t even beg anymore. I just curled up in the spreading pool of my own blood, trembling silently.

Luisa tossed aside her bloodstained coat like it was trash and turned to Albion, suddenly all soft apology.

“I’m sorry, Albion. You shouldn’t have had to smell something so vile. I’ll clean him up, and when I’m done, let’s go on that island honeymoon I promised. It's my way of making it up to you for doubting you, okay?”

But Albion’s eyes shimmered with tears as he gently shook his head, voice trembling like a kicked puppy.

“Forget it. Mr. Carr hates me so much… If you take me away now, what if he tries something else to break me and my son apart?”

He looked down in sorrow and added timidly, “Maybe I should just leave with the baby. Let your children be the heirs.”

His words were perfectly timed—pitiful, innocent, and expertly manipulative.

And it worked.

Luisa’s expression darkened like a storm rolling in. Her voice turned gentle, but her tone was icy. “Don’t worry. I won’t give him any more chances to hurt you or the child.”

She raised her hand and snapped, “Lock him up in the basement. Throw those two brats in there with him. Once the press conference is over and I’ve officially declared your son as the heir, then they can come out.”

The guards dragged me out of the hospital like I was roadkill.

Behind me, a long trail of blood smeared across the marble floor.

I was barely conscious. My body was on the verge of shutting down. But I clung to the last thread of breath and begged, “Please… Luisa… what I asked your mother to do… it was about the divorce, not about stealing your son’s place… My kids… you already had them killed once. If you drag them out of the ICU and lock them in some cold basement… they really won’t survive this time.”

Breathing hardly, I continued, “I’ll give you the divorce. I’ll give up everything—my shares, my inheritance. I’ll even sign whatever you want, take the kids far away, and never show up in your life again. Just please, don’t touch my father…”

Tears and blood dripped down my face, falling to the floor one by one.

But Luisa waved her hand dismissively. “Fine. As long as you behave and stay put in the basement, I won’t—”

A deafening crash suddenly cut her off.

I looked up and watched in horror as my father’s body fell from the upper floor and slammed into the ground right in front of me.

His once-kind eyes were now bulging, bloodshot, and lifeless, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Dad!!” A scream tore out of me, ripping my soul apart.

I crawled toward him, using my elbows and knees, smearing blood in my path.

But just before I could touch his fingertips, a guard yanked me back by the collar.

“Take him away,” Luisa said softly, turning her head as if the scene bored her. “He was already a dying man. This way, he’s finally free.”

“Luisa, you're not human!” I screamed like a madman. “You killed your own children, and now you’ve killed the man who saved your life! You’re going to hell for this!”

Vince's POV

Despite that, she only glanced at me with a frown and eventually just let out a quiet sigh. Facing the guards, she instructed, “Even though I said to keep him locked up, if he asks for anything in the next few days, just give it to him. Take good care of him and the kids.”

Third Person's POV

To prepare for the press conference where she would officially announce her heir, Luisa spared no expense. She was determined to show the world just how much Albion meant to her.

She booked out every gold shop in the city to commission a giant safety lock made entirely of solid gold taller than a full-grown adult.

Then, she spent tens of millions to buy an entire island and named it after Albion.

Even though she had never been active on social media, she suddenly created a public account with a name, "LovingAlbion."

And her first post was a dramatic love confession.

[Grateful to the most important man in my life, Albion Chavez, for giving me our firstborn son. From now on, my life is complete.]

The press conference lasted a full three days. Journalists from all over the country flew in. Under flashing cameras and dazzling lights, she smiled like a bride, holding Albion’s hand with pride.

But behind that picture-perfect image, she kept glancing at her phone again and again.

It was obvious. She was waiting for something.

Waiting for news from the villa.

But even on the final night of the event, her phone remained dead silent.

Unable to hold back any longer, she finally made a call.

“It’s been three days. Has he made a fuss? Tried to see me? Maybe threatened to show up at the press conference?”

But the housemaid on the other end sounded nervous as she replied, “No, ma’am… he hasn’t said a word this whole time. He didn’t even touch the meals I left outside his door.”

Hearing that, Luisa let out a cold laugh, curling her lips in disdain. “Hah. Just as I thought. He’s just throwing a tantrum. I made it very clear. Only my first child qualifies as my heir. It’s not my fault Albion returned with the baby before I could give birth to mine. He lost the bet, fair and square, but now he’s pulling stunts—hurting my men, faking sympathy, teaming up with my mother to steal the child.”

Rolling her eyes upward, she added, “I didn’t even punish him for that. Honestly, I’ve already been more than generous. And now? He’s going on a hunger strike?”

She thought about Vince father’s gruesome death and sighed. “He’s probably still mad about his dad. Fine, go tell him it was an accident. I didn’t mean for it to go that far. If he’s willing to behave and eat, I’ll give his father a proper burial. And I’ll even put Albion’s child under his name, let him have his little fantasy of being the heir’s father. But only if he promises never to touch Albion or the baby again. And Albion must live in the same house with equal status or not.”

The housemaid nodded quickly and hurried off to the basement.

But the moment the lock clicked open, a scream pierced the silence.

“Ms. Luisa! Mr. Carr—he’s dead! The two children—they’re not breathing either!”