After a check-up at a private clinic, I took my daughter back to our lakeside manor.

Once I had Rosie settled in her room, I went upstairs to pack important documents.

Just then, I heard a footstep behind me.

"Cassandra, what are you doing?"

I froze, swallowing the bile that rose in my throat. "Just organizing some files," I answered calmly.

Nelson didn't seem to notice anything amiss.

Just as he always did, he wrapped his arms around me from behind.

I couldn't dodge in time and was pulled into his embrace. The cloying scent of Ella's expensive perfume on him made my stomach lurch.

Nelson didn't notice my revulsion and kept talking.

"Cassandra, I'm so glad you and Rosie are okay. I never expected an accident at the carnival. Otherwise, no matter how urgent the family business was, I never would have left you."

His voice was laced with a convincing tremor of fear, every word dripping with false sincerity.

But knowing the truth, I felt nothing but ice in my veins.

I looked up at him. The expression on Nelson's face was as gentle as ever.

Those arms had once been a safe harbor for me and my daughter.

Now, they were the very weapons that would strangle us.

At that thought, I lowered my eyes and subtly slipped out of his embrace.

"It's fine. Family business comes first. Rosie and I are safe."

Nelson, accustomed to my compliance, frowned, a look of feigned heartache crossing his face. "How could the family be more important than you and Rosie? After losing our son, I can't imagine living without you."

The sound of our dead son's name on his lips sent a wave of venomous hatred through me, blurring my vision.

Before I could speak, his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen and smiled apologetically at me.

"It's family business. I'll step out to take the call."

I nodded numbly, my nails digging into my palms so hard they drew blood.

The moment Nelson answered, I saw the caller ID. As I'd expected, it was Ella.

I heard Nelson's anxious voice from the hallway, and a terrible premonition gripped me.

The next second, he burst back into the room and slapped me across the face with a furious roar.

"Why did you touch Ella? She's pregnant! If anything happens to her, I'll make you pay with your life!"

I clutched my stinging cheek, staring at Nelson in disbelief.

When he saw the red mark blooming on my skin, he froze.

A complex emotion flickered across his face, and he reached out as if to touch me.

But his phone rang again. He shot me one last, unreadable look before turning on his heel and leaving.

I rushed downstairs, desperate to get Rosie out of there.

But before I could even reach the front door, Nelson grabbed my arm in a death grip.

Without a word, he dragged me and my crying daughter to the car. No matter how much Rosie sobbed and screamed for her "Papa," he refused to let go.

By the time the ringing in my ears subsided, the car had already returned to the carnival.

The Ferris wheel was still broken, its gondolas suspended in mid-air. Nelson snatched my daughter from my arms.

"Tell me where Ella is, or I swear you will regret this!"

He held my daughter in a vice grip, taking her onto a private helicopter. It ascended, higher and higher, until he could lock her back inside that broken gondola.

Rosie was already traumatized by the Ferris wheel. Now, she was crying and struggling uncontrollably.

Each of her cries was a knife twisting in my gut. Watching the gondola sway precariously on Nelson's command, I could barely breathe.

"I don't know anything about it! Nelson, I don't care who kidnapped Ella, just get our daughter down from there!" I screamed, verging on hysteria.

This was a far cry from the doting father he'd once pretended to be. He emotionlessly ordered his men to shake the gondola.

"I'm giving you ten seconds. Then they'll slowly increase the intensity."

As he spoke, he ordered his men to increase the force of the shaking.

I watched my daughter inside, who was crying so hard she was about to pass out, and dug my nails into my palms.

Nelson had no mercy. The agony was so sharp I thought my heart would give out.

Watching my daughter, who was nearly convulsing from her sobs, I finally broke.

"Nelson, I really don't know. I have no idea where Ella is. Please, let our daughter down, please? She can't take it anymore."

My pleas didn't move Nelson in the slightest. He continued his countdown, his face an emotionless mask.

"Eight."

Just a short while ago at the manor, Nelson was apologizing for us being trapped. But now, for Ella, he had become the executioner, turning his own cruel hands against us.

I couldn't help but scream, "Nelson, investigate! Check the surveillance! I didn't kidnap Ella! Please, let Rosie go—she's your own flesh and blood! She can't hold on, I'm begging you, I'll get on my knees!"

Nelson didn't even look at me as his cold countdown continued.

I couldn't bear it. I scrambled up from the ground and started climbing the Ferris wheel's support structure.

Nelson watched me coldly. With the countdown nearly finished, I was just about to reach the gondola.

A flicker of hope ignited in my eyes. Disregarding my own safety, I reached out, desperate to save my daughter.

Just then, Nelson violently yanked me onto the helicopter and slapped me viciously.

"Are you insane?! Climbing that high, what if you fell?"

A flicker of what looked like concern sparked in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

But I couldn't bring myself to believe him anymore.

I clutched his sleeve, my voice choked with sobs. "I'm begging you, Nelson. Do whatever you want to me. Say I kidnapped Ella. Just let Rosie go. I'll take her place."

Nelson gripped me tightly and roared, "You'd risk your life for that bastard you had with Killian Donovan? Then why the hell did you marry me in the first place!"

He shoved me toward the bodyguards behind him.

"I won't let that little bastard go. You'd better tell me where Ella is right now, or I'll make the brat pay with her life!"

I struggled with all my might, tears streaming down my face.

"I really don't know! Rosie and I went straight back to the manor from the carnival! We didn't have a chance to kidnap anyone! Rosie is your child! You can do a paternity test, but please, just let her go for now, please?"

I wailed, my dignity shattering on the pavement at his feet.

But even so, he refused to believe me.