"You pushed Gianna. Scarlett, this is a blood debt. You will repay it."

"Don't be afraid, it's just a little blood. As long as you cooperate, I promise nothing will happen to you."

It seemed that even my life was a chip he was willing to sacrifice for that woman at any moment.

I couldn't take this humiliation anymore. I screamed, "I won't do it! Why should my blood be used to save her!"

But Daemon wasn't listening. He dragged me and forced me onto a gurney.

"Let go of me!"

I shrieked, struggling with all my might. My nails dug deep into the back of his hand, leaving several bloody scratches.

But he didn't even flinch, personally strapping my wrists and ankles to the rails with thick leather restraints.

A nurse approached with a thick needle, its tip glinting with a cold light that stole my breath.

Fear consumed me. My body began to shake uncontrollably.

"Daemon! You can't do this to me! Please!"

"I'm... I'm pregnant with your child! Are you trying to kill him?!"

Daemon paused.

For a split second, I thought I saw a flicker of hope.

But then his brow furrowed, and he looked at me as if I were a manipulative liar.

"Scarlett, don't lie."

"A pathetic lie like that only makes you sound more desperate."

My heart felt like it had been ripped from my chest and crushed. Hot tears streamed down my face, burning my skin.

He didn't believe me. Even at a moment of life and death, he didn't believe me.

Seeing that I had given up struggling, he leaned down, his thumb gently wiping the tears from the corner of my eye. "Good girl. This won't hurt. I'll have the best supplements flown in from Sicily for you afterward."

His palm still had that familiar warmth, carrying the scent of expensive tobacco I had once adored.

But now, it was the cold hand of a stranger.

My heart was a wasteland of despair. I had no strength left to fight.

I slowly closed my eyes.

The moment the needle pierced my skin, my consciousness began to fade.

In the haze, I saw a small, blurry figure huddled in the mist, waving at me.

He was calling out in a faint, childlike voice, "Mommy, I have to go now. You have to live well."

I tried to force my eyes open, to see his face, to grab his hand.

I wanted to scream, "Don't go! Take Mommy with you!"

But my body felt like it was falling into a bottomless abyss, as endless darkness consumed me...

In another private room, Gianna had finished her transfusion and was sleeping soundly.

Daemon quietly closed the door, his taut nerves finally relaxing.

He saw a nurse hurrying past the ICU and stopped her, his voice edged with anxiety.

"How is Scarlett? Is she awake yet?"

The nurse stopped, looking at him with a strange expression as she answered truthfully, "Don, you don't know?"

"The Donna's emotional state was extremely volatile. That, combined with the stress and the massive, forced blood draw... she miscarried. It triggered a major hemorrhage, and we rushed her into surgery, but the complications were too severe."

"Miscarried?"

Daemon's pupils shrank. He gripped the nurse's arm tightly. "What child? So... she was really pregnant?

Just then, the light in the ICU went dark.

Before the nurse could answer, Daemon spun around and charged toward the ICU doors like a man possessed.

"Doctor! Where's Scarlett! How is she!"

The attending physician emerged, pulling off his blood-stained mask and shaking his head sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry, Don Thorne."

"The Donna had lost the will to live. We couldn't bring her back."