I paused for a moment, but my eyes quickly widened. “A baby?”

The man was more surprised than I was. “Didn’t you know? You’re three months along.”

I had no idea.

It was a moment I couldn’t describe. It felt as if fate was playing a cruel joke on me.

I walked out in a daze and stopped short because I saw Dominick, holding Gia in his arms, heading in my direction.

Working with agility, I ducked around the bend of the hallway to avoid detection.

“Dom, what are we going to do about the baby?” Gia sounded hurt.

Without a word, Dominick helped Gia into a ward.

Gia stopped in her tracks, her voice choked with sobs, “Do you not want the baby? I can terminate the pregnancy.”

She whirled around to run off, but Dominick was quick to catch her and held her tight in his arms.

“I do.

“I want the baby.”

He murmured, “The timing just isn’t right. You can have the baby, and as compensation, I can promise you one thing. Anything you want.”

Gia’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Okay. I want you to marry me. I don’t care if it’s a small ceremony. I want to be yours.”

Dominick fell silent for a moment before giving a nod. “Alright. I can do that for you. I’ll give you the most lavish wedding in the world in a week. This is just between us, all right?”

The pair strolled into the ward hand-in-hand as I hid in the corner of the hall, my tears rolling down my cheeks and my hand clutched against my lips.

I stumbled back into my ward, only to find the guy who’d saved me still around.

It then occurred to me to thank him. As a show of gratitude, I handed Dominick’s black card to him.

The man refused the card. “I don’t need the money. Thank you.”

He excused himself and walked to the door. Out of the blue, he turned on his heel and slipped a business card in my hand before making an exit.

I looked down at the card, which simply read a name—Cesare Lombardi.

For some reason, the name sounded familiar. Nevertheless, I dismissed the thought, knowing I had better things to deal with.

The plan was to be discharged immediately, but I had to extend my stay at the hospital on the doctor’s orders.

While I was there, friends reached out to show concern and came to visit. Wrecked with anxiety, my parents were just one step away from taking the trip over.

My husband was the exception, though. All he did was leave a brief and frosty text message.

“I’m away on business. Contact Frankie for anything.”

Dominick wasn’t with family. Instead, he was on an island, planning his wedding with Gia.

I must admit that he was clever to set the island as the wedding venue.

Without his permission, nobody could set foot there, including me.

Somehow, as if by telepathy, we had set the countdown to the wedding for seven days later.

It was probably because seven was Dominick’s lucky number. There was a time when he would never be found without a pendant in the shape of the number seven. It was a keepsake from his late mother, with the word “Lucky” etched on the back.

Dominick passed the necklace to me on the day of our wedding. “More than myself, I hope this necklace keeps you safe.”

No words were ever more beautiful.

With that in mind, I teared up, my hand reaching for the jewelry piece around my neck.

I looked down and froze.

The engraved letters on the back were missing.

The necklace had been swapped.

Having suspicions of my own, I grabbed my phone and scrolled past the chat log until my gaze zeroed in on a personal photo.

There, Gia’s bare body was adorned with a bronze necklace, the back engraved with the word “Lucky”.

It all became clear to me. I ran my hand across my belly and whispered to the baby, “No wonder neither one of us is lucky anymore.”

I was hesitating whether to keep the baby, but now, my mind was made up.

Like Gia’s, my child came at the wrong time. Dominick would never favor my baby.

Having come to a decision, I knocked on the door of an office.

“Hello there, I’d like to schedule an abortion.”

I believed the wedding gift could not be more fitting.

Since I hadn’t heard from Dominick for days, it was clear that his dedication was to the wedding.

Before, he was never one to take initiative unless the matter was of urgency. Gia was his one and only exception.

Gia bombarded me with photos of a wedding gown inlaid with hundreds of Miranth Gulf pearls and a one-of-a-kind diamond ring.

With a blank expression, I quietly saved every one of the photos she’d flaunted in my face.

“Archibald, print these out and place them in a box together with the divorce papers,” I instructed the butler.

Not one of Dominick’s men, Archibald, the butler, came from my family, who raised me from a child. He never left my side when I parted ways with my family.

He had been my constant companion over the years. In a way, he was a father to me.

Dominick’s call came in shortly after Archibald took off. He sounded pretty amused.

“Luna, I’m really sorry for ditching you the other day. I’ve set up a trip for you five days from now to make it up to you. What do you say?”

His wedding to Gia would take place five days later.

I stayed silent for a long time before murmuring, “Will you be coming along?”

Dominick sighed. “I can’t. I have critical business to attend to, but I’ll head straight to you once I’m done.”

I chuckled. “Critical business? Define ‘critical’.”

My line of questioning tested Dominick’s patience, and his tone changed. “You should know that I can’t stand women who ask too many questions, Luna.

“The matter is final. Get some early rest.”

Without giving me a chance to respond, Dominick hung up.

The trip was no treat or request for my input. It was a direct notice and an order filled with betrayal and lies.

I looked out the window. The snow piled up outside, blurring my view.

The heavy silence in the ward amplified the faint throbbing of the heartbeat in my belly.

I caressed my small bump, an indescribable pang of sorrow overwhelming me.

‘As you wish, I will be gone in five days, Dominick, and I’m never coming back.’

Three days later, I was discharged to make my way to my residence. By then, Dominick’s wedding was two days away.

As the wedding approached, Gia’s excitement spilled over, and it was evident in her endless calls to brag.

Unable to stand the harassment, I blocked her number.

From this point forward, I wanted nothing to do with Dominick or Gia, or anything related to them.

Clearly, my indifference didn’t sit well with Gia, so she started a rumor that I’d ripped into her for taking up too much of Dominick’s time.

When Dominick called to confront me, I was packing my bags.

“Gia could use a vacation, so I brought her along for the ride. Why are you being so petty?

“Luna, apologize to Gia for your rude behavior right now!”

“Apologize?” I paused as if I’d heard the most absurd joke ever.

“Why should I?”

“Because she’s in tears!” His angry growl boomed on the other end of the line.

In all honesty, I barely ever saw Dominick losing his marbles. Though his methods were brutal, he had always gotten his point across without raising his voice. Besides, he had always treated me with respect.

Pushing back the resentment, I tried to keep my voice steady. “I don’t care if you believe me or not, Dominick, but I have never said anything insulting to her. She won’t get an apology out of me.

“It’s ridiculous to say that I’m jealous of her hogging your time. It’s one thing if you’re with another woman, but Gia is your sister. Why should I be jealous?

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re more than a brother to her or that she’s not a sister to you?”

“What are you talking about?” Dominick yelled.

For once, I called him out on his relationship with Gia, and it rattled him.

The typically cool-headed Don lost his reason.

He snapped, “Luna, don’t play games with me. I know that you can’t stand Gia.

“You’re jealous of her.

“If you don’t make things right with her, I won’t be as forgiving.”

Was that so?

In the past, whenever I was crossed, no matter how trivial the incident, Dominick would swear, “Nobody gets to upset you and gets away with it.”

He was true to his word back then. Those who spoke ill of me had their tongues ripped out, and the touchy-feely ones had their hands cut off.

Dominick once considered me his most prized possession. Yet now, he threatened to use his methods on me.

I laughed bitterly at myself. Love sure was fleeting, with the line between a lover and an enemy so thin.

Despite knowing his cruel ways, I would never bow down to Gia.

However, I had never expected Dominick to throw a low blow. Instead of punishing me himself, he gave the power to the household staff.

The next day, I got up without a wake-up call and was not served any breakfast.

“Where’s breakfast?” I uttered coldly while staring at the empty table.

“Don Costa made it clear that Ms. Gia Costa is the Donna of the household. Only she is entitled to preferential treatment,” the maid stood there, announcing smugly.

As I kept my head low in silence, the staff snickered, their eyes reflecting none of the fear they had held for me.

“Oh, we bet that you’d stay in favor for at least a decade, but Don Costa got tired of you in just three years. You’re pretty useless.”

“Right? Had we known, we would’ve wasted our time sucking up to you. Don Costa’s going to get rid of you in no time.”

“That’s enough. Ms. Costa will be back any minute. We need to hurry and tidy up the place for her. Don’t forget to tell the kitchen to make all her favorite food.”

The maids bustled around me. One of them even bumped hard into my shoulder while brushing past.

I grabbed her arm and slammed her hard against the wall.

“W-What are you trying to do?” Startled by my retaliation, the maid cried out.

Instead of replying to her, I lifted my hand to slap her.

“As you can see, I’m putting the staff in place.”

With my payback catching the maids off guard, they hung their heads low and bit their tongues.

Just as I was about to turn away, I spotted Dominick standing at the door, his arm linking Gia’s.

His expression was stiff, and he stared at me, clearly unamused.

“Don Costa, you’re back.”

The maid I’d slapped pushed me aside and rushed toward Dominick. She held her swollen cheek and cried dramatically.

“We followed your instructions not to prepare breakfast for Donna Costa, but she came down hard on us a-and hit me.”

The others chimed in. “That’s right. She started smashing things. We tried reasoning with her, but she threatened to hurt us unless we put poison in Ms. Costa’s food.”

“Poison?”

Dominick and I widened our eyes in shock.

He could not believe my alleged malice, and I was appalled by the sheer cruelty of the staff who had addressed me so sweetly before.

I refuted, my head cocked in the direction of Dominick, “That’s not what happened. They are lying. I have said nothing of that matter. They were the ones who insulted me—”

My words came to a halt as Dominick narrowed his eyes at me dangerously.

It was a look I’d never seen before.

“You don’t trust me?” My eyes welled up.

Averting my gaze, Dominick uttered, “I’m not an idiot, Luna.

“I know my staff better than anyone. They wouldn’t dream of insulting you, much less raising their voices at you.”

I stared at him in stunned silence before bursting out in laughter.

‘You’re as cocky and self-assured as always, Dominick.

‘That was the case before when you loved me. Now that everybody in the family is speculating on your relationship with Gia, I’m no longer a Donna to the staff.’

I turned on my heel with a sigh when Gia said, her voice full of fragility, “Luna, are you still upset that I went with Dom on his business trip? I’ve assured you repeatedly that there is nothing between Dom and me. Why won’t you believe me?

“After the fuss you’ve caused, I dare not imagine what everyone thinks of me or Dom as the Don. We have done absolutely nothing.”

With the subject brought up, Dominick furrowed his brows. “I only intended to give you a little punishment. I didn’t expect you to take things so far, to the point of harming my sister.

“In that case, you can reflect on your behavior in the sub-basement. You’re free to go when you stop imagining things.”

I stopped in my tracks, unable to believe my ears.

Was he holding me captive all because of Gia?

No.

I snapped back to reality, realizing that he was trying to stop me from finding out about the wedding two days later.

The imprisonment was a better way to keep things on the down low than sending me away on a trip.

Dominick’s intention was lost on the staff, though. Assuming that Dominick had given up on me, the maids looked at me with greater disdain.

Also missing the plot, Gia said pretentiously, “Isn’t that too harsh on Luna, Dom?”

Dominick ignored Gia’s plea and summoned the men to take me away.

I stood there without putting up a fight, my eyes zeroing in on Dominick callously.

“I have one last question for you. I’ll go once I get an answer.”

Dominick was taken aback, possibly due to my overly flat tone.

“Speak.”

“Is Gia a family member or a lover to you?”

With the question leaving my lips, everybody looked down while Dominick froze.

The staff were stunned that I’d come out and ask Dominick right in the face. Dominick was taken aback by the certainty in my tone

It sounded less like a question and more like a statement.

Dominick’s expression went stiff. Nevertheless, he quickly pulled himself together and resumed his usual stern look.

“Luna, let me be clear one last time. Gia is family to me.

“I will only be disappointed in you if you don’t drop the subject.”

I stared at him in silence, silently applauding his convincing act. His eyes held no hint of apology for lying through his teeth.

As tension grew thick in the room, the staff held their breath and waited for my moment of hysteria.

However, I did nothing of that sort. Instead, I chuckled to myself. “Oh, really?

“Understood.”

Dominick was dumbstruck at first, but he quickly relaxed his tense muscles, thinking that I had bought his story.

I stepped around Dominick and approached the security staff. “Let’s go. Take me to the sub-basement.”

The security staff exchanged glances, baffled by the situation. “Don Costa, uh…”

“Don’t just stand there. The Donna has spoken. Lead her to the dungeon,” Dominick snapped impatiently.

Even with my compliance, Dominick decided to lock me away to cover his bases.

As always, Dominick exercised caution.

Heeding his call, the security staff surrounded me as if I were some heinous criminal.

I walked behind the security staff quietly with my head down.

Since Costa went to great lengths to keep me in the dark, it was pointless for me to cause a scene.

My gift for them would arrive in time for the wedding anyway.

The question I posed was Dominick’s final chance, and he made his choice.

For some reason, I felt free when he claimed that Gia was nothing more than family to him.

There was no absolute reason for salvaging the marriage anymore.

Unexpectedly, I ran into Archibald, who had just hurried back, while on my way to the sub-basement.

“Don Costa, Donna Costa has just been discharged from the hospital. She won’t survive a cold, damp place like the dungeon.”

“Discharged?” Furrowing his brows, Dominick finally noticed how unusually pale I looked.

“What exactly is going on?”

“Donna Costa is pr—”

“But Luna was looking mighty fine before we went away.”

Gia cut Archibald off and smiled cheekily. “Oh, I was just saying since Luna was at home when she video-called to yell at me.”

She turned to the maid and asked in confusion, “Am I mistaken?”

Taking the cue, the maid backed Gia up. “That’s right. We can testify that Donna Costa has been home these past few days. She hasn’t been to the hospital.”

Dominick looked at me in disappointment and fury, his expression ashen.

Rather than taking his anger out on me, Dominick pointed his gun at Archibald.

Bang!

A shot was fired.

Archibald fell back, and blood gushed out of his right leg.

Wham!

A loud ringing echoed in my ears. It was as if the world had stopped.

“No! No! Archibald!”

I broke free of the security staff’s hold with all my might and rushed to Archibald, tears rolling down my cheeks onto his face.

Guilt washed over me as I tore a strip from my skirt to wrap around his leg. Still, blood seeped through and stained my hands.

There I thought Dominick’s only sin was his infidelity and the lies to cover his affair with Gia. I never imagined that he’d be cruel enough to hurt the people I held dear.

I glared at Dominick resentfully, dying to tear him apart.

Dominick was stunned by my dramatic response.

The way he saw it, Archibald was nothing more than an insignificant subordinate.

Shying away from my gaze, Dominick wiped the barrel of his gun and turned to his staff.

“Don’t ever let me catch anyone gossiping or lying to me, or you’ll end up like him.”

The staff nodded without another word.

Reality dawned on me that Dominick pulled the trigger as a warning to the staff not to breathe a word about today.

This was especially since I publicly called him out on his relationship with Gia.

He cared a lot about his reputation as the Don since his affair with his stepsister would be very damaging.

‘You’re ruthless and selfish, Dominick.’

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Stop crying. A bullet to the leg is not fatal.”

Dominick told the security staff. “Don’t just stand there. Take Luna to the dungeon now.”

The security staff slammed into me, gripping me by the arms to drag me out.

Thanks to their manhandling, I curled up into a ball in agony from my cramping stomach.

The security staff immediately released their hold on me. “We didn’t do anything, Don Costa.”

As I broke out in sweat, Dominick rushed to my side in a panic and uttered frantically, “Stop with the act, Luna. Get up now!”

However, I lost the strength to answer him. The world around me was blurring out.

Just one second before blacking out, I spotted a crack in Dominick’s stern demeanor.

He scooped me into his arms and shouted, “Get an ambulance now!”