Phoebe's POV

“So you’re Phoebe?” the little girl snorted, narrowing her eyes. “You’re not even that pretty. If it weren’t for the Olivers' blood running through you, do you really think Cade would give you a second glance?”

“And that wedding?" she scoffed. "Don’t be delusional. In Cade’s eyes, you were just a cheap breeder.”

Her words landed like ice. But upon looking at her, she was clean and pampered, looking every bit the sheltered child I’d heard about. Margaret Jarvis, the pure, naive foster girl, Cade kept hidden away. Six years ago, he’d supposedly saved her life. Everyone in the city knew she existed.

My interest sharpened. Cade had ruined me. I wonder what his face would look like if I killed the one he’d kept like a pet.

A cold smile tugged at my lips. The prey really had walked right into my trap.

I waved her over. “Come here. I have something for you.”

That evening, after Cade tended his wound, he finally came to see me.

“Phoebe,” he said, “since you know the truth now, I won’t hide it any longer. If you behave and give birth to this child, I’ll have your legs fixed and let you go.”

He then tossed a check amounting to fifty million onto the table. “This is your payment.” His eyes scanned me like I was nothing more than an object. “Women like you, easy and loose, could sleep with models for the rest of your life.”

I laughed coldly from my wheelchair. “And if I refuse?”

“Cade,” I shot back, “why should I accept terms you set? Remember who’s carrying something right now. You should be begging me. If anyone draws up terms, it should be me.”

But he barely took me seriously. He simply scoffed and turned to leave.

That was when I let him have it. “Cade,” I said, calm as a knife, “you’re a mafia boss and you’ve had an eye stabbed out. How can you still be so naïve?”

Finally, he froze and spun to look at me. “What do you mean?”

I clapped slowly and pointed toward the construction crane not far from the villa. “You hide that girl so carefully because you’re scared someone will find her, right?”

“Now it’s my turn to set the choice.” I let the sentence hang. “Pick one: the child in my belly, or your foster sister.”

His face immediately lost color, then he whirled to the window.

Outside, a crane held a small figure suspended in a white dress, arms and legs bound, muffled whimpers slipping past her gag. “Cade, please, help me! She’s a madwoman!”

Cade’s jaw tensed, veins bulging. He stared at me like I’d gone insane and fumingly ordered, “Let her go!”

“And if I don’t?” I met his gaze, a hard edge of madness creeping in. “Cade, don’t make me say it twice. Which is it? Her, or the child in my belly?”

He kept staring, weighing it all, profit, bloodline, risk.

Six months ago, I’d known getting into a boss’s bed wasn’t as simple as a drunken night. When I’d stripped him that night, he’d welcomed me because he already knew who I was, because he needed our family resources and a child. It was a trap he had set for me.

I could carry any man’s child in my life, anyone’s but his. Not his.

I let him stew.

Soon, I lost track of time until my impatience slipped out and I spoke up, testing him.“Have you already decided?”

Phoebe's POV

He ground his teeth, voice rough. “Phoebe, you really don’t want to give birth to my child?”

“No.” I looked up slowly, languid. “You have fifteen seconds to decide. Either save Margaret, or let me go.”

“If you hesitate longer, the crane’s rope will rip off.” I started, then made a falling motion with my hand and smiled cruelly. “Then you’ll be collecting your little girl’s body.”

“I choose… Margaret!” Cade finally cried, slamming his eyes shut as if pulling himself out of some impossible moment.

I smiled in satisfaction. “Too bad. It’s already been eighteen seconds.”

“What are you gonna do?!” His pupils widened the instant the crane let go with a thunderous sound, and Margaret’s scream followed immediately.

“Sorry, you were a second too slow.” I looked at my fingernails, amused and indifferent.

Cade swayed as if he might fall. By the time he reacted, he was already rushing outside.

However, Margaret had already hit the ground, struck her head, and gone limp. Blood also stained her white dress.

He scooped her into his arms, frantic. “Doctor! Get my private doctor!”

“Phoebe!!” he spat, hatred blazing. “You bitch! I already made a choice. Why would you hurt Margaret?! Don’t drag someone else into this! If you hate me, come at me!”

Watching him with that mix of grief and fury was delicious. I couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

“Oh?” I went on. “Then why weren’t you thinking like this three years ago when Renzo died?”

At my words, Cade’s face drained of color. “How do you know about Renzo? What… what is your relationship with my brother?”

“If you hadn’t killed him, I probably would’ve been your sister-in-law.” I dropped the bomb. “Cade.” I raised my eyes, cold. “Funny thing, he died the night before he was going to propose to me.”

I’d known it for a while. Cade had killed his own younger brother.

Renzo Oliver had promised to marry me. I was a breath away from wearing his ring. But because of Cade, he and I were torn apart.

That was why I’d built this reckless playgirl act to get close to Cade.

His eyes reddened as he still held the unconscious Margaret. His jaw also clenched, and a cold laugh escaped him. “So you came on to me on purpose, to avenge him?”

“Phoebe, you’re naïve. A loser like Renzo could never inherit our family's fortune.” He sneered. “Anyway, we look the same, and now you’re carrying my child. Why not just marry me? Isn’t that perfect?”

I slapped him hard across the face, turning his face sideways.

With his bloody hand, he touched his cheek and said, “No woman has ever struck me before. You’re the first.”

Cade lifted his head, voice like breaking ice. “Since your hands aren’t clean, they should be made useless.” He gathered Margaret and started to leave.

As he passed the guards, his step faltered. “Those who betrayed our family, take them out too,” he ordered.

Yet the guards didn’t move. They still looked to me for orders.

Cade had been careless. He assumed those men were loyal to him, that he had control over everything here.

Later, the eldest servant, Elmer Hersey, approached me with a respectful bow and asked, “Miss, that punk Cade laid a hand on you hard. Want to show him some real power so he learns his place?”

Phoebe's POV

I was trimming a potted plant when I flatly answered, “No need.”

“This is just getting good, Cade,” I muttered.

Ever since he took everything from Renzo three years ago, I intended to make him pay back piece by piece.

“As for this child, remove it,” I said to Elmer.

Before they pushed me into the operating room, Elmer hesitated, trying to find the right words. “Miss, are you sure you want to terminate the pregnancy? If Cade finds out the child’s gone, he might fly into a rage and do something extreme.”

I only smiled, colder than before. “Are you afraid of him? Elmer, with our family’s power, even ten Cades aren’t worth mentioning.”

As I spoke, I let my gaze linger on Renzo’s photo with a strange tenderness. “If it weren’t for him looking like Renzo, he wouldn’t have lived this long.”

As such, Elmer fell silent and arranged for me to be taken into surgery.

When I opened my eyes again, a miserable bellow tore through the air. “Phoebe, how dare you!” Cade’s voice was raw with fury. “How could you terminate the baby without my permission?!”

The abortion left my body lighter, though my face was still pale and exhausted. I managed a small, haggard smile. “What, you’re not going to go look after your foster sister? Looks like her fall wasn’t that serious. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have time to shout at me.”

Cade went mad. He thought I was powerless here, nothing more than a lamb bound for slaughter.

“Phoebe, why are they listening to you? What are you, really?” he demanded, eyes hard on me.

I turned my ring on my finger and said, “You’ll know in time.”

He stared at the ring, his face turning grim. “Is that the ring Renzo was going to propose with?”

“Not exactly, yet yes.”

Renzo had prepared a proposal ring for me, but he died before I could wear it. So, I’d had an identical one made so it looked like I’d accepted his proposal.

“You actually have a grudge against Margaret? If you hate me, take it out on me. She’s only my sister. She won’t stop me from marrying you.” He tried to reason, voice strained. “Besides, you said you were going to marry him, didn’t you? Renzo and I look exactly the same. Marrying me is like marrying my brother.”

I stroked his face with a near-greedy touch. “Yes, exactly the same. If it weren’t for your hoarse voice, I might almost mistake you for him.”

But I knew Renzo wouldn’t have treated me like this. He was clean and pure, not the kind to become a crime boss, not the kind to keep a sheltered girl as a pet, not the kind to sneak from my room into Margaret’s to satisfy himself, not the kind to have one eye stabbed out by me.

“Cade.” I sneered and grabbed a nearby bottle, smashing it down on his head. The glass shattered across his skull.

My voice was soft but sharp as it rang out, “Cade, I got close to you to have you pay for it.”

He staggered, nearly split open by the blow, but he stayed on his feet.

The private doctors gasped and rushed forward to steady him.

“Phoebe!” Blood trickled from the corner of his eye. “Tell me, why did you come to me, only to refuse to bear my child? What do you actually want?”

My gaze cooled until it was ice.