The Heirs of a Broken Vow

My adopted sister, Louise Hayes, and I married into the same family—the Donovans—wedding the brothers Alvin and Anker, heirs to a New York real estate empire.

I married the eldest son, Alvin, the cool-headed rationalist at the helm of the Donovan's primary operations. Louise married Anker, who managed the family's diversified businesses.

We became pregnant in the same year. In just a few months, our children would be able to activate a multi-billion-dollar trust fund, a lifeline meant to save their family's business from the brink of bankruptcy.

Just two months before my due date, the gates of our Hamptons estate were kicked open.

The intruders pushed me down the stairs without a shred of mercy, then forcibly injected me with a drug to induce labor.

I screamed for my personal assistant, Maria, to run, to go get my husband, Alvin.

But all I got was a cold message from his assistant, relaying his fury through the phone.

"Didn't you claim you wanted a quiet pregnancy? Didn't you insist on staying in the Hamptons? Now you're pulling this cheap stunt just to get me to ditch a charity gala? I don't have time for this nonsense. Cassidy's company is in crisis and she's a wreck. I'm with her."

The drug was taking effect. I could feel my baby struggling violently inside me, as if trying to claw its way out. If Louise hadn't rushed back in time, the agonizing pain would have killed me. I'm sure of it.

She sent someone to find my husband, Alvin, demanding he seek justice for me.

However, she received the same callous reply.

"Who would dare touch you at the estate? You're perfectly safe. I'm busy helping Cassidy with her company's debt restructuring and have no time for this drama!"

Louise, also pregnant, was knocked to the ground by an attacker while trying to protect me in the chaos. She, too, lost her child.

We lay in a pool of blood, clinging to each other.

"I'm done saving their family," I whispered through my tears. "I'm divorcing Alvin."

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1

When I woke up, I ignored the stinging pain radiating through my body and immediately had my lawyer draft a divorce agreement and send it to Alvin Donovan.

More than two weeks later, the man who had been so consumed with Cassidy Sinclair's debt crisis finally appeared at our secluded Hamptons estate.

He didn't even bother to see me, his rage echoing up from downstairs.

"The Donovans are old money! I won't let you disgrace our name with this impulsiveness! You claim the baby is gone? This is just another one of your jealous ploys to compete with Cassidy."

"The heir to the Donovan family, being served divorce papers by his own wife? Unacceptable. I've tolerated your whims because that child could activate the trust fund and save this family. But you've gone too far!"

"Cassidy just got another call from her creditors. The lawyers say her company could be forced into liquidation at any moment. I just got her to stop crying. Are you trying to start her up again? If you want to leave, fine. Wait until the baby is born, and I'll personally hand you the divorce papers. Until then, you'll stay here and keep quiet!"

So that was it. He wasn't here for me. He was just terrified a divorce would tarnish his precious reputation as the family heir.

I’d long known his affection for me was a phantom. I struggled to get out of bed, determined to make him see my now-flat stomach with his own eyes.

I wanted him to know, unequivocally, that our child was gone.

But the miscarriage had ravaged my body. A wave of grief and weakness washed over me, and my legs gave out, sending me crashing to the floor.

The door flew open, and my personal assistant, Maria Flores, rushed in.

With red-rimmed eyes, she helped me back onto the bed, her voice choked with sobs. "Miss Hayes, don't go after him. He's already left."

I lay there, limp, as silent tears streamed down my cheeks.

In that moment, the last of my delusions shattered. All he had ever cared about was whether the child in my womb could activate the trust fund to save his family's business.

Whether the baby and I lived or died had never mattered to him at all.

Maria pulled a cufflink from her pocket. "I found this on the stairs after those people left."

A roaring lion emblem dominated the center, with a small 'SC' engraved in the corner. The Sinclair Group.

And there was only one person from the Sinclair Group whom my sister Louise and I knew had any dealings with the Donovan family: Cassidy Sinclair.