Chapter 4

The next day, Michael canceled board meetings worth millions just to personally escort me to my first ultrasound.

We were halfway across the city when his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and his face instantly drained of color. "Pull over! Now!" he roared at the driver.

The driver slammed on the brakes. I was thrown forward, my forehead cracking hard against the leather seat back. Tears of pain sprang to my eyes.

Michael didn't even look at me. He cursed out the driver and hastily unbuckled his seatbelt. "Baby, there's a massive crisis at the firm. I have to handle it immediately. I'll have Samuel take you the rest of the way, okay?"

He pressed a hurried kiss to my bruised forehead. "I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you, I swear. I'll buy you that one-of-a-kind diamond set at the auction this weekend. You are my one and only."

"Okay," I whispered, stepping out onto the curb.

The car peeled out into traffic, leaving me alone in the smog. I stood at the intersection for over forty minutes. Suddenly, a rusted van screeched to a halt beside me. Before I could scream, a calloused hand clamped over my mouth, dragging me violently into the backseat.

The stale smell of sweat and cheap tobacco hit my nose, violently ripping open the repressed memories of my kidnapping. I started hyperventilating, my entire body convulsing in terror.

When the van finally stopped at an abandoned warehouse, a greasy man dragged me out by the hair and threw me onto the concrete floor. He crouched down, slapping my cheek with a sickeningly familiar smirk.

"Don't tell me you forgot about me, sweetheart? Because I sure remember your hot body and the way you screamed..."

His filthy eyes roamed over me. Nausea clawed at my throat. I gritted my teeth, preparing to fight to the death, when Samuel strolled in, looking like he had all the time in the world.

Seeing me trembling on the dirty concrete, he pulled out his phone and shoved the screen inches from my face.

It was a live-streamed video of Michael. His "massive corporate crisis" was actually Claire.

In the video, Michael was holding a weeping Claire so tightly that his knuckles were white. His eyes were red-rimmed and frantic. "Claire, baby, please take care of yourself. Do it out of pity for me, okay? If I lose you, I lose everything. No one on this earth matters more than you."

"Did you get a good look?" Samuel sneered, pocketing the phone. He casually glanced toward the shadows behind me.

"You weren't honestly still waiting for him to take you to the doctor, were you? That's hilarious."

The sharp clack-clack of stiletto heels echoed through the warehouse. Claire stepped into the light. Without a word of warning, she stomped her sharp heel directly into the center of my back, pinning me to the floor.

"You really thought a man like Michael could ever love a used-up whore like you?" she shrilled, her voice dripping with venom. "You have no idea. Every time he has to sleep with you for that baby, he comes straight to my bed afterward. He tells me how much you disgust him. He scrubs his skin so hard that it bleeds, just trying to wash your stench off his body."

An invisible hand crushed my heart, squeezing it until I physically gagged.

Claire's smile widened into something demonic.

"Now, aren't you going to say hello to the man who took your virginity?" she taunted, gesturing lazily to the greasy kidnapper. The man took a step forward.

The smell of him broke something inside my brain. The suffocating memories of those three days flooded my system.

I snapped. With a guttural scream, I lunged forward, sinking my teeth into the kidnapper's leg until I tasted blood. Then I scrambled up, ignoring the pain, and tackled Claire to the ground. My hands clamped around her throat like a vengeful demon dragging her to hell.

Claire's eyes widened in genuine terror, but then she caught sight of something over my shoulder. Her panic instantly dissolved into a perfectly crafted mask of weeping victimhood.

"Michael..." she whimpered.

Before I could register the shift, a massive force grabbed me by the hair and hurled me backward. I crashed violently into the brick wall, the rough surface tearing the skin off half my arm.

Gasping for air, I looked up to see Michael, breathless and panicked, pulling Claire tightly into his chest.

"Claire! Are you hurt? Did she scratch you?" he demanded, inspecting her face frantically.

Claire let out a fragile sob, her slender frame trembling like a leaf in the wind.

"Michael, please don't be mad at my sister. It's my fault," she whimpered, burying her face in his lapels. "I got out of the car early and saw her getting intimate with this man. I was so scared she was going to do something to betray you, so I tried to warn her. But she got so angry that she told me to mind my own business."

She gritted her teeth, looking utterly heartbroken.

"I don't care that she hurt me. I was just terrified she was going to break your heart."

A blast of ice shot straight into my veins. I looked at the two of them and burst into a fit of hysterical, echoing laughter.

Samuel, terrified that I was going to expose the conversation I overheard in the study, quickly jumped in to corroborate the lie. "Michael, I came to pick Mrs. Sterling up just like you asked. But she ignored me and tried to run off with this guy. I didn't want to use force and risk hurting the baby, so I hung back."

He timidly ducked his head. Claire gasped, covering her mouth dramatically. "Why would she run off with him? What about the baby..."

She trailed off, pretending to catch her mistake. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Nora. I didn't mean to imply the baby wasn't Michael's..."

The trap was perfectly laid. Yet, surprisingly, Michael didn't erupt into a violent rage. He simply shot Samuel a glacial glare, ordered the bodyguards to drag the kidnapper away, and finally turned his cold eyes to me.

"I know the child is mine," Michael said. "But you crossed a line today, Nora. You never, ever lay a hand on Claire. She is your blood sister."

The child?

I smiled a bitter smile. "Michael, do you really want this child? A child that is ours?"

His jaw twitched. He quickly pivoted, ignoring the question.

"I gave you the world, and this is how you repay me? Hooking up with street trash behind my back?

"Samuel, take my wife home. Lock the doors. She is not to set foot outside the estate until the baby is born. Understood?"

With that, he scooped Claire into his arms and strode out of the warehouse without looking back.