My Baby's Grave Became Their Doom

Sadie's POV

"Tell me who the real father is, or I'll use this bastard's heart to save someone else."

That was what my husband of seven years said as he tied our sixyearold son to an operating table and drained 800ml of his blood.

My son’s face had gone ghostly pale. Tears filled his eyes as he looked up at his father, silently begging for mercy.

“Daddy… I’m so cold…”

But Denton Francis didn’t even blink. He even coldly said, “Keep going.”

He didn’t want to see the boy cry, so he injected him with a high dose of anesthesia, knocking him unconscious.

I sobbed and begged him to stop. But all I got in return was a look of pure disgust.

“That child isn’t mine,” he snapped. “I ran a test. You were already pregnant when you married me.”

Then he walked away without a second thought to buy a birthday gift for the woman he truly loved, Melanie Conner.

By the time I rushed back to the hospital, my son’s blood was drained, and his heart had been cut out. All that was left of him was a handful of ashes.

On the way home, shattered with grief, I was hit by a car going the wrong way.

When I woke up, the doctor told me I had been three months pregnant, but I’d lost the baby.

In seven years of marriage, two lives were already lost, and I was also injured.

I wiped my tears, telling myself I’d throw everything into my career, only to find out my assets were already transferred to Melanie's name.

Even the savings I set aside for the kids were gone. He tricked me into signing them over under the guise of charity, only for Melanie's daughter to benefit.

I stared at my son’s ashes and the smug look on Melanie’s face.

Then I made a call.

“Grandma, I’ve changed my mind. I’m coming back in ten days. I’ll help you with our family business.”

They took everything from me. Now, they’d pay double.

My career. My pain. My loss.

In ten days, they’d find out what happened when you crossed a genius programmer and the heir to the world’s largest business empire.

“You should’ve known,” Denton said coldly, sitting outside the operating room, smoke curling from his lips. “From the moment you lied to me, this bastard child was never going to make it out alive.”

I tried to make out my son, Mick Francis, strapped to the surgical table, but the screen was too blurry. All I could see was the bright red blood draining from his little body, filling two already swollen blood bags.

Tears streamed down my face, bitter as they reached my lips.

Denton knew Mick was born premature. He knew our boy had always been weak, needing monthly serum therapy and specialized nutrition just to survive to age five.

How could his small body withstand that much blood loss?

He was already pale as death. His breathing, once shallow and quick, was now slow and almost gone.

“Please… don’t do this to him,” I choked, trying to steady my voice. “Mick is just a child. Denton, whatever happened between us, don’t take it out on the child.”

He exhaled smoke, his eyes colder than before.

Then he raised two fingers, and the monitor suddenly zoomed in. Only then did I see Mick’s pale face, and he saw me too.

His lips trembled, barely moving.

“M…mom… I'm cold…”

“Don’t be afraid, baby. Mommy’s coming to take you home.”

My vision blurred with tears as I spoke those words. A screech of brakes rang in my ears as I slammed my car to a stop in the middle of the road. Horns blared and curses flew, but I didn’t care.

Nothing mattered more than Mick.

"Only 200ml left until he hits his limit. Still won’t talk?" Denton threatened.

Irritated with the constant question, I barked, “What do you want me to say?!”

“Where did you take Melanie’s daughter?” he insisted again.

That name again. That woman again.

His first love, the woman he’d loved for eighteen years. Ever since she came back with a daughter last year, my life had been turned upside down.

I should’ve known she was behind all of this.

“I don’t know! Just stop it! Mick will die! Stop this, I beg you. He’s your son, too. How can you do this?"

"You kidnapped Jewel. And now you're pretending you're innocent? And besides, you know better than anyone that Mick might not be my child. You were already pregnant when you married me. But fine. Tell me who the father is, and maybe I’ll spare this little bastard’s life. Otherwise, his heart goes to Jewel.”

I was racing up the hospital stairs to the top floor, eyes locked on Denton’s merciless face.

Word by word, I shouted, “I swear, I never touched Melanie’s daughter!”

Seemingly not hearing anything, he said, “150ml.”

“Daddy… Daddy, I’m cold. I want Mommy. I wanna go home…”

Mick's voice was soft, frail. On the corner of the screen, I saw him trying to lift himself up, his last act of resistance before the end. But it was so weak and hopeless.

Even so, Denton didn’t flinch.

“Too noisy,” he muttered. “Give him another shot. Put him out.”

Just like that, Mick’s small hand, fluttering in the air, dropped.

“Mick!” I shrieked.

“100ml,” Denton said, then grabbed me by the arm and slammed my face against the glass wall of the surgery room. “Take a good look, Sadie. This is what happens to the bastard you gave birth to.”

He sneered. “To be honest, Mick was a good kid. Sweet. Smart. His only curse was having a venomous, filthy woman like you as his mother.”

“50ml. Still not talking?” he whispered heavily in my ear.

Sadie's POV

Powerless, I dropped to my knees in front of him and begged him in the most humiliating way possible.

But his hand only clamped around my jaw like a steel trap, his teeth grinding in fury.

“If you want that little bastard to live, then tell me where the hell you took Jewel?”

“I don’t know! I swear I don’t know, please,” I answered truthfully, begging.

Yet a loud slap exploded across my face. My left cheek burned, and all I could hear was a highpitched ringing in my ear.

“You liar!” he spat. “Surveillance from the kindergarten shows a woman dressed exactly like you taking her into a car. Her name tag was also found outside your bedroom. And you’re still pretending you’re innocent?”

I shook my head desperately, tears flying. “It wasn’t me! I swear, it wasn’t!”

I then turned my head and saw Mick’s tiny chest rising slower and slower.

Panicked, I pushed myself up and rushed toward the operating room.

“Mick! Don’t be scared. Mommy’s taking you home.”

I cradled his icecold body in my arms, whispering that same sentence over and over like a prayer.

He was still wearing the soccer jersey of Denton’s favorite team. I gently kissed his pale little cheek, and my warm tears fell on his soft skin.

Just yesterday morning, Denton had him perched on his shoulders, playing pretend knights.

But now, Denton coldly said, “He’s not my son. Melanie showed me your old pregnancy records. You were already pregnant before we got married. And that kid isn’t premature; he was fullterm. You just made up that whole preemie lie to cover up your past.”

His words hit harder than any slap. For a moment, I forgot to cry.

Every accusation, about kidnapping Melanie’s daughter, about Mick’s parentage, was a lie. All of it.

Three months ago, I had been carefully planning our anniversary trip. I even booked two tickets to Paris.

Yet he never showed up.

Mick and I waited outside Disneyland the entire night. But only the fireworks lighting up the empty sky accompanied us.

I still remember, I was wearing the same outfit shown in that kindergarten footage. But the next morning, I was mugged on the street and lost the entire outfit while protecting Mick.

When I finally got home, he wasn’t there either.

Later that night, I saw him on Melanie’s Instagram. That same cold man I married was smiling under the Paris night sky, with the Eiffel Tower glowing behind him.

That was when I realized he had chosen Melanie over me.

But we were in love once because Mick was the proof of that.

Seven years ago, Denton was a powerful and feared genius in both the legal and underground business world, while I was just a broke computer science student, bartending to pay my tuition.

He claimed it was love at first sight.

Every day, he brought me gifts and begged me to marry him. I rejected him 99 times because I knew deep down, we were from two very different worlds.

I wasn’t worthy of his billiondollar life. And more importantly, I didn’t want to live a life tied to blood and darkness.

Until one night, I was drugged, and he showed up and saved me. He held me as he cried, apologizing over and over. For seven days straight, he publicly announced he was cutting ties with the underground world just to convince me he could give me a simple, happy life.

When Mick was born prematurely, I watched him cry as he stood over the incubator. He swore he’d protect us, no matter what. He even said he’d give his own life to save our son.

Back then, he was the perfect husband and father.

But everything started to fall apart the day Melanie returned.

She weaseled her way into every part of our lives. She made Denton used to missing all our important moments. She planted the idea that Mick wasn’t his child. She even twisted the story of Denton’s father’s accidental death, blaming me.

And the most terrifying part was that he believed her.

I once offered to divorce him. I thought maybe, just maybe, we could part ways peacefully.

But he only wrapped a strand of my hair around his finger, smiling softly. His voice slithered like a snake against my ear.

“Darling, did you really think you could fool me and walk away unscathed? A blood debt must be paid in blood. Isn’t that right?”

Sadie's POV

So now, he was really going to drain his own son’s blood?

The irony was almost too much to bear.

To make matters worse, I came too late.

Mick’s body was already growing cold, and his heartbeat was so faint I could barely feel it.

At this point, there was no room left for arguing. Nothing I said would matter anymore. All I wanted now was for my son to live.

I picked Mick up and ran for the door, but Denton’s tall frame blocked my path.

“If you want to save him,” he said, “then tell me where you hide Jewel.”

I glanced up at him, but said nothing. Instead, I bit my lip and kept my head low, quickly scanning for any possible escape route.

Just then, one of his men burst into the room.

“Boss, we found her,” he reported, shooting me a quick glance. “Miss Jewel was discovered at an abandoned warehouse. Looks like she fainted from the shock.”

Without warning, Denton kicked at me and roared, “You tried to kill her!”

I instinctively wrapped my arms tighter around Mick to protect him. But the force of the kick knocked me to the floor, and my knees slammed hard into the cold tile. The thud echoed through the room.

Then I felt a rush of wind behind me, a fist, maybe, but it stopped just an inch away from my body.

“I’m gonna bring Jewel home first,” he growled. “If she’s missing so much as a strand of hair, I’ll carve out that bastard’s heart and give it to her as a transplant.”

With that, he stormed out.

Seizing the chance, I scrambled to my feet and ran with Mick in my arms, heading straight for my car.

Even though we were in a hospital, I knew better than to trust this place as it belonged to Denton. If they had no problem draining a sixyearold of his blood, I wasn’t about to risk what they’d do next.

Looking down at my son's pale face, almost looking seethrough, my whole body trembled. It took everything I had to force the key into the ignition and start the engine.

“Grandma, please, help me. Help Mick.”

My voice was broken and shaky, the sobs making it hard to speak.

“Sadie? Is that you, sweetheart? What’s wrong?” Her voice, warm and full of worry, was the first comforting thing I’d felt in days. Maybe even years.

Three years ago, I received a letter out of the blue. A suicide letter from my birth mother I had lost touch with for eighteen years. She wrote there that I wasn’t an orphan and still had a family, which was my grandmother.

Using the contact information in the letter, I found her.

For the first time, someone other than Denton made me feel loved.

When Melanie first came into our lives, I wrote to my grandmother. She offered to come and take me home. But I said no.

Because back then, Denton still gently tapped my nose and told me, “Silly girl. You and Mick are the two people I love most in this world. I’d give my life to protect you.”

So I believed him.

I gave up my career, turned down my grandmother’s offer to join the family business, and silently helped Denton behind the scenes, managing his affairs and cleaning up his messes.

And now, he wants me and Mick dead.

“Sadie, don’t panic,” Grandma said softly. “Just tell me what you need. I’ll make it happen.”

“I need the best medical team. Mick has lost too much blood. He doesn’t have much time. Also, I want new identities. For both of us. I can’t live like this anymore.”

With no hesitation, Grandma readily agreed, “Alright, Sadie. The best medical team in the world will be in place in three minutes. And I’ll have new identities for you and Mick within seven days.”

“Thanks, Grandma,” I whispered. “Please take me home in seven days as well. I’m ready to take over the family business.”

With that, I ended the call and leaned down to kiss Mick’s cheek. His skin was so pale that it broke my heart all over again, and tears spilled freely from my eyes.

“Just hang in there, Mick. Seven more days. After that, everything will be over. Mommy won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”

Sadie's POV

“MMom…”

Mick’s weak voice pulled me out of a nightmare.

I quickly grabbed his small, icy hand and pressed it to my face.

“Mommy’s right here,” I whispered.

He tried to give me a smile, though it clearly took effort, and comforted me. “Don’t cry, Mommy. Mick’s okay.”

I then quickly wiped the tears I didn’t even notice when they trickled.

“I love you, Mom,” he murmured.

“Sweet boy. Mommy loves you, too. You’re going to be okay.”

Those three minutes waiting for help felt longer than my entire lifetime.

At 2 minutes and 48 seconds, the medical team finally arrived.

They were fast and efficient. Not a single movement wasted. In seconds, they had an oxygen mask over Mick’s face, fluids running through a line, and a blood transfusion started.

“Ms. Middleton, Mick’s condition is quite serious,” the lead doctor said. “We need to move him to a hospital with better equipment for a full evaluation. Don't worry, we’re licensed to operate globally and can use any facility without cost or delay. The best option right now is MediTrust Hospital. It’s the closest and also the best.”

At first, I hesitated because MediTrust belonged to Denton.

But Mick couldn’t survive a longer drive. And this hospital was built specifically with children like him in mind, as Denton invested one hundred and fifty million in it back when Mick was frequently sick.

Besides, Denton was off chasing after Melanie and her daughter. He wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

With that in mind, I nodded.

Half an hour later, the emergency room light finally went off.

“Is Mick okay?” I rushed toward the doctor, grabbing his hand in desperation, trying to peek into the room.

The doctor looked completely exhausted as he replied, “He’s stable now. We’re replenishing his red blood cells. If all goes well, he should wake up in about thirty minutes.”

I finally breathed again. And with that breath came the realization that I had been gripping the doctor’s hand so tightly it had turned red.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, letting go. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my son.”

The doctor offered a tired but kind smile. “It’s my job. But you should know, he still needs careful attention. He’s lost a lot of blood. It’s a serious threat to his life.”

I nodded, dazed, and a wave of guilt crashed over me. I should’ve protected him. I failed him. I was supposed to be his mother.

“What can I do for him?” I asked helplessly.

“You don’t need to blame yourself too much. What he needs now is rest,” the doctor answered.

I glanced into the hospital room. For the first time, some color had returned to Mick’s little face. But his brows were still furrowed in discomfort.

Suddenly, I remembered his favorite teddy bear.

That bear had comforted him more than anything else. More than my hugs. More than even Denton’s affection.

He also loved the sound of wind chimes and those dinosaur picture books he read every night before bed.

Maybe those familiar things could help him sleep better.

Thinking of it, I grabbed my keys and rushed back home.

But as soon as I parked in the underground garage, I caught a faint whiff of smoke.

Yet I didn’t think much of it since I had no time.

I bolted straight for Mick’s room, but when I opened the door, I froze.

It looked like a war zone.

The room had been completely torn apart and ransacked like it had been looted. Everything was gone. Even the family portrait he drew and stuck on the wall was ripped to shreds.

Then I heard her voice.

“Throw it all in the river.”

I looked down over the railing and saw her, Melanie, commanding someone to dump all of Mick’s belongings.

“Melanie!” I screamed. “Have you lost your damn mind?! What the hell are you doing?!”

Sadie's POV

I stumbled and scrambled down the stairs, desperate to stop her, but it was too late. Everything had already been shredded, ripped, and destroyed.

I dropped to the floor, frantically trying to piece Mick’s things back together like some broken puzzle, but it was hopeless. All of it was gone.

Yet Melanie stood there, smiling gracefully as if she were watching a madwoman unravel before her eyes.

“Oh, relax,” she said calmly. “It’s just a bunch of useless junk. I’m helping you clean up.”

“Useless?!” I cried out, shaking. “Those were Mick’s things!”

She gave a casual shrug. “Well, it’s not like he’ll need them anymore, right? You should be thanking me, honestly. What kind of manners did that little brat even learn from you?”

Her words cut deep, each one worse than the last.

“This room’s about to become the new nursery,” she added, still smiling. “If we don’t clear it out properly, who knows what kind of bad luck your little deadweight son might pass on to my and Denton’s baby?”

“Nursery?” I snapped, voice rising with fury. “There are plenty of other rooms! Why did you have to destroy his?”

She tilted her head mockingly. “You’re really this hard to talk to? Or are you just crazy now? That shortlived son of yours, how many days do you think he’s got left?”

That smirk on her face, so full of venom and cruelty, pushed me over the edge.

Before I could think, my hand had already flown across her face.

Her head whipped to the side, and blood trickled from the corner of her lip. But instead of anger, she smiled even wider.

She gently touched the red, rising print on her cheek, her eyes glittering with malice.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she whispered darkly, “you’re going to regret that.”

Then suddenly, she threw herself backward, away from me, arms flailing dramatically as she let out a panicked scream.

She landed right into the fire pit.

Instinct kicking in, I reached out to pull her back, but she grabbed me instead, yanking me down with her. My knees slammed straight into the shattered glass of Mick’s favorite snow globe.

She whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes as she gripped her stomach.

“Please, Sadie, I didn’t mean to throw Mick’s things away. Don’t hurt me anymore. I still have to take care of Jewel. She needs me.”

The pain in my knees and hands was unbearable, but I couldn’t even process it anymore. My brain was too overloaded with everything that was happening.

“Stop!”

The sharp voice cut through the chaos as Denton arrived.

He stormed over and saw Melanie sitting on the ground, covered in ash and dirt, looking like a damsel in distress. Without hesitation, he scooped her into his arms, and his face twisted in anger as he turned on me.

“What the hell did you do?!”

Before I could even open my mouth, he yanked me to my feet, then kicked me hard in the stomach.

With the brutal force, I went flying across the patio, crashing into the iron railing so hard that it bent.

“I didn’t. I swear I didn’t hurt her,” I choked out. “She fell on purpose—”

“Shut up!” he roared, towering over me. “Do you think I’m that stupid? That I’ll keep letting you lie to me again and again?”

“I warned you not to touch Melanie or her daughter! You mistook my tolerance for weakness, didn’t you? You thought you could keep playing me like before?”

He grabbed me again, this time dragging me across the garden like a discarded corpse. Sharp rocks and branches tore into my skin, causing blood to ooze out.

“You’ll pay for this,” he growled.

Once inside, he threw me into the bedroom and hurled our wedding keepsakes at me like garbage. The small velvet ring box then hit me square on the forehead, and blood trickled from the gash above my eyebrow, blurring my vision in red.

He destroyed everything. Everything we were.

The pain wasn’t even physical anymore. It was something far deeper, far colder. I felt like my heart had been carved out, one slice at a time. And now, he was burning the rest.

Even so, I didn’t cry. I just sat there, watching it all burn down.

All I wanted was to go back to the hospital and be with Mick.

But Denton wasn’t finished.

“Put her on the helicopter,” he ordered coldly. “Drop her at three thousand meters.”

My blood turned to ice upon hearing that.

He knew I had a paralyzing fear of heights.

I looked at him, terrified, silently begging.

Yet he only smiled and said, “I told you. You'll pay the price of what you did.”

And it hit me again. This man, this monster, wasn’t just powerful. He ruled both the underworld and the business world. People trembled at his name. So if he wanted me gone, he wouldn’t hesitate.

But Mick didn’t deserve this.

“Please, don’t do this,” I sobbed. “Just let me see Mick and I’ll disappear. I’ll take him and go far away. You’ll never see us again.”

He looked down in disgust as I clung to the hem of his pants, my palm torn and bloody.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Sadie,” he said. “I’m not letting either of you off the hook. Not the woman who humiliated me for five years, and definitely not that bastard child.”

“He’s not a bastard! He’s your son!”

“You’re still lying to me!?” he shouted, then slapped me across the face with full force.

Blood filled my mouth instantly, and a tooth even flew out and hit the floor.

Still, I tried to speak and beg. But my voice was lost in the pain and blood.

“Take her away,” he barked.

Then I heard a muffled sound at the back of my head, and everything went dark.

The last thing I thought before blacking out was terrifyingly clear that they were going to kill me.

Sadie's POV

I didn’t know when I woke up, just that when I did, all I could hear was the howling wind.

My body ached all over, and I was lying on a freezing metal floor. The biting cold reminded me that I was thousands of feet in the air.

I forced myself to glance outside, only to see pitch black.

At 3,000 meters, even breathing felt like a chore. Just that one glimpse sent me into a fullblown panic. My chest tightened, my vision flickered, hives broke out across my skin, and I couldn’t even feel my legs.

I collapsed onto the floor of the cabin, trembling as I looked around.

There was nothing but a single bottle of water and one parachute.

I checked the time. It was already 9 PM.

Mick should be waking up around now. He must be so scared without me.

But I had no choice.

If I wanted to see my son again, I had to jump.

Hands shaking, I strapped on the parachute and began rehearsing the motion to pull the ripcord over and over, again and again. Yet I couldn’t guarantee I’d even be conscious after jumping. I might pass out the second I leave the aircraft and end up a pile of shattered bones on the ground.

But staying meant death, so jumping gave me a sliver of hope.

And if I didn’t make it, at least I knew my grandmother would take care of Mick.

That thought gave me the courage I needed, and I jumped.

The sheer rush of terror jolted me awake midfall, so I managed to pull the chute at just the right time, but everything after that went dark.

When I woke up again, I was surrounded by dense jungle. A group of student hikers had luckily found me. At first, they thought I was some extreme sports enthusiast. Yet I didn’t bother correcting them and just let them help me get back to the city.

The moment sunlight hit my skin, every inch of my body screamed in pain. It felt like my bones had been hammered one by one.

Still, I forced myself toward the hospital.

But the moment I arrived, something felt off.

Everyone looked at me with such pity in their eyes.

I glanced down at myself, torn clothes, bloodstained, and filthy. I looked like a homeless woman. If Mick saw me like this, he’d probably be scared.

As such, I cleaned up in the nearest restroom, just enough not to terrify my own son. Then I hurried to his room, only to find it empty.

My heart skipped a beat.

Maybe they just moved him to a regular room? Maybe he got better?

I quickly dialed his attending physician.

But the silence on the other end of the line made my stomach turn.

Then came his voice, low, hesitant. “Your husband… he didn’t tell you?”

Something in me froze.

“Mick went into cardiac arrest around midnight. He passed away. Your husband said… maybe this was as long as he was meant to live. So he took Mick’s heart and said that the only value your son had left might be to be a match for Jewel,” he explained.

Seeing me stunned, he continued, “I tried calling you, but I couldn’t reach you. And since your husband is listed as Jewel’s legal guardian, and you and your grandmother never officially disclosed your relationship, we had no legal grounds to delay the procedure.”

Each word stabbed me, over and over, every syllable a poisoned blade sinking deep into my chest.

Mick was really gone?

No. No, that couldn’t be. Just yesterday afternoon, he looked at me and told me he loved me. How could he be gone today?

I shoved the door open and ran to the bed, throwing myself onto the sheets, desperate to catch even the faintest trace of his scent.

But there was nothing. Only the cold, sterile smell of disinfectant.

“No. No! I don’t believe this! Where is he?! Where’s my son?! Give me back my child!”

I screamed and screamed, like a woman completely unhinged.

“He’s right here,” a voice said calmly.

I turned and saw Melanie.

She stood there in a white Chanel suit, elegant and polished, like she’d just walked off a runway. In her arms, what looked like a small, decorative box, like an accessory.

“This is his ashes,” she said lightly. “I figured you might want them.”

She then tossed the urn toward me, and I lunged like a rabid animal, tears pouring freely.

But the tears blurred my vision, and I couldn’t see where it landed.

Then I heard the crashing sound of porcelain hitting the floor.

And just like that, in the first light of dawn, Mick’s ashes scattered into the wind.

Sadie's POV

“Aaah!” I completely broke down. My world had shattered, and I was tearing at my own hair like a madwoman.

Behind me, Melanie chuckled cruelly and mockingly.

“Oh, don’t be so devastated,” she said. “I’m already pregnant with Denton’s baby. He hasn’t lost anything.”

She then stepped closer, her heels clicking against the floor like a slow drumbeat on my sanity.

“Trash gets what trash deserves. Just like that little bastard of yours, he ended up exactly how he was meant to. And you? You’ll go out the same way, you crazy woman! Eight hundred people die in London every single night, so your disappearance wouldn't be questionable.”

She paused, grinning wider. “Oh, and your little bastard, he turned out to be just as useless as you. We thought his heart could save Jewel, but the transplant didn’t match. So, I had it tossed out. Like medical waste.”

Her heels clicked again as she turned and walked away, every step echoing in my skull.

“I’m going to kill you!” I screamed. I lunged at her like a wild animal.

But before I could even reach her, a foot slammed into my side and sent me flying.

It was Denton.

“You dare lay a hand on Melanie?” he sneered. “Clearly, I’ve been too soft on you.”

He glanced around the room, and his eyes landed on the ashes spilled on the floor. Then, he smiled.

“You wanted this bastard’s heart so badly, didn’t you?”

Guessing his next move, I shook my head over and over, tears streaming down my face. I could only beg him with my eyes.

Yet he ignored me completely and instructed, “Feed it to the dogs.”

“No! Please, no! I’m begging you, don’t do this!” I dropped to my knees, sobbing, slamming my forehead against the cold tile over and over. Blood poured down my face and mixed with the ashes of my son on the ground.

But it was no use.

Moments later, his men stormed in, grabbed me, and threw me out into the street like trash.

Feeling empty and lost, I wandered like a ghost.

Mick had been my whole world. Without him, I didn’t know who I was or why I was still breathing.

Then, I heard screeching tires, and the next thing I knew, my body soared through the air.

A sickening crack then exploded inside me, and I could feel warm blood gushing from somewhere deep, breaking through barriers like a dam.

Then everything went light. My limbs felt weightless, almost like they weren’t even there.

“Someone call an ambulance! She’s bleeding out!”

They were trying to save me.

But why hadn’t anyone tried to save Mick?

When I woke up in a hospital room, everything was blindingly white, and my body was wrapped in layers of gauze.

A doctor then came in, expression heavy. “Ma’am, I’m sorry. We couldn’t save the baby.”

I smiled faintly, bitterly. “I know. Mick’s gone.”

The doctor hesitated before asking, “Mick? Was that the name you chose for the baby you were carrying?”

His words froze me in place.

I looked up, stunned.

“You were nearly three months along,” he said quietly. “The car accident caused the miscarriage. There weren’t any major fractures, but your body has too many overlapping injuries. We recommend a longer stay for observation.”

Pregnant?

I had been pregnant, and now I wasn’t?

Fate really did have a sick sense of humor.

Then it all came back to me. Three months ago, the night Melanie returned, I had started to suspect their relationship. I drank too much that night, and Denton forced himself on me.

So maybe that child, conceived without love, was never meant to stay.

But Mick… what had he ever done to deserve this?

Three days later, the moment I left the hospital, someone grabbed me and shoved me into the trunk of a car.

After a long, bumpy ride, I was dragged out again.

Then I smelled that familiar jasmine scent, Melanie's perfume.

I tried to run, but two huge men pinned me down.

She smiled sweetly, twirling a glass jar between her fingers.

Inside it floated Mick’s heart.

“I heard you really wanted this?” she said with a smirk. “If you’re willing to play a few games with me, I might just give it back. What do you say?”

Before I could answer, she signaled her men.

They dragged me into a room lined with cameras, flashing lights everywhere.

I wasn’t alone. There were at least a dozen men inside, each of them barely clothed.

Eighteen hours later, I was tossed out like garbage—broken, bleeding, and barely conscious.

Denton yanked me up by my hair and hissed into my ear, “You really are just a whore who’ll sleep with anyone.”

With every ounce of strength left in me, I weakly pushed his hand away and said, "Don't touch me."

But he only scoffed. “Still acting innocent? Let me tell you, I'm gonna sell you to the dirtiest redlight district in the world. For someone like you, that might actually be paradise.”

He then motioned to his men and instructed, “Take her away.”

Suddenly, a deep, unfamiliar voice echoed behind us. “Anyone who touches her dies.”

A tall figure stood in the doorway, blocking the light. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I heard his voice again.

“Come with me.”

I didn’t know who he was.

But in that moment, anyone was better than Denton.