Something cracked in her expression.
Her eyes flashed, sharp and immediate, and she took a step closer, her posture tightening like a coiled wire.
“If the roles were reversed, you’d want revenge on the woman who took your man... and not just any day, but on her wedding day.”
The words snapped out of her like a whip. “Do you think I can ever forgive that?”
Another step.
“You’re the evil one here, Elena. Accept my offer and end it... or you and that child die.”
Her voice trembled now—not with weakness, but with rage barely contained.
Her gaze dropped to my stomach.
Lingered.
Burned.
Until I could feel the heat of her body pressing into mine, the tension between us almost suffocating.
Then her voice dropped.
Venomous.
“Death isn’t the only thing I can threaten you with.”
“Remember your little trip to California seven months ago? When Ruslan Baranov finally got his hands on you—I was the one who orchestrated it.”
“I told him exactly where you were. It still irritates me that Vincenzo got to you before Ruslan could finish the job.”
She added, as if savoring every word, “Pretty sure he would have killed you the moment you were taken to California—but he was taking his time, punishing you before finally ending you. Didn’t want your death to be too easy.”
Memories from seven months ago surged up, but I forced them down.
The horror wasn’t just in my mind—it had happened.
I knew she was the one who had betrayed me to Baranov.
And yet... here I am. Still standing.
Still alive.
I studied her face.
The pinched tension around her mouth.
The fever-bright intensity in her eyes.
The desperation hiding beneath the anger.
I tilted my head slightly, my arms still crossed over my stomach.
“No one even believes the child I’m carrying is Vincenzo’s. I’ve already done twenty-one DNA tests—none of them confirmed he’s the father. So why, exactly, does it bother you that I’m carrying this child?”
My voice was calm.
“You think I didn’t know the child is Vincenzo’s? Do you think those negative DNA results just happened? I’ve controlled every one of them.”
