Chapter 1

I lay on the delivery bed in the private clinic, each contraction threatening to rip my body apart.

My husband, Dante Corsetti, held my hand, his eyes so tender they could melt.

"Just a little longer, Valentina. We're about to meet our baby."

I was drenched in sweat from the pain, but I still managed to squeeze out a smile for him.

Then the nurse walked in carrying a syringe. I assumed it was the epidural.

But Dante suddenly let go of my hand and stepped back.

The instant the needle pierced my skin, I heard him give the order: "Eleanora wants her baby born first. Get the dosage right—she has to wait until Eleanora delivers."

I stared at him wide-eyed, but he simply glanced down at his watch.

"Eleanora's already six centimeters dilated. Just stall for two more hours."

I wanted to scream, to fight back, but the drug was already flooding my bloodstream.

The violent contractions in my abdomen were suddenly strangled—

Cut dead.

……

……

I was wheeled into a makeshift cell converted from the clinic's basement.

Dante's sister, Bianca, stood in the doorway, toying with a scalpel.

"Valentina, don't blame my brother."

"The baby in Eleanora's belly is my eldest brother's child—the only male heir of this generation of the Corsetti family. The future Don."

"No matter how early you deliver, it's just a girl. Useless."

I clutched my stomach. A new wave of contractions was battling the drugs, and the pain was blinding.

"Get the doctor. I'm about to deliver, I really am—"

Bianca let out a soft laugh, walked over, and crouched in front of me.

"Deliver what?"

"The drug's good for another three hours. Eleanora's already gone into the delivery room."

"Just sit tight like a good girl. Once her son is safely born, you can push all you want."

She stood up and called to the guard at the door: "Keep an eye on her. If she starts screaming, gag her."

The door slammed shut.

I lay on the freezing concrete floor, the blood beneath me already soaking through my skirt.

My phone had been taken the moment I entered the clinic. Dante said the radiation was bad for the baby.

Now I realized it was just to stop me from calling for help.

I curled into myself, trying to breathe through the pain, but all I could see was the look in Dante's eyes.

Cold. Calculating. Like he was appraising a tool.

Not a wife. Not the woman about to bear his child.

Three months ago, his older brother Nico had died in a car accident, leaving behind a widow three months pregnant—Eleanora.

At the funeral, Dante's father, the old Don, had clutched Eleanora's hand, tears streaming down his weathered face. "You must carry this baby to term safely. The Corsetti bloodline cannot end."

I'd felt sorry for Eleanora then. I'd stepped forward and offered: "Dad, don't worry. My baby with Dante will protect this family too."

The old Don had looked at me once and said nothing.

So from that moment on, my child had already been written off.

"Ahhh—"

Another contraction hit, fiercer than the last.

The drug was wearing off. The baby was coming.

I clawed my way upright and pounded on the door with everything I had. "Someone! I'm in labor! Save my baby!"

Dead silence on the other side. I screamed until my voice gave out before the guard's irritated reply finally came:

"Shut up. The young miss said to wait."

"But the baby—"

"If it dies, that's fate. Shouldn't have been a girl. A daughter can never be the Don's heir."

I slid to the ground, cold to the bone.

But someone wanted my child dead. Death should not be this baby's destiny.