Elara POV:
I woke up on a cold floor. A storage room, smelling of dust and stale wine.
And blood.
The metallic scent was overwhelmingly close. I looked down. My designer dress was ripped. My legs were bruised, and between them was a dark, horrifying stain that soaked through the fabric and pooled on the concrete beneath me.
The cramp that seized my torso was the echo of a battle already lost. It felt like my insides had been torn out.
My baby. My one hope. My reason for fighting. Gone.
A sound ripped from the deepest part of my being, a scream of pure, primal loss that tore from my raw throat. They had taken everything.
With a surge of cold fury, I crawled toward the door, leaving a smear of red behind me. "Somebody, please help me." My own voice sounded alien and distant.
I made it to a service alley. The city lights seemed a million miles away. I don't remember finding a phone or making a call. My next memory was the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room.
A doctor with a kind, tired face stood beside my bed. His words were gentle, but they were hammer blows.
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Moretti. You've had a complete miscarriage. The trauma was... severe. You lost the baby."
The words hung in the air. I didn't cry. The part of me that could feel had been murdered in that storage room. All that remained was a cold, hard resolve.
"The... remains," I said, my voice raspy. "I want them."
The doctor looked startled. "It's not standard procedure, but under the circumstances... I'll arrange it."
"Thank you," I whispered. "And doctor? No visitors. Especially not my husband."
***
Dante POV:
I sat in the ruins of the ballroom, broken glass crunching under my boots. The guests had fled. Isabella and her men were gone. I had broken the arm of one of her guards before they subdued me and disappeared.
My heir was gone. My wife was gone.
Isabella did this. She had gone behind my back. She had poisoned my child. The rage inside me was a physical thing, a creature with claws tearing at my insides.
The doorbell of the mansion rang, a shrill sound that cut through my haze of fury. My security chief answered it. A courier stood on the doorstep, holding a small, square box wrapped in plain brown paper.
"A delivery for Mr. Dante Moretti," the courier said.
I took the box. It was light, almost weightless. I tore at the paper, my heart hammering against my ribs. A faint, coppery smell emanated from within. The smell of a slaughterhouse.
My breath hitched. My fingers, numb and clumsy, pried open the lid.
Inside, nestled on a bed of ice, was a small, clear container. And inside the container... something small, bloody, and horrifyingly human.
A ragged, inhuman sound escaped my throat. Taped to the inside of the lid was a note. The handwriting was neat, precise, and unmistakably Elara's.
It said: "You wanted an heir. Here you go."
The world went red. She thought I did this. She thought I was a part of it. The box wasn't just a declaration of war; it was a judgment. And she was right. I let it happen. My weakness, my arrogance, had allowed this.
I found Isabella at her penthouse. She was celebrating with Marco and her other loyalists. I didn't knock. I kicked the door off its hinges.
The laughter in the room died.
"Brother," she started, a nervous smile on her face. "You're overreacting."
I didn't speak. I pulled the .45 from the small of my back and shot Marco in the kneecap. He screamed and collapsed. I shot his other kneecap. His screams turned to sobbing.
Her guards drew their weapons. My men, who had been waiting in the hall, stormed in behind me. The penthouse erupted into a brief, brutal firefight that was over in seconds. Isabella's men lay dead or dying.
I walked over to Marco, who was bleeding on the floor, and pressed the muzzle of my gun to his forehead.
"Dante, please," Isabella shrieked. "It was just a woman! A vessel!"
"She was carrying my son," I roared, the words tearing from my soul. I pulled the trigger.
Then I turned to my sister. She was backed into a corner, her face a mask of pure terror.
"You," I snarled, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the wall. "You took him from me. You destroyed my legacy."
"I did it for us!" she choked out. "For our family!"
"We are not family," I whispered, my voice devoid of all emotion. I raised my fist and brought it down on her face. The sound of her nose breaking was crisp and clean. She screamed, but I didn't stop.
This wasn't just revenge. This was annihilation. And it was only the beginning.
