He Buried Me Alive, So I Made Sure He Never Saw Tomorrow

I was thirty-seven weeks pregnant when my body stopped giving me the luxury of time.

The contractions crashed into me one after another, brutal enough to steal the air from my lungs. I clutched the sleeve of my husband’s coat so tightly my fingers cramped.

“Dan…” I choked out, fighting another wave of pain. “Please… take me to the hospital. Something’s wrong.”

Dante Valcourt—the perfect heir to the Valcourt empire. Cold-blooded. Untouchable. The man I had foolishly believed I could love into becoming gentle.

He didn’t even raise his head. His attention stayed fixed on the screen in his hand.

“Aurora’s in labor,” he said casually. “She’s already being transferred to the private clinic.”

A sharp pain twisted through my stomach so violently I nearly collapsed.

“I’m having contractions too,” I whispered, trembling. “Please… I’m bleeding…”

That finally got his attention.

His eyes lifted to mine before a humorless laugh escaped him. “Unbelievable. You really can’t stand not being the center of attention, can you?”

Before I could explain, he seized my wrist and dragged me through the back corridors of the warehouse. The deeper we went, the colder the concrete walls became. This was one of the Valcourts’ hidden properties—the kind used for things better left unseen.

Weapons. Interrogations. Corpses.

He stopped in front of a thick steel door and shoved it open.

Heat slammed into me instantly.

“No—wait—”

The boiler room felt like walking straight into an oven. The air was suffocating, dry enough to burn my throat with every breath. Sweat immediately coated my skin while another contraction nearly tore a scream from my chest.

“Dante…” My voice cracked. “Please don’t leave me here. You’re going to kill our baby.”

He forced me farther inside, expression hard as stone.

“Do you honestly think I’m stupid?” he said quietly. “You timed this on purpose. You want your child to become the first grandchild of the Valcourt family so you can secure your place before Aurora does.”

My knees buckled beneath me.

“That’s not true,” I sobbed desperately. “I don’t care about the inheritance. I don’t want the money. I’ll leave if that’s what you want—just please, please save my baby.”

I wrapped both arms around his leg, shaking uncontrollably.

“Geo… I’m begging you. Please. Don’t do this to us.”

He looked down at me with disgust before jerking himself free.

“You keep pretending you’re innocent,” he muttered. “It’s pathetic.”

His gaze darkened.

“If Aurora delivers first, then maybe I’ll believe you weren’t trying to manipulate me.”

Then he walked out.

The door slammed shut behind him.

Panic exploded inside me.

I stumbled toward the exit and clawed at the handle with slippery hands, but it wouldn’t move. Another contraction ripped through my body, stronger this time, and warm fluid ran down my legs.

The baby was coming.

The pain became unbearable, hot and blinding, each wave stronger than the last. My vision swam as I pounded desperately against the metal door.

“Dante!” I screamed. “Please! I can’t do this in here!”

My voice echoed uselessly around the room.

Then footsteps approached from outside.

Hope surged through me so suddenly it hurt.

“Geo…” I cried weakly. “Please… if there’s any kindness left in you…”

I screamed for help until my throat felt torn raw.

“Someone help me! Please! I’m locked inside!”

The machinery drowned out half my voice, the constant roar vibrating through the walls and floor alike.

Then another voice answered.

“Well,” she said lightly, “isn’t this pathetic?”

Helena Valcourt.

Dante’s mother.

The same woman who smiled sweetly at family dinners while treating me like something temporary.

“Mrs. Valcourt,” I pleaded, barely able to breathe through the contractions. “Please open the door. The baby’s coming.”

A sharp bang rattled the metal as she kicked the door from the other side.

“Oh, stop the dramatics,” she snapped. “Do you really think I’d ruin Aurora’s moment because of one of your little performances?”

Another contraction struck, forcing a scream out of me as I crumpled onto the scorching floor.

“Our family fortune belongs to blood,” she continued coldly. “Not to some woman who married into the name and thought a baby would make her important.”

Tears blurred my vision.

“I don’t want any of it,” I cried. “I swear I’ll disappear. Just please… don’t let my child die here.”

Silence answered me for a moment.

Then she sighed irritably.

“You’re exhausting.”

Her voice turned colder.

“And if you keep screaming like that, I’ll make sure nobody hears you again.”

I heard her dialing someone.

The heat kept building around me, relentless and merciless. My clothes clung to my skin, soaked through with sweat. Every breath burned. Every contraction felt like my body was being ripped apart from the inside.

Then I heard him.

“She’s staying there,” Dante said through the door. “Don’t let her out.”

Something inside me shattered hearing his voice again.

I slammed my fist weakly against the metal.

“Dante!” I sobbed. “This isn’t fake! Please—tell her to help me!”

Pain cut off the rest of my words.

For a second, neither of them spoke.

Then Helena’s voice came again, quieter this time.

“Geo… she sounds serious,” she admitted uneasily. “What if something really happens? That’s still your child.”

My heart pounded painfully.

I pressed myself against the burning door, waiting.

When Dante finally answered, his voice had softened slightly, hesitant for the first time all night.

“Fine,” he said slowly. “Take her to the—”

Another woman interrupted him immediately.

“Geo,” she whined softly with a laugh in her voice, “I’m starving. The doctor said I should eat before delivery.”

Aurora.