Clara held the crystal trophy in both hands, her fingers tightening slightly around the velvet-lined box. Her expression wavered between hesitation and something almost pleading—but the innocence on her face didn’t quite reach her eyes. There, beneath the softness, was calculation.
“Alessia,” Clara began quietly, her voice lowered as if confiding a secret. “Nathan asked me to bring this to you since I’m already staying here. It’s… really precious. You earned it. You’re… incredible.”
Alessia lifted an eyebrow, unmoved. She could feel it—the pause before the real request, the way Clara was testing the waters.
The air between them tightened as Clara drew a shallow breath.
“I know it doesn’t belong to me,” Clara continued, eyes flicking up through her lashes, “but could I borrow it? Just for a few days.”
Alessia felt something cold settle in her chest.
Borrow it?
The award she had earned through years of surveillance work, coded intelligence drops, nights without sleep, and risks Clara could never imagine.
A slow, dangerous smile curved Alessia’s lips—sharp, humorless.
“You’re bold,” she said flatly. “If you want something like this, Clara, earn it. Join intelligence. Put in the years. Bleed for it. Maybe then your name will be engraved on something crystal instead of borrowed.”
She reached for the box, expecting Clara to hand it over.
Instead, Clara clutched it tighter, her face twisting in disbelief.
“Why are you being so cruel?” Clara whispered, wounded. “I’m not stealing it. I just wanted it nearby. For motivation.”
Alessia’s patience snapped.
“Give it to me,” she said, holding out her hand. “Now.”
Clara backed away instinctively, arms curling around the box like a shield. In the brief struggle that followed, the box slipped.
It hit the floor.
The crystal shattered.
Shards exploded across the marble tiles, glittering like broken ice.
Silence fell.
Then—
“Ah!”
Clara gasped, collapsing slightly, clutching her leg. A thin line of blood seeped down her calf where a jagged shard had nicked her skin.
The door opened.
Dante stepped in.
His expression shifted instantly—from confusion, to shock, to fury.
Without hesitation, he rushed to Clara’s side, kneeling, lifting the hem of her skirt just enough to inspect the cut.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice low, urgent.
He barely looked at Alessia.
“I—I think so,” Clara whispered, trembling.
Dante stood abruptly, his jaw tight. “I’ll have someone take you to the doctor.”
He lifted Clara into his arms as if she weighed nothing, barking an order to a nearby guard. She was carried away, clinging to him.
Then Dante turned back.
“Alessia,” he said sharply. “What were you thinking? She’s pregnant. What if something happened to my child?”
Alessia stared at him, stunned by how easily the verdict had already been delivered.
“I know she’s pregnant,” she replied tightly. “That doesn’t give her the right to take what’s mine.”
Dante’s eyes flashed.
“She’s carrying my heir,” he snapped. “You should’ve been more careful.”
And just like that, he turned and left.
No questions. No pause. No concern.
Alessia stood alone.
Her gaze dropped to the shattered trophy—the last tangible proof that her work, her loyalty, had ever mattered here.
Dante expected an apology?
For defending what she earned?
Her breath came fast, shallow. Only then did she notice the pain.
She looked down.
Blood soaked through the fabric at her own calf. A shard had cut deep—far deeper than Clara’s superficial wound. Her condition made healing slow, unpredictable. The bleeding wouldn’t stop on its own.
She knelt, collecting the crystal fragments one by one, each edge biting into her fingers.
No one came.
No one noticed.
Later, she cleaned the wound herself, teeth clenched as she disinfected and bandaged it. When she finally finished, exhaustion weighed heavy in her bones.
Her phone buzzed.
Mom.
“Hi, Mom,” Alessia said softly.
“I’ve sent you some dress options for the wedding,” her mother said warmly. “Tell me which ones you like. We’ll make sure everything is perfect.”
Alessia scrolled through the photos—elegant gowns, pristine, untouched by blood or betrayal.
“Mom…” she murmured.
Her mother caught the tone immediately. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
Alessia swallowed, drawing in a slow, steady breath, forcing the tremor in her chest to settle before it could reach her voice. “I’ll be ready soon,” she said evenly. “Just one more week. After that, everything will be taken care of. How are the preparations going on your end?”
Her mother’s answer came without hesitation, warm and buoyant with excitement. “Everything’s going beautifully. The venue, the guests, the arrangements—every detail is falling into place. A new life is waiting for you, Alessia. One that will keep you safe.”
Alessia’s fingers tightened slightly around her phone. “About the wedding—” she began, intending to ask about the final schedule.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Slow. Familiar.
Her spine went rigid.
The air around her seemed to shift as the presence drew closer, the instinctive tension settling deep in her bones before her mind had time to react.
Then his voice cut through the quiet, sharp and incredulous.
“Wedding?”
Alessia closed her eyes for a fraction of a second before turning.
Dante stood just inside the doorway, his expression stripped of all color. The usual authority in his posture faltered, shock written plainly across his face as realization dawned.
“What wedding?”
