Chapter 2

Adrian saved me when we were young.

So for years after that, I saved him too.

The closest call came in our third year in the Moretti family.

Adrian was negotiating for a North Shore shipping route, but he disappeared after the talks ended.

The other side left only one message.

"If you want him alive, Serafina comes alone."

I was eight months pregnant by then.

Everyone told me not to go.

I went anyway, with ten men.

That night, we fought our way in through the front door of an abandoned warehouse.

It wasn't a hail of bullets like in the movies.

It was mostly chaos, smoke, and screaming. I never knew who'd lunge out of the dark next.

In the end, only two of my guards and I were left standing.

When I found Adrian, he was tied to a chair, his face covered in blood.

Someone kicked me from behind.

I slammed into a metal table and started bleeding right there.

I lost the baby.

Afterward, Adrian knelt outside the operating room and cried for the first time.

He held me.

"I'll never let you take a risk like that again.

"I'll protect you."

I believed him.

Even when the doctor told me getting pregnant again might be harder, I comforted Adrian first.

"It's okay.

"We still have each other."

All these years later, I still felt a dull ache low in my belly whenever it rained.

Adrian knew, so I never once ran out of my medication.

That was why I'd always believed he'd never hurt me on purpose, no matter how much we fought or clashed over power.

Then Livia showed up.

And I found out he knew far more about that kidnapping than I'd ever imagined.

The next time Livia came looking for me was at the Moretti family's charity gala.

She didn't come straight to me.

She just waited outside the restroom.

"Adrian says you used to be quite the fighter."

She gave me a breezy little smile.

"You're not much of one now."

I washed my hands and ignored her.

Suddenly she grabbed my wrist and pressed my hand against her belly.

"What are you doing?"

I yanked my hand away at once.

She let herself fall backward.

A second later, I heard footsteps outside the restroom.

Adrian rushed in.

Livia was pale, clutching her stomach.

"Adrian, it hurts so much."

I stayed where I was.

I didn't explain.

Adrian looked at me.

Just once.

Then he picked Livia up.

"Call a doctor."

As he passed me, he paused briefly.

"That's enough for tonight."

I looked up.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't touch her again."

That was clearer than any accusation.

As far as he was concerned, he didn't even need to know what had happened.

I turned and went back to the ballroom.

Ten minutes later, my assistant sent the security footage from the restroom hallway to my phone.

The camera couldn't see inside, but it caught Livia propping her phone up behind a potted plant by the door before she went in.

I had someone retrieve the phone.

The recording had caught it all:

How she goaded me.

How she grabbed me first.

How she fell on purpose.

Every second of it, crystal clear.

I didn't give it to Adrian right away.

I just handed the file to my lawyer.

"Keep it on file."

My assistant was taken aback.

"You're not going to show the Don?"

I said, "If I have to keep proving to my own husband that I haven't hurt anyone, there's no point explaining myself anymore."