Chapter 3

Lorenzo’s grip tightened until my wrist began to ache.

I wrenched myself free.

“Is manhandling another man’s wife in public how the Vitale family operates?”

Lorenzo gave a cold laugh and raised one hand.

Several bodyguards immediately surrounded me.

“You expect me to respect a homeless man?”

I instinctively stepped back as my abdomen suddenly tightened.

People on the street had begun to stop and watch.

I deliberately raised my voice. “You all heard him. Lorenzo Vitale is abducting a married woman in broad daylight.”

Several people pulled out their phones.

Lorenzo’s guards opened their jackets to reveal the guns at their waists. The crowd immediately backed away.

Viola moved to his side and looked at me with feigned concern.

“Lorenzo is helping you. Marrying a homeless man no one knows will only turn the Moretti family into a joke.”

Her false concern made me sick.

“No matter whom I married, it’s cleaner than being his mistress.”

Lorenzo grabbed my arm.

“Enough.”

The pharmacy bag fell from my grasp. Medicine boxes, test results, and an ultrasound photo scattered across the pavement.

Viola saw the image and abruptly raised her voice.

“Serafina, you’re pregnant?”

Lorenzo’s hand tightened sharply.

He looked down at the ultrasound, then at the hand I held over my stomach.

“You’re carrying that homeless man’s child?”

I didn’t answer.

He stared at my stomach, and for the first time, I saw murderous intent in his eyes.

“You would rather bear a homeless man’s child than wait for me?”

Suppressing my disgust, I asked coldly, “Why would I wait for a man who abandoned and humiliated me?”

Lorenzo’s breathing grew heavier.

“You’ve lost your mind.” He turned to his guards. “Take her.”

I immediately shielded my stomach. “Don’t you dare, Lorenzo!”

He leaned close to my ear and lowered his voice.

“This child cannot stay.”

A chill shot up my spine.

“Get rid of it, Serafina, and I’ll overlook the fact that you were married.”

I finally understood. He had never truly loved me.

He just couldn’t accept that the woman who once revolved around him had actually married someone else—and was even carrying another man’s child.

I slapped him hard across the face.

The sharp crack silenced the street.

Lorenzo ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, then ordered his men, “Put her in the car.”

Two guards seized my arms.

Afraid for the baby, I didn’t dare struggle too violently.

“If you hurt my child, the Vitale family will pay the price.”

Lorenzo laughed contemptuously.

“What price could a homeless man’s bastard possibly make me pay?”

Standing beside him, Viola feigned sympathy as she urged me, “Stop fighting. Once the baby is gone, you can finally start over.”

I looked at her and committed every word to memory.

The guards shoved me into the armored car. The moment my back struck the seat, pain cramped through my abdomen again.

Fear finally crawled up my spine.

I could turn against Lorenzo. I could risk the Moretti family’s territory in North Harbor. But I could not gamble with my child’s life.

This was the baby Adrian pressed his cheek to my stomach and spoke softly to every night before bed.

He wanted this child so badly.

Clenching my teeth, I slipped a hand into the hidden pocket of my coat and gripped the obsidian ring.

An emergency tracker was embedded inside it.

Outside the car, Lorenzo ordered coldly,

“Take her to the west-side safe house. Call the family doctor. Get rid of the baby today.”