Chapter 1

Five months after opening my bakery in Sicily, I ran into Quill Moretti, the Mafia Don who had once paid me to be his lover.

He stared at my pregnant belly, mockery and warning in his eyes.

"Claire, you've got some nerve! Thinking you can use a baby to become my wife!

"The only woman I've ever loved is Sherry!"

I scoffed.

"I think you've misread the situation.

"I'm carrying my husband's baby."

Quill's brow furrowed.

"Trash like you will lie about anything!

"I want a paternity test. You're coming with me."

I nodded calmly.

"Fine. We'll go first thing tomorrow morning."

Three years ago, I was nothing more than a hotel housekeeper.

While cleaning a suite, I accidentally knocked over the man staying there.

Quill.

He'd been drinking heavily.

He stared at me for a long moment, then dragged me onto the bed.

We were tangled up together all night.

Once he sobered up, Quill tossed me an agreement.

"Be my woman.

"A million dollars a month."

I thought of my mother, who was fighting cancer and desperately needed expensive treatment. She finally had a chance.

I agreed without hesitation.

Quill's sexual appetite was insatiable.

At least five times a day.

But he refused to let me get pregnant.

"Someone of your lowly status doesn't deserve to carry my child."

So I took the pill, over and over again.

Until his first love, Sherry Russo, came back.

Quill threw me a bank card.

"A hundred million dollars to end this. Be smart and take it."

I had always known that Quill's possessive hold on me was not love.

So I accepted his offer.

On the day of his wedding to Sherry, I slipped away without a word.

And married a strikingly handsome billionaire who rivaled Quill in every way in a private civil ceremony.

Chapter 1

Seeing how calmly I accepted his proposal, a flicker of surprise crossed Quill's eyes.

He took several steps toward me, arrogance plastered across his face.

"Claire, I'm actually doing this for your own good.

"Look at yourself. You took that enormous check I gave you and made quite the life.

"You've got your own shop now, and you're all dolled up.

"So don't go dreaming about a position you don't deserve."

He actually thought I'd used his money to open this bakery!

The truth was, the hundred million dollars Quill gave me had been laundered funds from an offshore account.

I channeled it through overseas charities and donated every cent to help girls who'd been seized as collateral for their parents' crushing gambling debts, buying back their freedom.

This bakery was fully funded by my husband.

Though I'd tried many times to talk him out of spending so much, he would always cup my face in both hands.

"Claire, you're my beloved princess.

"You deserve the very best this world has to offer."

I didn't want to get tangled up with Quill any further, so I told him plainly.

"If there's nothing urgent, I need to get back to work.

"I still have plenty of customers waiting."

The moment I turned to leave, displeasure flickered across Quill's face.

He stepped forward and grabbed my arm, his eyes darkening.

"Playing hard to get?

"You think if you walk away right now, I'll chase after you?"

I was speechless.

He smirked.

"Claire, stop flattering yourself.

"You snuck off on my wedding day to Sherry. That was already the ultimate disrespect.

"Don't keep fantasizing that you still have the slightest place in my heart!"

Quill's little speech left me caught somewhere between laughter and exasperation.

But several regulars were still waiting for their food, so I had no choice but to ask the floor manager to attend to them for me.

Before he could disturb my customers any further, I pulled the persistent Quill into the staff lounge.

We sat down across from each other.

"Mr. Moretti, first of all, I really am married."

I flashed the twenty-carat diamond on my middle finger.

Quill's pupils dilated instantly, disbelief written all over his face.

But within seconds, he let out a cold laugh.

"What a pathetic lie!

"A man who can afford a twenty-carat diamond would need to be worth hundreds of millions at the very least!

"A man of that caliber would want you?

"Tell the truth. It's just some ten-dollar knockoff, isn't it?"

If this had been the old days, I would have groveled when Quill humiliated me like this.

But I wasn't that timid, spineless Claire anymore.

My husband had given me boundless love.

Under his care, I'd gradually left the past behind and grown confident and open.

Now I could face anything head-on.

I poured an entire glass of water over Quill's head, seething through clenched teeth.

"Get out of my place. Now.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll go with you for the test.

"Until then, stop harassing me!"

Chapter 2

The instant the water drenched him, Quill's body went rigid.

He stared at me wide-eyed, his voice trembling.

"You... you actually dared to do that to me?"

The next second, his personal bodyguard, Raul Vega, whipped out a handgun and aimed it at me. "You're dead!"

Just as Raul was about to pull the trigger, Quill snatched the gun away, his voice dropping low.

"Did you forget the rule I set? Nobody is allowed to harm Claire on a whim. Including you."

Raul looked wounded.

"But she just disrespected you!"

Quill closed his eyes, a flash of anger crossing his face.

"I give the orders, Raul. Don't tell me how to run my business."

Then Quill pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his soaked hair, his reddened eyes locked on me.

"Claire, you didn't used to be like this.

"You used to be so gentle and obedient around me. You never dared to defy me."

His voice grew hoarse.

"Why is it that after only five months apart, you've become a completely different person?"

Quill's question brought back memories of my days with him.

After I entered that secret arrangement with Quill, he installed a tracker on my phone.

He dictated that I could only travel between the hotel and his villa each day.

One time, I went to my cousin's birthday party with my family.

It didn't wrap up until past eleven at night.

Terrified that Quill would be angry, I rushed to his villa without stopping.

The moment I reached the front gate, Raul charged at me with a dagger.

He pressed the blade against my throat, his face contorted with rage.

"Claire, you've upset the Don!

"He's been waiting for you since six in the evening. When you didn't show, he drank whiskey after whiskey until his stomach started bleeding!

"The private doctor is giving him an IV right now!"

Then he dragged the knife across my neck, leaving a thin cut.

Blood dripped from the blade's edge onto the back of my hand. I was so terrified I burst into tears, my voice shaking.

"I... I promise, I'll... I'll never go anywhere Quill can't track me again."

In the dead of night, Quill came to.

He tied me to the bed, roughly stripped off my clothes, and bit down hard on my chest, leaving a deep bite mark.

The pain brought tears streaming down my face.

He cupped my face, wiped away my tears, and gazed at me with those deep, consuming eyes, as if he wanted to swallow me whole.

"This bite is my mark.

"Your body belongs to me, Claire. No one else.

"Remember that. From now on, you are never to have contact with anyone but me."

I nodded frantically, my entire body trembling.

Quill was obsessed with porn.

He was always trying whatever he learned from it in our bed.

After each new experiment, he would ask me the same questions again and again.

"Am I the most incredible man you've ever had?

"Claire, I want every single time to be unforgettable for you, alright?"

Later, I got pregnant.

But when I told Quill, his face darkened instantly.

"You can't have this baby."

I asked through my tears, "Why?"

"The Moretti Family had one iron rule: every Don had to have his children with a wife of equal standing!"

The voice belonged to Luca Moretti, the Family's consigliere.

He walked toward me slowly, leaning on his cane.

Raul supported Luca's arm, shooting me a look of pure disgust.

Luca was also the Family's chief legal authority and its behind-the-scenes power broker. He directed every piece of dirty work.

That gave him the authority to deal with anyone who supposedly tainted the Family bloodline.

By now, Luca had reached me, his eyes full of contempt as he looked me over.

"If some lowborn nobody like you were to bear the Don's child, the Moretti Family would become the laughingstock of the entire world! And Quill would be cast out by every member of the Family!"

Raul quickly chimed in.

"You're nothing but a hotel housekeeper, a rat that can't stand the light of day.

"For Quill's future, get rid of this baby!"

I clenched my fists, fighting back with everything I had.

"No! This is my first child! I can't give it up!"

I grabbed Quill's hand.

"This is your child too, you..."

Quill's eyes were rimmed with red, his voice raw as he cut me off. He reached out and gently touched my face. "Claire, please..."

I turned my face away, stepped back, and fixed him with a look of pure hatred.

"I hate you!"

Quill took a deep breath, his expression torn.

"Claire, before we got together, I told you. My wife can only be my first love, Sherry.

"She's my equal in every way. I'll wait for her to come back from studying in Paris."

That night, my stomach was suddenly seized by violent pain.

Blood poured from between my legs.

My baby was gone.

Chapter 3

Later, while walking through the garden one day, I overheard a conversation between Luca and Raul.

Raul wore a sycophantic smile.

"Consigliere, it was all thanks to your brilliant idea, sending me to Dr. Dean Mercer, director of St. Raphael Medical Center, for an undetectable poison.

"Claire would never suspect that I put the poison in her bedtime milk!"

My heart clenched as if it had been sliced to ribbons.

"I did it for Quill's sake." Luca's eyes gleamed with cunning. "If that woman gives birth to a bastard, it would jeopardize the business alliance that Sherry's family brings to the table and destroy the Moretti Family's international partnerships. I will never allow that kind of threat."

Raul gazed at him with admiration. "You always see the bigger picture! With a consigliere like you, the Moretti Family will never fall!"

I stumbled my way to Quill, crying and screaming that I wanted out of this sickening arrangement.

For the first time, Quill lost his temper at me. He gripped my chin, his eyes bloodshot.

"You're not going anywhere! You're mine!"

Before long, Sherry really did come back.

She looked at me with pure disdain.

"You think I'd care about your past with Quill?

"You're nothing but a stain on Quill's shirt, an accident he can wash away."

At Sherry's emphatic suggestion, Quill chose to hold their wedding on my birthday.

Consigliere Luca considered me an embarrassment and forbade me from appearing at the ceremony.

So he ordered Raul to lock me in an abandoned warehouse.

Having been around Quill long enough, I was well aware of Luca's brutal methods.

What he didn't know was that two months earlier, I'd already found someone who could help me escape this hellhole.

That someone was my husband, Giovanni Fontana.

Two months prior, late one night, a hotel guest suddenly craved something sweet.

That guest was Giovanni.

But all the chefs had already gone home.

Every dessert shop was closed.

Just as the manager was pacing in frustration, I volunteered.

"I learned to make desserts from my mother.

"Why don't you let me try?"

The manager's face lit up, and he immediately sent me to the kitchen.

Back when I was with Quill, I'd heard of Giovanni. He was Quill's fiercest rival, and their two families were constantly fighting over business.

A week earlier, I'd heard the manager mention during a staff meeting that Giovanni would be arriving at the hotel that night.

In that moment, an idea sparked. Giovanni was the perfect person to get me out of the Moretti Family.

So I deliberately swapped shifts with a colleague, trading my daytime hours for the night shift.

All so I could get close to Giovanni.

I just hadn't expected that while I was biding my time, he'd suddenly want dessert.

It was an unexpected turn, but also an opportunity.

I told myself I had to seize it.

I quickly finished the dessert, then brought it to Giovanni with my sweetest smile.

The moment I walked in, I could feel his gaze circling over me, a light glimmering in his deep eyes.

After his first bite, he couldn't help but praise it.

"This is wonderful! It reminds me of my sister!

"When she was alive, she was always making me all sorts of desserts!"

It turned out that when Giovanni was eighteen, he and his older sister, Sofia Fontana, went on a trip together.

She was driving that day.

Less than twenty minutes in, a truck slammed into them.

Sofia instantly shielded him with her own body.

In the end, the truck's crossbeam pierced her heart, and he survived.

"All these years, I've lived with the guilt over my sister, and I've missed the desserts she used to make so much.

"Thank you for making something this delicious.

"Whenever you need help, just tell me."

The moment he said that, an idea flashed through my mind.

I clutched the hem of my skirt and finally voiced the plan I'd been harboring.

"What if the help I need... is for you to marry me?"

Afraid Giovanni would think I was out of my mind, I told him everything about me and Quill.

"I want to live a normal life. I've been trapped in darkness for so long. I'm exhausted. I just want someone who can walk with me toward the light."

After I finished, Giovanni stared at me in shock, saying nothing.

I thought he was refusing me, and embarrassment crept across my face.

"I'm sorry, if you're not willing..."

"I'm willing to marry you." Giovanni cut me off and rose to his feet, urgency in his voice. "The truth is, I was drawn to you the moment you walked in."

After a pause, he looked at me with complete sincerity.

"Claire, I've actually dealt with Quill before."

He took a deep breath, his voice dropping.

"My family and the Moretti Family have been business rivals for years. I've never been able to stomach the way Quill monopolizes resources on both sides of the law." He walked to the window, then turned back, his deep eyes fixed on me. "What you've suffered at the hands of the Moretti Family, you have my deepest sympathy. And I need to join forces with you to keep the Morettis in check. Are you willing?"

I nodded eagerly. "As long as I can escape the Moretti Family, I'm willing!"

Giovanni and I spent a month devising an escape plan.

I let Raul lock me in the warehouse without a fuss, then quietly waited for Giovanni's men to come rescue me.

I'd already told Giovanni that anyone who crossed the Moretti Family ended up in this warehouse.

I'd even hand-drawn a map of the grounds, marking both Quill's villa and the warehouse where they kept me.

So on the day of Quill and Sherry's wedding, several of Giovanni's most trusted men used my hand-drawn map to locate the warehouse and got me out.

At my suggestion, Giovanni and I married in a private civil ceremony.

"Claire, I know you haven't fallen in love with me yet." Giovanni gazed at me tenderly. "But I'll work to earn your love."

After the wedding, I kept having nightmares about the dark things I'd been through.

When Giovanni found out, he spared no expense to bring in a top therapist for me.

He also taught me horseback riding, skiing, scuba diving, golf...

He helped me grow more capable and confident with every passing day.

Gradually, under Giovanni's guidance, I forgot the nightmare that had been my life.

And at the same time, I fell completely in love with him.

Before long, I was carrying his child.

...

"Claire, you just never learn!

"How dare you sneak around and get pregnant with Quill's baby!"

A shrill, familiar voice yanked me back to reality.

Quill's wife, Sherry, had arrived.

Chapter 4

Sherry gazed at Quill, her eyes wide with feigned innocence as tears streamed down her face.

"Sweetheart, there's no way I can let her have this baby!

"It would be a massive insult to me, to you, and to the entire Moretti Family!"

A hint of hesitation flickered across Quill's face before he wrapped his arm around Sherry's waist.

"Darling, the way I see it..."

But before he could finish, his phone rang.

"Mr. Moretti, the last shipment you arranged for me was excellent. I'd like to place a much bigger order."

It was a longtime client calling.

He responded at once, "One moment, please. Don't hang up." Then he turned to Raul. "Stay with my wife and handle the situation."

And he hurried off.

But as Quill passed by me, he fixed me with a long look.

There was something in those eyes that almost seemed like...

Reluctance?

I immediately shook the thought away.

He was nothing but a monster. Monsters don't have human feelings.

At Sherry's command, Raul called in several of his men.

Then they tied me up.

What they didn't know was that just before they dragged me away, the watch on my wrist was actually an encrypted satellite communicator. The moment I was restrained, it would automatically transmit my location to Giovanni, who was in Japan.

Giovanni had always been worried about my safety.

He'd set up a permanent private security team for me in Sicily. My bakery manager, Lucy Bennett, was actually a dedicated intelligence operative Giovanni had planted by my side.

When Lucy saw me being hauled away, her expression stayed calm, but behind her back, she urgently messaged Giovanni to let him know that Quill's people had taken me.

I calculated silently. In two hours, Giovanni would be on his private jet, racing back from Japan.

Until then, I braced myself for whatever these people might do to me.

But the moment I stepped inside Quill's villa and saw this familiar yet frigid place, a wave of nausea hit me, and I started dry-heaving.

Sherry leaned close to Raul's ear and whispered something.

The next second, Raul pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed me to a chair.

Then he took out a lighter and ran the flame back and forth across my pregnant belly.

I screamed in agony, the image of my first baby being poisoned flashing through my mind.

Instinctively, I shielded my stomach with both hands and locked eyes with Raul through gritted teeth.

"You piece of filth! If you harm my baby in the slightest, I swear I will end you!"

Raul kicked me so hard that I toppled over, chair and all, crashing to the floor. Pain seized every muscle in my body.

He let out a wild, vicious laugh.

"Just a bastard. It was never meant to be born!"

Sherry watched the whole scene with perfect composure.

She sat cross-legged on the couch, biting into an apple between slow, deliberate mouthfuls, humming a cheerful little tune.

I understood exactly why Sherry was so desperate to get rid of me.

I'd once overheard several of Quill's servants whispering while cleaning the study.

"Word is Sherry's family business hasn't been doing well. The only way to save it is for her to marry Mr. Moretti and become the Donna of the Moretti Family."

Sherry's family empire was entirely dependent on the Morettis. If Quill abandoned her, her family would go bankrupt.

"Filthy slut!"

Raul slapped me across the face, again and again. Blood trickled from my mouth.

"The Don built this Family's business through blood and sweat. No way in hell am I letting you destroy it!"

He seized a fistful of my hair, yanked my head up, and pressed the barrel of his gun against my temple.

"Stop!"

A voice of absolute authority thundered through the hall.

Chapter 5

"This is no way to handle things. You're making the Moretti Family look bad!"

The moment Sherry heard the voice, she flinched so hard the apple dropped from her hand.

It was Quill's mother, Camilla Moretti.

Camilla crossed the room toward me with exaggerated elegance.

"It's been a while, Claire."

As she drew close, she looked down at me with her trademark arrogance.

"Five months apart, and you still haven't improved one bit.

"Still deluding yourself that a baby will make you the lady of the Moretti Family!"

Like mother, like son.

Now I knew where Quill got his stupidity and arrogance.

Sherry rushed over to Camilla, her expression anxious.

"Mother, don't waste your breath on this shameless woman! Just let Raul put a bullet in her!"

With that, she shot Raul a look.

Raul understood and moved to pull the trigger.

Camilla stepped forward and stopped him with a sharp command.

"When are you going to fix that impulsive temper of yours?!"

Her eyes were full of calculation.

"Actually, before I came here, Consigliere Luca came to see me. He gave me a very clever plan."

At the mention of Luca, Raul immediately holstered his pistol, his eyes shining with reverence.

"That's wonderful! Consigliere Luca always puts the Moretti Family's welfare first!"

Camilla dismissed Raul, and he obediently nodded and left.

Then Sherry approached Camilla cautiously, her tone syrupy sweet.

"Dearest Mother, what is Consigliere Luca's plan? Could you share it with me?

"I'm happy to help you carry it out."

Camilla smiled with satisfaction and gave Sherry an approving tap under the chin.

"That mouth of yours is as sweet as honey!"

Sherry beamed. "All thanks to your excellent guidance, Mother!"

After affectionately stroking Sherry's head, Camilla turned a look of pure disgust on me.

"Claire, if you had even a fraction of Sherry's refinement, I wouldn't despise you so much!

"It's a pity you're not even fit to polish Sherry's shoes!"

I laughed coldly.

"I never wanted your approval.

"I'm perfectly happy with who I am. I couldn't care less about living by someone else's judgment."

Camilla's chest heaved with rage, one finger jabbing toward me. "You!"

But she quickly steadied herself.

The corner of her mouth curled into a sinister smile, and she leaned close to Sherry's ear, whispering a plot.

Minutes later, Sherry threw her arms around Camilla.

"Oh, this plan is absolutely brilliant!"

The smile spreading across Camilla's face held a bone-chilling menace beneath it.

Then Sherry walked over to me and helped me up from the ground with both hands.

"Claire, what Raul did just now was wrong.

"He was far too reckless!"

She flashed me an exaggerated, wide grin, her voice so saccharine it made my stomach turn.

"Tomorrow morning, Mother, Quill, and I will take you to St. Raphael Medical Center together.

"We'll all be there to witness the test results.

"As long as the test shows the baby isn't Quill's, we'll let you go."

I deeply doubted Sherry's words.

But two hours had passed and Giovanni and his men still hadn't arrived. I guessed he'd probably gotten caught up in something urgent and couldn't make it just yet.

So I pretended to believe Sherry, buying time for me and my baby while waiting for Giovanni's rescue.

I put on a sincere expression. "Sherry, you'd really let me go?"

I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Absolutely, Claire."

Sherry was about to continue when Camilla cut in.

"You know I've never liked you.

"If the baby truly isn't Quill's, I'd be more than happy to see you go."

They took me to St. Raphael Medical Center right on time.

The results were almost ready.

Each of us held a copy of the paternity report.

When I saw the words "probability of paternity: 99.999%," a roar exploded in my head.

Chapter 6

I was carrying my husband's baby!

How could it suddenly be Quill's?!

The next second, a suspicion formed in my mind.

I immediately looked at Sherry and Camilla.

They were staring at each other, their mouths twisted into matching smirks.

What else was there to figure out?

So that was Luca's plan for Camilla: make the baby in my belly appear to be Quill's.

He wanted to use the falsified results to force Quill into dealing with me.

Sure enough, the moment Quill saw the results, he was visibly shaken.

He seized my wrist, his brow furrowed tight.

"Claire, the proof is right here. How are you going to talk your way out of this?!

"It's mine and you said it wasn't. Why?"

His expression was a tangle of emotions.

Indignation. Hurt. Fury. And even a trace of... sorrow?

I clenched my fists and spoke, slow and deliberate.

"Because it was never yours."

Quill's shoulders began to tremble, and even his breathing grew strained.

"Claire, be honest with me! The old you would never have lied to me."

Just then, Camilla walked to Quill's side and patted his shoulder.

"Enough, Quill. There's nothing left to say to her.

"She went behind your back and got pregnant with a bastard. According to the Moretti Family rules, you know what has to be done."

As Camilla goaded Quill, she glared at me with venom.

As if wishing I would vanish from her son's sight that instant.

Sherry immediately piled on.

"Quill, as your wife, I absolutely refuse to tolerate the existence of a bastard!

"So now, do what a husband should do!"

Just then, Luca arrived, Raul trailing behind him.

"Quill, for the future of the Moretti Family, don't hesitate!" Luca walked to Quill's side and handed him a dagger. "Pull yourself together, Quill. Take care of that bastard!"

Quill gripped the dagger, his hand shaking violently. Tears seemed to brim in his eyes as he looked at me. His lips moved, trying to form words, but nothing came out.

"Quill, don't do anything rash!

"The paternity report is fake!"

Dean, the hospital director, came running over, gasping for breath.

I knew Dean was Quill's closest friend and confidant, the only person whose advice Quill would take.

Back when my first baby had been killed by their scheme, Dean had come to find me.

"Claire, I'm sorry.

"I never wanted to be part of that plan.

"But on Luca's orders, Raul kidnapped my parents and used them to blackmail me.

"I had no choice but to cooperate and provide the poison.

"And there's something else I want you to know. Quill does love you. He just doesn't know how to love someone."

I knew Dean meant well by telling me that.

But I never believed that Quill's possessiveness and control amounted to love.

"Dean, do you have any idea what you're saying?!"

Luca was livid, screaming at Dean.

"If we don't deal with this woman, Quill's future will be..."

"The paternity report was falsified! I'm one hundred percent certain!"

Dean raised his voice, his expression resolute.

At that moment, Quill finally snapped out of it and grabbed Dean by the collar.

"This had better be true, or I'll..."

Dean looked at him with the air of someone who could see right through him, the corner of his mouth quirking.

"Quill, admit it. You can't actually bring yourself to kill Claire.

"Can you?"

As if terrified of having his true feelings exposed, Quill instantly turned his back to Dean.

"What the hell are you talking about!"

Dean laughed, then pulled out his phone and opened one video after another.