Chapter 1

[ LIANA’S POV ]

At my son's first birthday party, a group of men disrupted the celebration and kidnapped me and my son to an abandoned warehouse.

I suspected it was the handiwork of one of my husband's jealous business rivals trying to throw him off balance and make him lose an upcoming competition.

They tied me to a chair and made me watch while screaming in agony as they cut my son's little body with a machete… piece by piece… as if they were planning to sell him in parts.

I cried blood when they made me hold a piece of him. They were about to take a photo when the gate crashed open.

A group of armed soldiers stormed in, firing shots everywhere. My husband—Zane—was behind them, yelling my name at the top of his voice.

He rescued me with a private helicopter, but I collapsed with shock before we got to the hospital.

A few weeks passed before I barely recovered from everything, and was discharged from the hospital.

I woke up early in the morning in our bedroom but couldn't find my husband beside me on the bed.

I made my way downstairs, but froze halfway when I overheard my husband's conversation with his brother coming from the living room… and I almost collapsed with shock again.

“...Bro, I'm amazed you could go so far as to kill your own son and render your wife childless. It's too much.” Ethan said.

My chest took a hard blow. I gasped quietly, gripping the handrail to hold myself in place.

I looked around with barely opened eyes. This had to be a dream. I had collapsed from the shock of what happened… so maybe I was still in shock and imagining things that weren’t real.

But Ethan continued to speak and knocked me off the little balance I had left. I bent quietly to my knees, my eyes fixed on their backs.

“I was in shock when you stormed in with those soldiers since you said it was going to be a small operation. I almost thought I was getting arrested for real.”

I inhaled heavily, beads of sweat dropping from my forehead.

“Why would I arrest you for something we both planned out, Ethan? I would never betray you like that. We had to storm in that way to make it seem more convincing to Liana… so she wouldn't see a chance to doubt me saving her from those men.”

“The love of my life will be returning to the country soon with our son. Liana's son had to go so there would be peace. You know Selena's son has always been the heir to my empire.” Zane was grinning as he said.

I blinked uncontrollably… holding back tears, and my breath caught in my throat.

How could he? He took the life of our dear son for his ex-wife. The same woman who ran off after stealing half of his fortune.

I took a step back, meaning to run back to the bedroom, but they still weren't done talking, and I couldn't help but stay back, even though it felt like my heart was already slowly dropping to the pit of my stomach.

“Well, you finally got what you wanted. The only reason you had a son with Liana in the first place was to use him as a spare parts baby to provide a bone marrow you could harvest for you and Selena's son. But why did you have to take Liana's worm out too? She thought she was just at the hospital to rest.” Ethan whispered.

My body trembled as if I had just been thrown into ice water. I stayed frozen, remembering why I had woken up feeling strangely hollow a few days ago at the hospital.

“You know Selena and I are the real deal. I couldn't just stand by and watch our precious son die of leukemia. Selena was having some fertility issues, too, so we had to harvest Liana's worm for her. I believe it was the right thing to do… Selena is the only one I want to have babies with anyway, not Liana.” Zane spat without emotion.

No. This can't be real. This had to be a dream… a nightmare. My chest was burning. I covered my mouth with both hands to stop the crying building in my throat.

I wanted to storm towards Zane and confront him but instead, I quietly turned away and made my way back to the bedroom.

I climbed back on the bed, my head heavy with thoughts.

The same man who used to make me feel safe was now making me feel stupid.

I flinched when I heard their voices.

“I just think you could have done this a whole different way, Zane. Killing Liana's son in such an inhumane way should never have been an option at all. What if she finds out it was your doing? How are you going to handle the consequences?!” Zane asked.

I held my breath and dragged the duvet over my head. It was hot and I almost couldn't breathe… but the feeling of having lost my precious baby to such cruelty was heavier than that.

“Don’t be such a weakling, Ethan. There are no consequences. You’ve been there from the start. You, of all people, know just how much I love Selena. She did what she did and ran off only because she was scared, nothing more. I don't even mind, she is still my forever love. Liana means nothing to me, so even if she finds out… I don't fucking care. She loves me like a mad fool, she wouldn't even be able to do anything.” Zane growled.

“Take it easy before she hears us.” Ethan snarled gently.

“That can't happen. She is heavily medicated right now. They gave her something to knock her out for a few more days.” Zane said.

I sat up at the sound of their footsteps heading back down. “Selena and my son need me now. I have to be with them.”

I kept my eyes squeezed shut, feeling my head pounding with a headache.

I wrapped my arms around myself, struggling to keep my tears in. They took my innocent little boy from me. The tears finally dropped when I remembered how they were cutting his body like pieces of meat.

And it was all Zane's doing? All for the sake of his first love. I should have left when I had the chance to. But I stayed… only for it to cost the life of my son and be used.

Zane planned all of this out. All along, he had only thought of our son as a spare part he couldn't wait to harvest for his other beloved son. And me too… he took my womb and gave it to her! How could he do such a thing to me?!

I've done nothing wrong to him except love him wholeheartedly but he was breaking and betraying me like this for the same woman who stole from him and almost drowned him in debts if I hadn't stepped in and cleaned up his mess when no one else would—I had poured my entire fortune into saving him.

Zane was right. I really did love him like a mad fool. But that didn't mean I would keep being one after all these.

I reached for my phone and replied to the one text message I hadn't replied to in four years.

My phone lit up with an incoming call almost immediately.

“My possession, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear from you.” His voice slid through the speaker, warm and familiar.