Leon Santoro's ex-wife and their daughter pushed me down the stairs. I lost the baby.

Leon came to see me in the hospital. He sat beside the bed, his expression as composed as always, and said, "She's a child. She didn't know what she was doing. I'm sorry you had to go through this. I apologize for Rosalie."

"That's it?" I asked. "Just an apology?"

He turned to look at me.

"What else do you want? Money? Stock?"

"I can't exactly make Rosalie pay with her life for what happened to your child."

Your child.

Not our child.

So he truly never cared about the baby I was carrying. He'd made a promise to his ex-wife Giselle: Rosalie would be his only child.

When I told him I was pregnant, he'd barely reacted. Just a shrug and a flat "I know," like I'd told him the weather.

Thinking about it now, I looked at him and asked quietly, "You're relieved, aren't you? Now that the baby's gone."

Leon frowned. "Less talking. More resting."

I twisted the blanket in my fists, pressing creases into the fabric.

"The day I told you I was pregnant, you wanted me to get rid of it, didn't you? You never said it out loud, but it was all over your face."

That same afternoon, Giselle had shown up at our door, furious. I could hear them arguing through the wall, her voice sharp enough to hurt.

"Leon Santoro, don't you forget what you promised me. Rosalie is your only child."

"She has an IQ of 148. You swore to her she'd be the heir. That's the only reason I stopped trying for more. And now you're going to make Scarlett keep it? Get rid of it. Now."

Leon's voice came back slow and even, like cold water.

"The reason I divorced you is because you keep forgetting your place."

"I'll say it one more time: don't tell me what to do. I make my own decisions."

Silence.

Then Giselle's crying leaked through the crack under the door, steady and relentless, draining away every bit of joy I'd felt about the life growing inside me.

"Even if you don't care about me," she sobbed, "think about Rosalie. The doctors said her high IQ comes with high sensitivity. Another child doesn't just take away her father, it threatens her. Everything she's been groomed to be, the future heir of the entire East Coast operation, that's gone the moment you have another kid."

Knock. Knock. Knock.

When Leon thought, he tapped the table with his index finger. That night, the knocking sounded different, restless and almost angry.

The next morning, I quietly ironed his coat and saw him to the door. As he left, I said, "Watch yourself out there. Dodge the bullets. You're going to be a father."

He smiled faintly. "I already am a father."

Right. He already was — Rosalie was his only child.

My legs went weak. I grabbed the doorframe to steady myself.

He caught my arm. "Careful. You're going to be a mother."

It should have been a happy thing to say, but there wasn't a trace of happiness on his face.

I looked down and gave a thin smile. "I don't think you were all that happy about me becoming a mother, were you?"

Leon's brow tightened and his expression went colder than before. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I held his gaze.

Leon looked away, impatient.

"Scarlett. You know I hate being misunderstood. And I hate explaining myself even more."

I kept staring at him, stubborn as a tree in a storm. He glanced down at my stomach. "I've been busy this week. I won't be able to come by. Don't worry, I'll send someone to look after you."

After he left, the room felt hollow.

My stomach felt hollow too.

I turned and stared out the window. A life, small as a bird, had flown away without a trace. Not even a shadow left behind.

The next day, Leon didn't come and there was no call either.

I went to the follow-up appointment alone.

On my way out, I rounded a corner and nearly walked into Leon and his sister Iris. Their voices carried before I could see them.

"Leon, I know you married Scarlett because she was good to Rosalie."

"There are women all over New York who'd kill to be good to that girl, but you chose Scarlett. You must love her. Can you please just stop shutting her out? Talk to her. Work it out."

Leon sounded impatient.

"I needed someone to take care of Rosalie. Any woman would've done. Scarlett just happened to be prettier than the others."

"You're here to help look after her. Stay out of my marriage."

My knees gave. I grabbed the wall to keep from falling.

I'd always told myself Leon showed love differently, quietly and through actions. That the coldness was just who he was. I'd believed he loved me.

I was just the prettier option. That was all.

A passing nurse touched my shoulder. "Do you need help getting back to your room?"

Leon and Iris turned at the sound.

Leon glanced at me, then tilted his chin toward Iris without a word. "She's yours." He walked away.

Iris took my arm, searching my face, clearly worried.

"Scarlett, don't take it to heart. You know how he is."

"Giselle's been coming around all week, telling everyone you faked the fall to frame Rosalie. He's in a bad mood. He doesn't say it, but he does love you. I know he does."

She squeezed my arm. "Three months ago, for your anniversary, he flew back from Mexico just to be there. He dropped everything."

I stopped.

I'd been certain he wouldn't make it back. But he'd shown up at the door, dust still on his coat, and said the job was done and he'd suddenly wanted to see me. Maybe because the trouble had dragged on for so long that solving it left him wired, or whatever the reason, that night he'd been different. Reckless. He refused to take any precautions and indulged himself for once.

I still remembered clearly the moment he nipped my earlobe and breathed my name in a trembling voice.

I'd thought the baby came from that, from something real, something that night made real.

Now I wished he'd never come home at all.

I was in the hospital for a week.

Leon vanished without a word or a call.

My body felt scraped hollow, and I stopped caring whether Giselle was using Rosalie as an excuse to get close to him. I was too tired for that.

I went home to an empty house.

Rosalie was on the couch working a Rubik's cube. She looked up when I walked in, and something lit in her eyes.

"Scarlett, look."

She grabbed a gift box and held it up eagerly.

I looked away without a word.

Her body went still and the light in her eyes died. She slowly hid the box behind her back.

She was perceptive, the kind of child who could read a face like a page in a book.

I walked past her and went to my room.

I didn't think I could be around her the same way I used to be anymore.

That afternoon, Giselle let herself in.

She dropped an empty suitcase on the living room floor and started loading it.

One of the housekeepers stepped forward, flustered. "Miss Giselle, what are you doing?"

Giselle flinched at the word Miss, then turned vicious.

"I'm taking Rosalie to stay with me for a while."

"I've seen plenty of women try to use a child to climb. But a woman who hurts my child? Never. A person's heart doesn't always match their looks. I had to stay on guard. Tell Leon, if he wants to see his daughter, he can come to me."

Rosalie glanced at her, pressed her lips together, and spun the Rubik's cube faster.

The housekeeper looked up at me on the landing, desperate.

"Ma'am, the Don said Rosalie isn't to leave with Miss Giselle. Could you please speak with her? Tell her you'll take care of Rosalie just like before?"

Rosalie stopped moving. She looked up at me.

For a moment, maybe I imagined it, she seemed to want me to keep her here.

"Let Giselle take her."

"I need some time alone. I'm not up to being around Rosalie right now."

A second later, the Rubik's cube hit the floor.

Rosalie clutched the gift box to her chest. Her small frame trembled.

Giselle picked up the box and smiled. "Is this for me?"

Rosalie's long lashes fluttered. She looked at me once, then shook her head.

Giselle's smile turned ugly. She fixed me with a cold look.

"You've got her wrapped around your finger. But don't forget, she's Leon's daughter. She'll always be in his world."

"If you don't want to see her, the easiest solution is to divorce Leon."

I leaned against the railing above and looked down at her.

"You keep pushing for a divorce. Hoping Leon will take you back?"

She jabbed a finger up at me. "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Giselle was Don Vitali's daughter, but she was shallow and reckless, picking fights with Leon in front of people. As Leon once said, she never did learn her place. Their marriage barely lasted three years.

Rosalie jumped off the couch without looking at either of them and walked to the door.

"Stop fighting. Let's just go."

They left.

The housekeeper sighed.

"That gift, Rosalie's been carrying it around for days. Waiting for you to come home so she could give it to you first thing. We still don't know what's in it."