"Angelina, I gave up my dreams for you. All I ask is that you keep the child. If you agree, we can go get our marriage certificate right now.”

The words echoed through the bustling hospital lobby like gunfire, stopping me in my tracks.

My hands tightened around the edges of the premarital checkup and pregnancy report. The paper crumpled under the weight of my trembling hands.

It seemed like I was watching a scene that felt ripped from the pages of a betrayal novel. There he was—Xavier Knight, my boyfriend of ten years, the ruthless boss of the Knight family, kneeling before her.

His usual cold demeanour was replaced with a desperation I’d never seen in all the ten years I’d loved him.

I, Scarlett Thomson, came there expecting a future with him. Instead, I found him proposing to another woman, the one I had always suspected but never confronted.

Meanwhile, Angelina, the delicate yet dangerous woman who had haunted my nightmares, smirked softly.

Her hand was brushing over her stomach—a gesture so casual, yet it stole the air from my lungs. She extended her left hand and eventually allowed him to slide the ring onto her finger.

It was the same ring that I had once admired in his possession.

Then my eyes turned towards the gathered onlookers. Many of them were likely members of the Knight Mafia Family.

They erupted in cheers and applause. Their whistles and hollers pierced through me like bullets.

They kissed. Passionately. Publicly. As if my presence didn’t matter. As if I didn’t exist.

The next moment, I tore the checkup and pregnancy test reports in half. Afterward, I let the pieces of paper fall to the cold, polished floor.

The weight of my ten years with Xavier crushed me, but I refused to break here. Not now. Not in front of them.

Three years ago, he had made it clear that an out-of-wedlock pregnancy would be a liability to his position in the family.

When I told him I was carrying his child, he left without hesitation. He left me alone to deal with the consequences. Alone, I had lost our child. Alone, I had grieved.

But for Angelina? For her child? He had abandoned his lifelong ambitions. He stepped down from the family business to ensure her safety and happiness.

My child wasn’t enough for him. But hers? Hers had changed everything.

Tears fell from my cheeks, I turned on my heel and walked away. With every step, I left the shattered pieces of my heart and those damned reports behind.

When I reached the parking lot, I spotted them again. Xavier and Angelina were standing by his black armoured SUV. The next moment, their conversation drifted toward me on the breeze.

“Xavier, if you want to marry me, you have two options: either cancel your engagement.” She paused.

“Or?” Xavier raised his left eyebrow in a flirtatious tone.

“Or make Scarlett your bridesmaid.”

My stomach twisted as my name left her lips.

“Cancelling the engagement isn’t right. I don’t want you to be gossiped about,” he said, painting the picture of the honourable mafia man.

“Then make Scarlett my bridesmaid!”

The nerve of this woman.

Then I heard Xavier’s laughter was low and indulgent, almost affectionate. “All right, my darling. Now you can rest easy and marry me, right?”

“But you have to tell her on the wedding day. If she runs away, I won’t have a bridesmaid!” Angelina added further.

Her laughter echoed like bells, mocking me from afar.

“Don’t worry,” he said, his tone laced with confidence. “She owes me her life. I’ve protected her for ten years. Now that I’ve found someone whom I want to protect for a lifetime, asking her for this small favour will surely save her face. She’ll eventually agree.”

My body trembled with suppressed fury as they kissed again. Their lips locked together as if the world was their stage, and I was nothing more than a spectator.

How wrong they were.

In no time, I slid into my car, slammed the door shut, and gripped the steering wheel. I wasn’t the weak, naive girl Xavier thought I was. Not anymore.

I called my uncle, the head of the Vega Mafia family.

“Uncle,” I said, my voice steady but laced with venom. “Does your organisation have room for one more?”

There was a pause before he chuckled. “Tired of playing house with Knight? Finally ready to come home?”

Afterward, my eyes turned toward the pile of prescriptions and vitamins meant to prepare my body for pregnancy—our future that never was.

“Getting married and having kids isn’t everything,” I said, my voice firm. “Building power, reclaiming what’s mine, that's what matters now.”

My uncle’s laughter deepened. “Then pack your bags. I’ll make sure you’re so busy, you won’t have time to think about him or his betrayal.”

“In this world, trust is a weapon. And with us by your side, there’s no obstacle you can’t overcome.”

Those were Xavier Knight’s words when I became part of the Xnight Mafia family. I had believed him, trusted him.

Until today.

If I hadn't stumbled upon those love messages between Xavier and Angelina, I would have still believed that he was my soulmate, the man destined to rule the underworld with me.

But the truth was, those ten years of loyalty and devotion? They were nothing but a cruel lie.

When I collected the reports of my premarital checkup, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the betrayal.

I saw him on his knees, proposing to the very woman who had nearly ended my life, everything got blurred. My eyes couldn't believe the sight.

He had retired from the family’s assassination squad for her. For Angelina.

For the last few years, I was afraid that our long separations would lead him astray, but I never imagined it would be with her—the woman whose jealousy had once driven her to try to kill me.

The betrayal hit like a sharp knife to my chest. Xavier was the man whom I loved for ten years. Now she has turned his back on me. Moreover, just to prove his loyalty to her, he was planning to humiliate me at their wedding.

The scene of Xavier proposing to Angelina was still playing fresh in my mind as I drove, making it hard to focus. It seemed like the world was ending for me.

At that moment, I heard the loud sounds of engines behind me. A series of sleek black cars appeared in my rearview mirror, too close, too fast. My grip tightened on the steering wheel.

They were gaining on me.

I pressed the accelerator, hoping to shake them off, but the black cars kept tailing me. They were dangerously close.

My pulse spiked. I knew who they were—the Bianchi family, a rival mafia gang. I wasn’t stupid. They’d been after the Knight family for years.

I swerved, taking a sharp turn down an alley, hoping to lose them in the narrow streets. But they followed relentlessly as if they knew exactly where I’d go.

I could feel that my breath was uneven and my chest tightened. The first car tried to overtake me on the left. Seeing that, I slammed the brakes. I was trying my best to avoid a collision as it swerved past.

The second car followed closely, but I darted through a side street, forcing it to lose ground.

My heart raced, my breath shallow, but I didn’t look back. I could hear the screech of tires as they tried to follow, but I was faster.

I pushed the car to its limits, weaving through traffic, and finally lost it when I took another sharp turn into a quieter road.

I slowed, trying to steady my breath, my hands still trembling. They hadn’t caught me—this time.

My grip on the steering wheel tightened as my pulse raced. It was the time when my phone buzzed.

“Angelina,” Xavier’s voice was calm, yet laced with authority. “The doctor said you’ve already picked up the report. Where are you?”

I struggled to suppress the emotions boiling within me. Then I took a deep breath and said, “I think Bianchi's are after me.”

Before he could say, I added further, “But I escaped.”

His tone immediately sharpened, and the commanding edge that I once admired took over. “Don’t move. I’m coming right now.”

---

By the time he arrived in his sleek black car, Angelina was with him. She was sitting like a queen in the passenger seat. My heart clenched, but I could only focus on her.

The next moment, she stepped out with him. There was a mask of concern on her face. But it didn’t fool me for a second.

Relief was evident as Xavier looked at me. “Thank God you’re okay,” he said, but his next words cut deeper than any wound. “I met Angelina in the hospital. She insisted on coming as she was worried about you.”

“Did she insist on coming to make sure I’m still alive?” I asked coldly.