On the night of the birthday party, the villa was ablaze with light.

Mia wore an expensive custom gown, like a porcelain doll without a soul, tightly held by James at her side.

He was unusually patient and gentle today. His gestures were intimate, as though they were a perfectly loving couple.

Only Mia could feel the iron grip of control in the hand resting on her waist.

“Tired?” James noticed her stiffness and leaned down, asking in a low voice, “Just a little longer. Once we cut the cake, it’ll be over. I ordered it specially for you. You’ll love it.”

Cake?

Mia had long since stopped expecting surprises from James.

This so-called birthday celebration felt more like a corporate meeting.

The enormous three-tiered cake was rolled out, extravagantly decorated with delicate sugar roses.

James grabbed her hand, guiding her over the knife as they cut the cake together.

At that moment, the guests barely forced out their congratulations to Mia.

Suddenly, a scream echoed from a corner of the hall, followed by the shrill crash of broken porcelain.

A middle-aged guest clutched his mouth. There was crimson bleeding between his fingers. He staggered backward and knocked over a champagne tower behind him.

From the other direction came more gagging sounds, and a noblewoman, whose face was ghostly pale, fell to her knees, spewing pieces of cake.

“Something’s… something’s wrong with the cake!

“It’s poisoned! Someone poisoned it!”

“Quiet! Stay calm!” James’s voice cut through the chaos. He yanked Mia behind him, eyes sharp as a hawk, scanning the room.

His face was stone. His gaze moved through the panicked crowd until it landed on Zinnia’s instantly pale face.

He remembered clearly that all the arrangements for this birthday, especially the cake, had been volunteered by Zinnia herself.

Still, only for a moment did his eyes linger.

Then, they shifted slowly to Mia.

Mia felt as though she had fallen into an ice pit.

“My apologies, everyone, for the scare.” James's calm voice was steady and commanding, carrying an authority that brooked no opposition. “Tonight’s incident will be thoroughly investigated. The Yorick family will compensate tenfold for any medical expenses and damages.

“As for this cake…” His tone turned cold.

“It was Mia’s responsibility.”

Mia felt like she was struck by lightning. She looked up at him in disbelief.

“No… it wasn’t me…” rasped Mia. Her voice was dry and hoarse.

However, no one cared for her explanation.

“So, it was her…”

“How could Don Yorick marry such a venomous woman?”

Each whisper and murmur was like a poisoned arrow striking her heart.

She looked at James.

He knew! He knew Zinnia was responsible!

Yet he chose to sacrifice her, to protect Zinnia.

“James…” Her lips trembled, forcing out words with all her strength. “It was clear…”

“Shut your mouth!” James’s voice cut through sharply. He turned to his waiting aides and said in an icy tone, “Take her to the basement holding room and let her calm down. No one lets her out without my order.”

The words basement holding room struck Mia like a thunderclap.

She had severe claustrophobia, and James knew it!

The memory of being locked and tortured in an abandoned restroom years ago had left deep psychological scars.

Yet he intended to lock her in there?!

“No! James! Don’t put me in there! I’m scared! I swear I’m not lying! There’s something in the cake! It’s Zinnia! She did this!”

Mia completely panicked. “I don’t want to go there! I’ll die! Please!”

James bent down and peeled her fingers away one by one. His gaze was ice cold, stripped of even a trace of warmth. “Babe, listen. You need to calm down.

“Take her away!”

Two black-clad aides advanced, showing no mercy as they hoisted Mia off the ground and dragged her from the hall.

James loosened his tie irritably as he watched her disappear down the corridor.

Zinnia approached. Her voice was soft, tinged with guilt. “James, it’s my fault. If it weren’t for me…”

“It’s none of your business, Zinnia.” James patted her hand. His tone softened. “She was just too reckless. Come on, let’s go calm the guests.”

He put his composed, polite smile back on and, together with Zinnia, walked toward the whispering crowd, as though the earlier incident had never happened.

Mia curled up in the cold corner, trembling all over.

The sting on her face was still fresh, but what terrified her more was the endless darkness and the suffocating confinement.

Childhood shadows and the nightmare from six years ago crashed over her in waves.

Her breathing grew shallow. It was like her heart was clenched by an invisible hand, nearly jumping out of her chest.

“Let me out… please… let me out…”

She pounded helplessly on the heavy iron door. Her nails scraped bloody scratches into the wall. Her throat was so hoarse she could barely make a sound.

She had no sense of how long time had passed until a soft click of the lock sounded and a beam of light cut through the darkness.

Her eyes brightened. She scrambled toward it. “James, let me out! I-I know I was wrong! Please…”

Her voice died as she saw who had come.

Zinnia stood at the doorway, elegant and composed, looking down at her in utter disarray.

She leaned slightly forward. Her delicate fingers flicked over the lavish sapphire necklace at her throat, seemingly without a thought.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Zinnia’s voice was low. Each word was laced with poison. “James gave it to me. He said the color suits me.

“Thirty thousand of your nude photos got it for me, I hear.”

The scars she had long buried, the wounds that had numbed her with pain were ripped open by James’s own hand.

This necklace, now on another woman’s neck, was flaunted to crush the last shred of her dignity into dust.

Zinnia crouched, lifting Mia’s chin with a fingertip.

“Did you really think James loved you? You’re just a stray dog he picked up on a whim. He plays with you when he’s amused, discards you when he isn’t. No matter what I do, he will always be on my side.

“No woman by the Don’s side should be as pathetic as you, shrieking and sobbing at every little thing.

“You… are simply not worthy.”

Mia’s pupils dilated. She had no strength left to argue; only endless despair and numbness remained.

Then, outside the holding room, a series of sharp thuds and the crash of heavy objects rang out.

A few masked, armed men broke through the perimeter without warning, storming into the underground area.

Their movements were precise. It was as though they knew every inch of this place.

“Don’t move!”

Cold gun barrels were pressed against Zinnia’s and Mia’s temples.

They were pinned down with brute force, cloth forced into their mouths, hands cruelly tied behind them.

“Don Yorick’s women? Perfect timing!”

Mia’s mind went blank. She could not understand what was happening.

She only felt the darkness swallowing her completely.

…

Then, she opened her eyes again.

She was in an abandoned warehouse at the dock.

The masked men shoved her and Zinnia to the center.

Across from them stood James, whose face was dark as iron.

“Let them go.”

From the shadows, a man in a crisp white suit stepped forward, calm and composed.

The man was Shawn Gray, the young don of the Gray family.

He clapped slowly with a playful smile on his face.

He signaled his men to push Mia and Zinnia forward. The ticking of explosives attached to the women echoed clearly in the silent warehouse, each second slipping away.

“Of course.”

His words came slow and measured as though he was discussing nothing more serious than the weather. “I’ve prepared the full transfer documents for the East Harbor Dock.”

A subordinate handed him a folder.

“Sign this, and you can take one of these two women. The choice is yours. As for the one you leave behind… she’ll go out with a bang, becoming history along with this old dock.”

He made an explosive gesture with his hand with a cruel smile on his face.

Tears streamed down Zinnia’s cheeks as she looked at James. “James, no matter what choice you make, I won’t blame you.

“Maybe… I should go to heaven too, to meet your brother…”

Mia lifted her head as well, staring at James through swollen, reddened eyes. Her gaze was filled with despair.

Her lips parted as though she wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

Would he choose her?

Even once?

James’s eyes darted rapidly between the two women.

Zinnia’s sobbing, his brother’s last wish, and the interests of the family…

Mia’s hollow, despairing eyes made his heart clench for reasons he could not explain.

However, the emotions were quickly smothered by a stronger thought.

She was always like this, bringing trouble, causing chaos. She was a burden, through and through. He had already done more than enough for her.

Besides, Shawn was probably just bluffing.

He would not dare…

That was right. He would not dare!

Second by second, time slipped away. The ticking of the bomb sounded like a countdown to death.

Finally, James made his decision. He almost roared it out, pointing at Zinnia.

“Let her go!”

Those three words were like a final verdict.

“As expected of Don Yorick, loyal and righteous. Truly touching.” Shawn clapped mockingly. He took the signed equity transfer agreement from James and gave him a satisfied but chillingly cold smile.

“Got what I came for.” He casually handed the document to a trusted subordinate.

“But…” Shawn’s tone shifted. His grin turned wildly arrogant. “I’ve changed my mind. Why should all the good things go to your Yorick family? I want the docks, and as for your people… I never said I’d return them in one piece.”

Before he could even finish his sentence, two of his men lunged forward, grabbing Zinnia, who had just had the bomb removed and was still in shock, along with Mia. They roughly dragged both women toward the rusted iron door at the back of the warehouse.

“Shawn Gray! How dare you!” James’s eyes were splitting with rage as he raised his gun.

“Game over, Don Yorick. Hope you like this little gift!”

Shawn laughed loudly as he fell back. His men retreated in a disciplined formation, taking turns to cover one another.

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out again, but Shawn’s people were clearly prepared, fighting as they withdrew.

James chased after them. The moment he burst out the back door of the warehouse, he saw Shawn standing on a speedboat with its engine already running, several meters away from the dock.

Meanwhile, the two men bringing up the rear shoved the two struggling women down with brutal force.

Splash!

Splash!

Two splashes erupted on the pitch-black, churning surface of the sea.

“Hahahaha! James, until we meet again! I hope you’ve learned how to make the right choice next time!”

Shawn’s manic laughter faded into the roar of the engine as the speedboat tore across the water, disappearing into the night and sea mist.

“Zinnia!” James’s pupils shrank. Without a second’s hesitation, and without even glancing at where Mia had fallen, he leapt straight into the water toward Zinnia.

The sea was icy cold, sharp with salt.

Zinnia could not swim. Panicked, she flailed wildly and clung to James as though he was her only lifeline.

James struggled to support her, dragging her with all his strength toward the dock.

Less than five meters away, Mia’s body was slowly sinking into the freezing water.

Seawater flooded her mouth and nose. The agony of suffocation swept over her. It was far more terrifying than the darkness of the confinement room.

The deep sea felt like countless hands pulling her toward a bottomless abyss.

In the final moment before consciousness completely slipped away, through the blurred, wavering surface of the water, she saw shadows and lights by the dock. She saw James jump without hesitation toward Zinnia. She saw him giving everything to keep another woman afloat. She saw that he did not even turn his head to look her way…

All the pain, the struggle, the humble pleading, the ridiculous hope…

In that instant, they turned to ashes and sank into the icy depths.

Before the last gulp of seawater filled her lungs, she used the final trace of life left in her and screamed with everything she had,

“I hate you…”

James’s body stiffened for a split second, but he still did not stop.

Mia stared at the flickering figures on the dock.

Her chest was full of water now. Her body felt unbearably heavy as it kept sinking.

She saw James, soaked through, carrying Zinnia ashore. She also saw him take off his coat and wrap it around Zinnia’s trembling shoulders.

He scooped her up in his arms.

He never looked back, from beginning to end.

Not even once.

The last glimmer of light in Mia’s eyes finally went out.

So be it.

She slowly closed her eyes. Saltwater ran down the corners of her eyes, blending with the final tear she had left to shed.

So be it.

‘James, goodbye, forever.’

…

On the other hand.

James sat drenched on a bench outside the ER. A cigarette burned halfway down between his fingers. Ash fell onto his soaked pant leg, unnoticed.

Zinnia had been taken to a hospital room. The doctor said she had inhaled some water and suffered shock, but she would be fine.

“Boss, you should have your wound treated too.”

One of his men reminded him quietly, gesturing to the blood where a stray bullet had grazed his arm.

He did not seem to hear. Mechanically, he raised his hand to reach for his cigarette pack, only to touch something stiff inside the inner pocket of his coat.

His movement froze.

The paper had not been completely soaked by seawater, but the folded edges were soft and waterlogged. The ink had bled slightly, yet the bold title at the top was still clearly legible.

[Early Pregnancy Ultrasound Report]