My mercenary fiancé, Jax, spent the entire weekend at Hollywood superstar Seraphina Hayes's Malibu beach house to protect her.

When he returned, marked with hickeys, he knelt before me with bloodshot eyes, pointed a gun at his own head, and confessed.

"Ellie, she set me up. I broke our vows. I deserve to die!"

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through his left ear, leaving him deaf on that side for life.

My heart softened, and I chose to forgive him.

Nine months later, I was in a white dress, on my way to marry him.

That’s when the news broke. The superstar was pregnant. And she was on a rooftop, threatening to jump.

Once again, he knelt at my feet, a gun pointed at his head. "Ellie, just one last time, let me go save her."

"This time, I promise I'll end things with her for good."

After ten years of love, he thought my heart would soften again.

But my voice was steady when I spoke.

“Her, or me?” I asked. "If you choose her, we're done."

————————

1

"Ellie, I know what happened was my fault, but I'm also responsible for the child she's carrying."

"I can't just abandon her…"

Jax knelt on the floor, the usual fire in his eyes still blazing.

Those arrogant eyes were now bloodshot with worry for Seraphina.

I stood there silently, a chill settling deep in my heart.

"Miss Vance, you're not really going to let Jax shoot himself, are you?"

"Jax nearly died saving you. Isn't it enough that he's devoted himself to you for all these years?"

"Sera is so much better. She never gets jealous."

Jax's team members sneered from the sidelines.

A buzzing filled my head. All I could hear was the casual intimacy in the way they called her 'Sera.'

My eyes stung, and a sharp pain pierced my chest.

I looked down at Jax, my mind flashing back to the night ten years ago when my parents' private jet crashed.

Jax, on his first security detail, had pulled me from the blazing wreckage and into his arms, repeating over and over—

"Ellie, don't be afraid!"

"I'll protect you, even if it costs me my life!"

That night, the fire had burned his left shoulder raw, but he never once complained.

Now, in a daze, I saw the inferno again.

But the man who had promised to protect me for a lifetime was gone.

"Ellie, let me go!"

"I'll trade you this. Just let me go, this one time."

I looked down and saw Jax holding out a small, silver religious medal.

Tears I had been holding back finally streamed down my face.

"Jax, are you sure you want to trade this for Seraphina?"

With one hand, I took the medal, my fingers trembling as I snatched the gun from his other hand.

I pressed it to his temple and questioned him in a low voice.

Three years ago, Jax was critically injured on a mission, so close to death.

I had crawled up the three thousand steps to the sanctuary, my knees bloody and raw, just to get this blessed St. Christopher medal for him.

The day I put it around his neck, I smiled, joking that if he ever truly broke my heart, he could use this medal to earn my forgiveness, just once.

But I never imagined he would use that one-time pass—for Seraphina.

Staring at Jax, my heart clenched so painfully it felt like my whole body ached.

The next second, his subordinate, Mike, suddenly shouted.

"Jax, bad news!"

"Sera's hemorrhaging!"

The kneeling Jax shot to his feet, his face twisting with irritation.

"Eleanor, it's just a medal! Do you have to be so unreasonable?"

"Fine! I'll give you what you want!"

A sneer touched the corner of his lips.

Jax wrenched the gun from my grasp and, without a second thought, aimed at his own right arm and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet tore into his flesh.

Blood streamed down his wrist.

"The shot's been fired. Are you satisfied now, Eleanor Vance?"

"If you're satisfied, then wait for me to come back and finish the wedding!"

With a final, cold glare, Jax threw the gun to the ground and turned to leave.

White petals littered the now-desolate wedding venue.

I stood in the silence for a long moment before picking up my phone to make a call.

"Dr. Evans, this is Eleanor Vance. I need you to schedule an abortion for me, please."

After hanging up, I stood silently for a long moment before my legs buckled and I collapsed.

I fell from the wedding dais, landing on shards from a shattered champagne flute that pierced my palm.

As pain shot through me, my grief hardened into steel.

The man I had loved for ten years was rotten to the core.

And I was done with him.

Ignoring the throbbing in my hand, I took a taxi to the hospital.

I deleted all the messages about my pregnancy tests from three days ago.

Just as I was about to ask the receptionist about the procedure, a hand grabbed my arm.

"Jax, it's Miss Vance!"

Jax's teammate, Mike, held my arm in a vise grip, a mocking look in his eyes.

When Jax, rushing past with Seraphina in his arms, saw me, his features tightened with annoyance.

"Ellie, I told you I would come back to finish the wedding after I handled this. Why did you follow me here?"

"Do you really not trust me at all?"

His tone was accusatory, his expression a mask of barely suppressed irritation.

"Jax, Eleanor is being so thoughtless!"

"Yeah! Sera is pregnant and high-risk. It's not like she's the one who's pregnant, yet she still followed you all the way to the hospital..."

"I think she did it on purpose, to upset Sera!"

Jax's face grew colder with every word.

"Ellie, you've really disappointed me this time."

"Don't you know Seraphina has depression and is carrying a child?"

"Did you have to be so selfish, especially right now?"

Hearing the word 'selfish,' my heart clenched.

My fingernails dug into my palm, and my lips trembled, unable to form words.

Ten years ago, maybe I was selfish.

But in the ten years I was with Jax, I tried so hard to be anything but a burden.

I was bullied at school but never said a word, suffering in silence.

When he was injured on missions, I stayed by his side, tending to his wounds myself.

I went from a pampered princess to a puppet who lived only for him.

For ten years, my entire world had revolved around Jax.

What right did he have to call me selfish?

Trembling, I spoke through gritted teeth.

"Jax, I came to the hospital today to get an abortion—"

Before I could finish, Seraphina, in his arms, suddenly let out a pained cry.

"Jax, let me go!"

"Just let me die!"

"Don't you see what a burden I am?"

"If the baby and I die, you'll finally get what you want!"

Seraphina's wail was pure theater, right up until her face went pale and she fainted in his arms.

"Get out of the way!"

"Eleanor Vance, you've truly let me down!"

Jax barked coldly, shoving me aside as he rushed toward the emergency room with Seraphina cradled in his arms.

I slammed against the hard hospital wall, and a sharp, tearing pain shot through my abdomen.

Blood trickled down my legs, the sensation distant and unreal.

As my consciousness began to fade, my mind drifted back to my eighteenth birthday.

Jax had been gone on a mission for three months.

When he returned, his throat had been slashed, and his voice was a raw, broken rasp.

That night, he insisted on singing 'Happy Birthday' to me.

Every line was painfully off-key.

But each off-key note settled into my heart, warming me from the inside out.

From then on, every birthday wish I made was for Jax's safety.

Looking back now, the memory is a bitter joke.

With trembling hands, I gritted my teeth and pushed myself up, activating a top-priority request on a secure mercenary network.

A few minutes later, the contract was accepted.

My body went limp. Leaning against the wall, I was about to slide to the floor when I was slapped hard across the face.

"Eleanor Vance, something is wrong with Sera's baby. This is your fault, isn't it?"

"Jax, Miss Vance is just too much!"

"Sera's been carrying the baby for months without a problem. The moment she runs into you, the baby is in distress."

"I knew she was too jealous to let it go. Turns out she was planning this all along."

"She's so vicious!"

The men sneered, their eyes filled with open contempt.

I was still holding my stinging cheek, my mind reeling, when Jax violently grabbed my arm.

"Eleanor Vance, you're coming with me to apologize to Sera!"

"What you did today absolutely disgusts me!"

"Sera and the baby are innocent. How could you do this?"

He roared, his grip tightening until my vision swam with black spots. I struggled, and my head slammed against the hospital wall.

A warm liquid trickled down my temple. I reached up and my fingers came away wet with blood.

Jax's face went slack, a flash of panic in his eyes. His fingers trembled as he opened his mouth to speak.

But a nurse rushed over, shouting.

"Emergency! Miss Hayes has a scalpel and is trying to harm herself!"

The flicker of guilt in Jax's eyes vanished instantly.

His expression turned to ice. He grabbed me and dragged me toward the emergency room.

"Jax, you know I grew up an orphan. All I've ever wanted in this life is a child of my own."

"What did I do wrong? My only mistake was falling in love with you…"

"I'm going to cut this cursed child out of me right now!"

Inside the ER, Seraphina finished her tragic speech and slashed the scalpel across her swollen belly.

Blood welled up as tears streamed down her face.

The corners of Jax's eyes reddened, the pain in them raw and unconcealed.

He coaxed her in a low voice.

"Sera, please, put the scalpel down."

"If we lose this child, we can have another…"

Hearing Jax promise Seraphina another child, I laughed. A dry, broken sound as my heart seized and tears finally fell.

Ten years ago, when I lost my family, Jax held me and told me he would be my family.

Three years ago, when we got engaged, he promised me we would have a child of our own.

The bitter irony of it all was suffocating.

"Jax, I want Eleanor Vance to pay! The one who hurt our child has to pay!"

"I want her to have the surgery with me!"

"If I'm getting cut open, she's not getting away with it!"

Seraphina's eyes were wild with rage as she held the scalpel to her own neck.

"Sera, put it down!"

"I promise you! Anything you want!"

A roar filled my ears. I looked up at Jax in disbelief.

Ten years. Ten years he’d protected me, terrified I’d so much as burn myself while cooking. And now… now he had just agreed to let them cut me open.

"Jax, you can't. I'm pregnant—"

My fingers trembling, I clutched his sleeve.

But my words were drowned out by Seraphina's shriek.

"Ah!"

"My stomach! It hurts so much!"

She screamed, tears streaming down her face.

Jax let go of me and rushed to her side.

"Go! Get to the company hospital now! Start the surgery immediately!"

Aegis Tactical's off-the-books hospital.

Jax's teammates strapped me to an operating table. I struggled with all my might.

A dirty rag was stuffed into my mouth.

"Keep it down, Miss Vance!"

"Sera is right next door. Don't disturb her!"

The foul stench in the air made my stomach churn.

But from the other side of a thin curtain, I heard Jax's gentle, coaxing voice.

"Sera, don't be afraid."

"I'll be with you the whole time…"

Familiar words. The same words from ten years ago.

Hearing them again, a hollow cavern of pain opened in my chest, and silent tears slid from the corners of my eyes.

Then I heard the doctor's urgent voice.

"Jax, there's only one dose of the strong painkiller left."

"We don't have enough anesthesiologists. We can only put one of them under for the surgery…"

"Then give it to Sera!"