Chapter 3

On the other end of the line was the Locke family heir, Austin's arch-rival.

"Last time I asked you to marry me. Have you thought it over?"

Preston Locke's low voice came through the phone.

"Fine. I'll do it. Let's hold the wedding in a week. I have some personal matters to settle first."

I hung up and had barely slipped my phone back into my bag when someone moved up behind me.

A damp cloth clamped over my nose and mouth, and a sharp chemical smell flooded in.

The next instant, everything went black.

When I came to, a run-down warehouse swam into view, and I was tied to a chair, too weak to move.

Sylvia stood there turning a test report and a pregnancy stick over in her hands, delighted. "Claire, you're pregnant. What a coincidence, isn't it?"

"What?"

I stared at her, dazed, unable to believe there was already a tiny life inside me.

She held a small knife, laying the cold flat of the blade against my cheek, her voice venomous. "Why can I never win against you?"

"Do you know what happened? After I announced the wedding between me and Austin, he actually came to me and said we should keep it small, not invite too many people. All because of you!"

"Claire, let's make a bet. Let's see who he chooses this time. Whoever's left over can just die."

With that, she had her men tie her to a chair too.

The next moment, the warehouse doors were slammed open, and Austin rushed in with his bodyguards.

One of the kidnappers pressed a gun to my neck and Sylvia's. "Mr. Quinlan, you can only take one. The other one gets thrown into the sea to feed the sharks."

Sylvia gazed up at Austin, pitiful, her voice pleading. "Austin, I'm scared. Our baby is still waiting for us to come home."

"A minute ago I heard my sister talking with these kidnappers. Did she set this whole kidnapping up on purpose?"

I looked at her in disbelief, biting down hard on my lip. "It wasn't me. Sylvia did all of it! Austin, I'm carrying your child!"

At that, fury filled Austin's eyes. He bit out each word. "Impossible."

"The day Sylvia and I had our child, I went and got a vasectomy."

"Claire, how low can you go? Not only did you cheat, you deliberately staged a kidnapping to frame her."

My heart was being cut to pieces. A vast grief swallowed me whole, and I started laughing like a madwoman.

Austin looked at my belly, his eyes ice-cold. "I choose Sylvia."

"Do whatever you want with Claire. Better to get rid of that bastard in her belly."

Sylvia threw herself sobbing into Austin's arms, and he caught her, looking at me with disgust.

"Claire, I never should have protected you back then. It seems your parents were right all those years ago. A liar should never have been brought home."

"You should have died out there, so you couldn't come back and make everyone sick of you."

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

He was actually using the deepest, most painful scar inside me to wound me.

His heart had long since sided with Sylvia, just like Mom and Dad's.

I struggled to lunge forward, but the kidnappers pinned me and dragged me away.

"Sister, I won. Everything of yours is mine now."

Sylvia mouthed the words silently, her eyes full of triumph.

"Sylvia, I'm sorry I was late. I frightened you. At the wedding next week, I'll let everyone know you're my bride."

Austin's words poured into my ears. I stopped struggling, and the kidnappers shoved me into the bottomless sea.

Salty seawater rushed into my nose, and everything before me went dark.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the cramped bedroom at the Dawson house.

My parents glared at me with pure malice. "What do you still have to say for yourself?"

They dragged me roughly into Sylvia's room. "You kidnapped your sister and scared her half to death. How did I ever raise an ungrateful animal like you?"

My abdomen hurt terribly, and when I lifted my eyes toward the bed, I saw Sylvia wink at me, smug.

Rage burned away my reason. I lunged and grabbed Sylvia's arm, but she caught hold of me and said softly,

"Sister, do you know why Austin said you couldn't possibly be pregnant with his child? Because from the very first year you two were together, he swapped the vitamins you always took for sterilization pills."

I froze where I stood, tears sliding down my cheeks.

So it had all been one-sided from the start.

He had been cruel enough to strip me of even the right to become a mother.