Chapter 3

Elena POV

I looked up at him in disbelief.

"That's my entry for the Grasse Master Perfumer Competition. I spent two whole years on it. Countless nights in the lab to create that formula."

"You owe her this."

Damien slammed his hand on the desk and stood up, walking toward me step by step.

He grabbed my chin, squeezing so hard I thought my bones would break.

"Three years ago, if you hadn't pushed Lily down the stairs to force me to marry you, would she have lost her sense of smell? She's a genius perfumer and you destroyed her! Now you're handing over a few formulas as compensation. That's nothing!"

Tears welled up in my eyes from the pain, but I bit down hard, refusing to let them fall.

"I didn't push her! I've explained a thousand, ten thousand times. She lost her footing!"

"Shut up!"

Damien shoved me away violently.

I stumbled backward several steps. My lower back slammed into the hard wooden table. The pain made me gasp. I instinctively covered my stomach.

"I don't have the patience for your lies."

Damien looked down at me like I was worthless trash.

"You don't have to sign. Tomorrow morning, the hospital will disconnect your brother's ventilator. Go ahead and test me. See if I'm a man of my word."

My whole body went cold.

My brother was my only family in this world. My only weakness.

Three years ago, a car accident left Jamie in a vegetative state. He was kept alive by expensive imported machines and medications.

Damien knew exactly how to control me.

Like a venomous snake, he struck precisely at my pressure point.

I looked at this man I'd loved for ten years and suddenly felt like I was staring at a stranger.

Slowly, I bent down and picked up the papers and pen.

My hands shook so badly I could barely hold the pen, but I still signed my name on the last page, stroke by stroke.

Each stroke felt like carving into my own heart.

Lily hid behind Damien. As she watched me sign, a barely noticeable smirk crossed her lips.

I put down the pen and straightened up.

I took a deep breath and reached into my pocket, touching the ultrasound report.

"Damien, I'm pregnant."

I said it quietly.

Damien's cigarette-holding hand paused for a moment.

But quickly, the mockery in his eyes deepened until it was overwhelming.

"Pregnant? Elena Rivers, how many times are you going to play this disgusting trick?"

He stepped forward, his gaze coldly sweeping over my flat stomach.

"Even if you really are pregnant, a vicious woman like you doesn't deserve to carry my child. Go to the hospital tomorrow and get rid of it."

In that moment, my heart shattered completely into dust.

I didn't argue. I didn't cry or make a scene.

I just looked at Damien one last time, then turned and walked out of the office.

Outside, it had started pouring rain.

The icy rainwater pelted my body, bone-chillingly cold.

I'd barely stepped off the entrance stairs when a sharp, twisting pain tore through my abdomen.

My vision went black. My legs gave out and I collapsed into a puddle.

The rain instantly soaked through my clothes.

Just then, a black Maybach pulled up in front of me.

The door opened. Damien's bodyguard stepped out with an umbrella, looking down at me expressionlessly.

"Mrs. Cross, Mr. Cross has instructed that since you've signed the agreement, you're to report immediately to the basement lab. You have three days to complete the new fragrance. Miss White's launch event can't wait."

I clutched my stomach, breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain. I couldn't even form a complete sentence.

When the bodyguard saw I wasn't moving, he stepped forward and dragged me into the car like I was lifeless cargo.

The car door slammed shut, blocking out the sound of rain.

I curled up in the back seat. I felt something warm slowly trickling down the inside of my thighs.