Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

Seven years ago, I saved Lucian, personally paved his way to the position of Vice President of the syndicate, and married him.

To protect him, I took twenty-seven wounds across my body. To this day, unextractable shrapnel remains embedded in my shoulder bone.

The doctors told me I would likely never be able to conceive.

Yet the husband I trusted most got my adopted sister, Chloe, pregnant.

He lied, telling me the pregnancy had been terminated, only to turn around, shield her behind his back, and force me to accept his illegitimate child.

When I threw the divorce papers in front of him, he locked away my passport, convinced I could never slip through his fingers.

What he didn't know was that I had already orchestrated everything.

This time, I was going to make him watch with his own eyes as the woman who once risked her life for him walked away forever.

Sienna's POV

Seven years ago, I saved Lucian's life. Later, I signed the marriage papers with him.

Ten years ago, I brought Chloe into my home, treating her like my own flesh and blood ever since.

Now, Lucian had gotten Chloe pregnant.

I was the one who taught him how to hold a gun. I was the one who pulled strings and shed blood to push him all the way to Vice President of the syndicate.

Chloe was kneeling on the floor of my office.

Her hands clutched her flat stomach as she looked up at me with tear-filled eyes.

"Sienna, I know I don't deserve to face you. But the baby is innocent. You have everything in the world, and all I have left is this child."

I took off my trench coat, hung it on the coat rack, and ignored her completely.

The door swung open, and Lucian stepped inside.

Seeing the woman kneeling on the floor, he paused for a fraction of a second before striding forward and pulling Chloe into his arms.

I looked at him, my expression blank.

"How do you plan to handle this?"

Lucian met my eyes squarely.

"This baby is all she has. You're my wife. You have everything you could ever want. Don't be so petty with her."

"Petty? How am I being petty?"

"Shoving her into a private hospital under our name—that's being petty. She's pregnant. Where else do you expect her to go?"

I pulled open my desk drawer, took out a set of divorce papers, and slammed them onto the desk.

"Sign it."

Lucian glanced down at the pages, making no move to pick up the pen.

Instead, his hand shot out, snatching my ID card and passport off the corner of the desk.

He took two quick strides toward the safe, punched in the code, shoved my documents inside, and slammed the heavy door shut. The lock clicked.

"You can't even leave this building. What makes you think you can divorce me?"

Only two people in the world knew the passcode to that safe.

Normally, only two things were kept inside: the syndicate's official seal and top-secret contracts.

Today, my identity documents were locked in with them.

I picked up the desk phone and dialed my executive assistant, Logan.

"Send Chloe to our private clinic. Book her for the most comprehensive prenatal care under our best specialists. I want all original lab results delivered straight to my desk."

The moment I hung up, Lucian walked over and wrapped his arms around me from behind.

He rested his chin directly against the old scar on my shoulder.

"Sienna, I can't live without you. Don't push me into a corner."

"Lucian, locking up my documents—are you afraid I'll run, or are you afraid I'll call the cops?"

He stayed silent, pressing his chin harder into the hollow of my shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere. The business, the household... I'll take care of everything for you."

I looked down at the hands wrapped around my waist.

Back then, those hands had trembled so violently he couldn't even pull a trigger properly. Now, they were strong enough to snatch my documents right out of my hands.

"Lucian, let's get a divorce."

The arms around my waist tightened violently. He didn't say another word.

I sat in my office chair well past midnight.

My phone buzzed on the desk.

A message from Logan popped up: [Miss Vance, the five overseas branch deployment slots have been approved. They're asking for the departure date.]

I typed back a single line: [Move it up.]

At the very top of that overseas roster was Chloe's name.

I opened the drawer and neatly put away the divorce agreement on my desk.

Tucked away in the hidden false bottom beneath it were three exact duplicates, all stamped with the syndicate's official seal.

As for that safe, I didn't spare it another glance.

I signed the transfer order sending Chloe overseas, setting the departure for ten days out.

The HR director knocked and stepped inside with the paperwork, hesitating by the edge of the desk.

"Miss Vance, Miss Miller is pregnant. Transferring her overseas right now... Lucian might..."

"Lucian will come to me himself. Process the transfer."

"But an overseas post requires at least six months on-site. Given her physical condition..."

I set my pen down and raised my eyes to him.

"Her life belongs to her. I only run the company."

The director swallowed his remaining words, closed the door quietly, and left.

I slid open the bottom drawer and pulled out an old employee badge.

It was the badge I had filled out myself on the day Lucian first entered the syndicate. Badge number: 001.

That afternoon, Logan brought in the prenatal screening reports.

I flipped to the gestational age and cross-referenced it with the calendar on my phone.

The conception date matched the exact week I had gone out of state to personally escort a high-risk transport convoy.

The night before I left, Lucian had told me over the phone that he had already taken Chloe to the clinic for a termination, telling me to focus on the mission with peace of mind.

I had trusted him blindly. I left my back completely exposed to him while I risked my neck out in the field for half a month.

And all the while, he had kept the baby safe and sound right under my roof.

From that exact second onward, I wouldn't believe a single word that came out of Lucian's mouth.

I closed the medical folder and reached for my lighter.

Tossing the reports and that badge 001 into the heavy crystal ashtray, I flicked the flame to life.

Tongues of fire licked the paper, slowly curling it into black ash.

I used the end of my fountain pen to crush the charred flakes, watching the plastic badge holder melt into a warped, blackened lump.

My face remained completely expressionless as the embers died out.

I knew exactly what Lucian was doing. He was keeping the child because he wanted an heir—a bloodline to solidify his grip on the Vice President seat.

Five years ago, I threw myself over Lucian to shield him from a grenade blast. A piece of shrapnel embedded itself deep into my shoulder bone. The surgeons couldn't dig it out.

The doctor had told me to my face that carrying a child to term was nearly impossible for me.

He wanted an heir, and my body was too broken to give him one.

Since I couldn't, he turned to Chloe.

When I got home that evening, Lucian was sitting in the living room wearing an apron, two sets of silverware laid neatly on the dining table.

The moment he heard the door open, he stood up.

"Are you really shipping Chloe overseas? That's my child in her belly."

I tossed my keys onto the entryway console and slipped off my heels.

"And?"

"Sienna, what do you actually want from me?"

I looked up into his eyes.

"The day I went out of state for that convoy transport, you told me on the phone that the pregnancy had been terminated."

Lucian's outstretched hand froze in midair. His Adam's apple bobbed.

"Lucian, you lied to me."

He took a step forward, trying to grab my wrist.

"Sienna, let me explain. That day, Chloe was on her knees threatening to kill herself. I..."

"Save your breath."

"Can't you trust me just this once? Don't you know who I actually care about?"

I stared directly into his eyes.

"I know. Better than anyone."

I shook off his hand, walked straight into the master bedroom, and turned the lock behind me.