Chapter 6

Sienna's POV

The appreciation gala kicked off in the grand ballroom on the top floor of the syndicate's headquarters.

Chloe walked in clinging tightly to Lucian's arm. Though her stomach barely showed a bump, she carried herself with absolute arrogance, her spine ramrod straight.

Holding a glass of juice, she deliberately circled around to stand directly in front of me, slowing her pace.

"Sienna," Chloe said, her voice bright and clear enough for half the hall to hear, "I'm carrying Lucian's child. Even if you despise me, you can't touch me."

The murmur of conversation around the room instantly died down. Dozens of eyes swung toward us.

Lucian gently patted the back of Chloe's hand.

"Chloe, don't make a scene in front of our guests."

His tone was sickeningly natural.

I glanced at him, then turned to the passing server.

"Bring Miss Miller a plate of warm appetizers. Pregnant women need comfort food."

Just then, an old enterprise client approached with a tumbler of bourbon, clapping Lucian on the shoulder and steering him toward the terrace to discuss the security contract for the next quarter's heavy transit route.

Lucian glanced at me, hesitated, and followed the client out.

The second his foot stepped onto the terrace, I turned to Chloe.

"Walk with me."

Chloe's expression flickered with unease, but with a room full of high-profile guests watching, she had no choice but to follow.

Halfway down the corridor, Chloe reached into her designer clutch, feeling for her phone.

Without looking back, I spoke calmly: "Don't waste your time texting him. He's closing a multimillion-dollar logistics deal on the terrace. He won't be back inside for at least half an hour."

Chloe's hand froze, slowly pulling back out of her bag.

I led her into an empty private lounge next door. The bodyguard trailing us pulled the heavy, soundproof door shut, throwing the deadbolt.

I unclipped the tactical baton from my hip, testing its weight in my palm.

This was the very baton I had gifted Lucian for his coming-of-age years ago. He had given it back to me later, claiming I needed the protection more than he did.

"All that pride you paraded in front of me earlier," I said, stepping closer, "is getting stripped bare in this room today."

Chloe backed away until her spine hit the wall, cornered.

"Don't you dare! We're at a high-profile gala! The most powerful people in the city are right outside that door!"

"The guests are outside. In here, it's just you."

The side door clicked open, and a bodyguard shoved a man in his early thirties into the room.

The man wore a faded, scuffed jacket. From the second he crossed the threshold, his chin was tucked against his chest, terrified to lift his gaze.

Every drop of color drained from Chloe's face. Her lips parted, but not a single sound came out.

This man was the actual father of the child in her belly.

He was a deadbeat who had racked up massive gambling debts with loan sharks and fled overseas. Chloe had assumed he'd never dare show his face again, which was why she had gambled everything on using her pregnancy to trap Lucian.

"I had my team drag him back across the border," I said, tossing a thick stack of printed call logs onto the coffee table. "Along with audio recordings of every single phone call between the two of you over the last two months. It's all right here."

Chloe's knees gave out, and she slid down the wall, collapsing in a heap on the carpet.

"Lucian won't believe you! He'll never believe you!"

"Whether he believes it or not is his problem," I replied, gesturing toward the trembling man. "I simply invited the child's father to come claim his own flesh and blood."

Panicking, Chloe pointed hysterically at the man, shrieking, "He's a con artist! He's here to blackmail us! I don't even know who he is!"

The man held by the bodyguard sank even lower into his jacket, trembling violently without making a sound.

I shot the bodyguard a cold look.

"Not a single word of what happened in this room leaves these four walls. I want Lucian to walk in and discover the truth with his own eyes."

Without giving Chloe another second to speak, I turned the latch and stepped out of the lounge.

The moment I stepped back into the ballroom, Chloe burst out of the hallway like a raving lunatic.

Lunging into the dead center of the floor, right in front of every prominent guest in the room, she raised both hands and began slapping herself across the face with wild, vicious force.

Crack! Crack!

The sharp slaps echoed through the hall. Blood split the corner of her lip, and the side of her cheek rapidly swelled into a violent, purplish welt.

She collapsed onto the polished marble, wailing at the top of her lungs.

"Sienna attacked me! Sienna is trying to kill me and my unborn baby!"

The guests immediately surged forward, whispering among themselves behind champagne flutes, but no one dared intervene.

Lucian, having just wrapped up his business conversation on the terrace, stepped back into the room and took in the scene.

I stood by the corridor entrance, holding the tactical baton, calmly watching the woman sobbing on the floor.

Lucian charged across the floor in two strides, scooping the bloodied Chloe into his arms before glaring up at me, roaring with rage.

"Sienna! What the hell are you trying to pull tonight?!"

"I'm not pulling anything. I just wanted to introduce you to someone."

I raised my chin toward the half-open door of the private lounge behind me.

The man in the faded jacket was still cowering in the corner, held tight by my operative.

I clipped the baton back onto my belt.

"The man is right in there. Whose child she's actually carrying—go inside and ask him yourself."