Never Chosen by Him

Vesper's POV

My best friend Cecilia framed me, causing me to miscarry at six months pregnant. My husband Zach destroyed the evidence I found to protect her reputation. To keep me silent, he even threatened me with my mother's life.

...

"Already destroyed the surveillance footage Vesper gave me. Cecilia should be safe now."

I pressed my back against the cold wall outside Zach's study, his voice from inside freezing me to the core.

I'd come to ask how he planned to use the evidence, how he would get justice for me and our child. I never expected this.

"Boss, don't you think this is too cruel to Mrs. Bruno?" His lieutenant sounded hesitant.

"We'll have more children." Zach sighed, "I'll make it up to her."

My hand moved to my stomach on its own. The emptiness there was a wound on my heart that would never heal. Three days ago, I fell from the second floor, I lost my baby forever.

"What if she insists on exposing the truth?"

Silence filled the room. Zach didn't answer right away.

Then he spoke again, and his words made my blood run cold.

"She won't. Her mother still needs the medication I provide. If she doesn't want her mother's supply cut off, she won't do anything stupid."

Dizziness hit me. I nearly collapsed against the wall.

He knew exactly how to control me. He was using my dying mother as leverage to protect the woman who killed my child.

Yesterday when I found that footage, I was furious. I couldn't believe the person who hurt me was my friend. My best friend since college. My maid of honor. The woman I trusted most after my mother. But I watched the screen, the day I fell, Cecilia Langley approaching me from behind as I stood by the railing.

She put her hands on my back. Then she pushed. Hard. When I fell, there was a smile on her face.

It wasn't an accident.

When I showed Zach the footage, I was devastated and enraged. He pulled me into his arms, kissed my forehead, promised me justice. He said: "I'll make her pay for what she did to you. For what she did to our baby."

I believed him then.

What a fool I was.

I stumbled back to my room in a daze, sat on the bed staring at nothing. If Zach was determined to protect Cecilia, I was powerless. What could I do? My skills weren't enough to fight a group of mafia men.

I wanted to cry. Nothing came out. The tears had run dry on that hospital bed, in the moment they told me my child was gone.

My husband valued his mistress more than his wife and child. I hadn't thought it before. Now I was certain. Why else would he destroy the evidence? Why else would he protect her?

My phone rang suddenly, an unknown number lighting up the screen.

I stared at it for a moment, then answered.

"Hello?"

"Vesper."

The voice on the other end made my breath catch. I knew that voice. Lorenzo Marino. Head of the Marino family. The man who abandoned me during a kidnapping because of family pressure. My ex-boyfriend.

My throat tightened and I couldn't speak.

"I heard about what happened," he said quietly. "About the baby. I thought... I thought you might need help."

Tears burned behind my eyes. My voice came out choked. "Yes. I need help."

"Tell me what you need."

"I need to leave. Me and my mother. We need to get out of here."

Silence on the other end, then he spoke again. "Five days from now, the Bruno family is holding their annual grand gala. I'll come for you then. Both of you."

"Thank you."

"Vesper, I—"

I hung up before he could say anything else.

I didn't believe him, I didn't have the energy to believe him. But I needed him.

I stared at the darkening phone screen, lost in thought. Then I turned to get ready for bed.

The moment I turned around, I saw Zach standing in the balcony doorway. His expression was unreadable, those eyes fixed on me, boring into me.

My heart skipped a beat.