Chapter 2

Before her words even settled, the heavy iron doors of the estate were violently blown open from the outside.

Dozens of heavily armed men in black suits flooded in like a tidal wave. Guns were drawn. Every exit was secured in seconds.

Surrounded by his top enforcers, my father—Marcus Hart, the patriarch of the Hart family, strode into the mansion.

Tucked safely in his arms was a crying, wailing baby.

It was my three-month-old, very much alive son, Theo!

"Who the fuck said my grandson was dead?!"

My father stormed into the wine cellar, Theo safely in his arms.

A second ago, the Hales were cursing my name.

Now, the blood drained from their faces.

Adrian Hale’s eyes bulged. He stared at the kid, lunged forward, and pinched Theo’s cheek, hard.

"How are you alive?!" he blurted out.

Theo wailed from the pain.

My father’s eyes went ice-cold. He planted a heavy boot right in Adrian Hale’s chest.

Adrian Hale screamed. He flew backward, smashing into a row of oak barrels. Crimson wine mixed with his nosebleed, pooling on the floor.

"Touch my grandson again, and you're a dead man," my father growled.

Adrian Hale curled up on the ground in agony. He clutched his chest, shaking his head in a daze.

"Impossible. I saw Theo's baby blanket! I saw it with my own eyes!"

Suddenly, his pupils shrank. He scrambled up, gritting his teeth, and lunged at me.

"You knew it wasn't Theo, didn't you?" he demanded. His eyes were bloodshot. "Why didn't you say it was someone else's kid? You played us!"

My father's men stepped up and sliced the ropes off my wrists.

The second I was free, I didn't hesitate. I balled my fist and put everything I had into punching Adrian Hale's lying face.

His head snapped back. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.

"So what if it wasn't Theo?" I snapped back, glaring him down. "It's still a life! Is this how the Hales do business? Tossing lives away like garbage?!"

Adrian Hale held his swelling eye. He looked around in a panic. His gaze shifted, then locked onto Vivian Hale.

His voice shook violently. "Vivian Hale. Whose kid is that? Is it... Leo?"

Little Leo. Barely three months old. Dante Hale and Vivian Hale's boy.

Vivian Hale flinched.

"No! It can't be Leo!" she shrieked. "Dante Hale took him out! They aren't even on the compound!"

She dug wildly into her purse for her phone. But her hands were shaking too hard. The phone hit the floor with a crack. The screen shattered.

I watched her fall apart and let out a cold laugh.

"Why didn't you check whose kid it was before you tossed him into the compactor?" I backed her into a corner, drinking in her fear. "You didn't even lift the blanket. You were too busy covering for your psycho daughter!"

The cellar went dead silent.

Nobody dared to think about the body inside that machine.

Adrian Hale rushed over to catch Vivian Hale before she passed out. He roared at me, "You lunatic! Are you trying to start a war?!"

I backhanded him. Hard. The slap echoed through the room.

"If you care about Vivian Hale so much, you should've married her!" I sneered.

Adrian Hale shook with rage. He pointed a trembling finger at me, then barked at the guards, "What are you waiting for?! Get the kid out of there!"

The guards sprinted toward the kitchens.

Vivian Hale dug her nails into Adrian Hale's arm and collapsed, sobbing. She put her hands together, praying to God that it wasn't her son.

Just as the guards went to pry the compactor open, the estate's side door swung wide.

Dante Hale stumbled in, reeking of booze. His tie was loose.

"What the hell is going on here?" he frowned, looking at the armed guards.

Vivian Hale scrambled to him like a dying woman. She grabbed his jacket, crying and hitting him.

"Where is he?! Where did you take Leo?! Tell me he's not in the house!"

Dante Hale shoved her off, annoyed. He burped.

"Leo?" He pulled out a cigar, not caring. "Sleeping in the nursery. I just went out for a few drinks with the boys. Handled some family business."

Vivian Hale went totally limp. Her legs gave out, and she hit the floor.

The guards pried the compactor open. They gently pulled the tiny body from the deep end of the machine.

The little body was covered in grease and blood, mangled beyond recognition.

A guard pulled back the dirty blanket with shaking hands. A bruised, lifeless little face appeared.

It was Leo. Dante Hale and Vivian Hale's three-month-old son.

"No!!!" Vivian Hale screamed. Her eyes rolled back as she passed out cold.

Cora Hale crawled over. She dropped to her knees in front of her brother's mangled body and wailed.

"No! That's not Leo!" She clawed at her hair. Tears washed the dirt off her face. "I pushed that woman's bastard in there!"

I walked up and looked down at the murderous little psycho. I had bought her countless diamond necklaces. I had protected her in the underworld.

"How evil are you?" I stared at her in disbelief. "He was just a baby!"

Cora Hale snapped her head up. Her eyes were full of venom. She pointed right at me.

"This is your fault! You and your bastard stole Uncle Adrian's money! You ruined everything!"

I leaned down, locking eyes with her.

"But you killed your own brother. You think Dante Hale will still treat you like a princess? Think your good days will last?"

Cora Hale froze. It was like her soul had been sucked out.

Adrian Hale scooped up Vivian Hale and yelled for the family doctor.

Dante Hale was still drunk. He just stared at the dead body, frozen.

Adrian Hale's mother finally saw the baby's face. The Eleanor grabbed her grandson's corpse, hugged him tight, and wailed at the ceiling.

The noise drew a crowd. Capos and crooked politicians from the banquet gathered around.

Cora Hale's accomplice, Mira Ross, had already been spirited away by her parents.

I scoffed, marched over to Adrian Hale, and slapped Vivian Hale's pale face hard.

Vivian Hale jerked awake. She couldn't even look at the body. She just pointed at me and cursed.

"You! You switched my baby, you woman! You killed my Leo!"

"patriarch't put this on me," I sneered. "You raised a psycho, and you covered for her! Who stopped me from opening that machine?"

The guests gasped and pointed. Adrian Hale's face turned grim. He hissed at me, "Shut your mouth! Get out of here right now!"

I didn't back down. I just laughed louder.

"Make me." I glared at him. "You just thought your own son was dead in that machine, yet you care more about protecting your brother's wife. What exactly is going on between you two?!"

The disgusted stares terrified Cora Hale. She ran to Vivian Hale, crying for her mother.

But Vivian Hale looked at her like an enemy. She shoved the girl to the ground.

"You blind idiot! Why didn't you die with him!"

Cora Hale cried out in despair. "You taught me this! You said if we got rid of the bastard, all the family's money and territory would be ours!"

Hearing this, the Eleanor shook with rage. She put the dead baby down, jumped onto Vivian Hale, and started beating her wildly. It was pure chaos.

Just then, the mob doc ran in with his kit. He dropped to his knees and checked the gruesome little body. A few minutes later, he stood up, pale.

"No water in the lungs," he said. He paused. "But there are multiple fatal fractures and ruptured organs. The kid was just unconscious in the pool. He was crushed to death in the compactor."

Vivian Hale let out a gut-wrenching wail. She shook her head wildly.

She was the one who had sealed her own son's fate.