I was devoted to Tom Collin, a man whose ambition I once admired. I gave up my career, my future, my entire identity for him. I was the perfect wife while he built his empire. But when he reached the top, I became invisible.
Then I found him with her—his college ex, the woman who’d abandoned him when he had nothing. When I confronted him, the man I married vanished, replaced by a monster whose hands left bruises on my skin.
I was finally ready to leave. But I never got the chance. He left our five-year-old daughter, Joy, alone for his mistress. And in his absence, my baby was murdered.
I buried my child, and with her, the weak woman I used to be. In a haze of grief, I let a handsome stranger hold me for one night in Italy—a single moment of oblivion.
Five years later, I live for one purpose: Revenge. Tom Collin will pay for what he did. He has no idea the woman now standing before him. But my new boss… he might. The magnetic CEO of our rival company is the stranger from that night. And he doesn’t know he’s the father of my secret daughter.


I tore through the city streets like my life depended on it, leaning on the horn as if the noise alone could clear every obstacle in my path. Each sluggish vehicle ahead of me felt like a deliberate challenge, every crimson traffic signal an adversary I needed to defeat. My gaze darted frantically between the asphalt and the digital clock on my dashboard. Every passing second fed the fire of my rage.


The medical center sat mere minutes ahead, yet it seemed like the entire metropolis had conspired against my urgency. My thoughts raced faster than my engine, consumed with images of Delia and above all else, our unborn child. What if disaster had struck? What if her brief message was merely the calm preceding devastation?


Chapter 34 - Chapter 34 Relief Turns Nightmare