When I Stopped Bleeding for You

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.Sienna's POV Outside the door, total silence fell. No knocks, no retreating footsteps. I slid down against the wooden door until I was sitting flat on the floor, lifting a hand to press against the hollow of my shoulder. The shrapnel trapped against the bone flared with a familiar, dull ache. Chloe set our meeting for the ground-floor lounge. She deliberately scheduled it for three in the afternoon, right when Lucian's weekly executive meeting let out and he would be crossing through the main lobby. Ten years ago, Chloe had been terrified to even raise her voice in my presence. Now, she had memorized Lucian's exact routine down to the minute, strutting in to negotiate terms with me. I headed downstairs right on time, flanked by four bodyguards. One of the guards shoved the overseas deployment consent form in front of Chloe. "Sign it." Chloe pulled back, clutching her belly with both hands. "I'm not signing. This is between you and Lucian. What right do you have to kick me out?" "The right that comes with owning this entire syndicate." "Lucian is literally downstairs in a meeting! He'll be here any second! You wouldn't dare touch me!" "Whether he shows up or not, you sign that paper today." Chloe straightened her spine, puffing out her chest. "I'm carrying his child. Touch me and see what happens." I gave my men a slight nod. Two bodyguards stepped forward, pinning Chloe's arms down and slamming her palm flat against the mahogany table. A third grabbed her fingers, forcing them toward the signature line. I reached to my hip and unclipped my tactical baton. I didn't strike her body. I brought the weighted metal down directly across her open palm. The first strike cracked against her flesh, tearing a sharp shriek from her throat. The second strike landed, and she gritted her teeth, spitting curses at me, screaming that Lucian would tear me apart. By the third strike, all the fight went out of her, replaced by violent, shuddering sobs. After five clean strikes, she slumped limply in the chair, shivering with agony. "Are you going to sign?" "I'll sign... I'll sign it..." Her palm had swelled into a sickening purplish-red welt, her tears smearing across her collar. Suddenly, the lounge doors were shoved open with a crash. Lucian stood in the doorway. Catching sight of him, Chloe lunged for the fruit knife on the side table, whipping it around to press the blade directly against her own throat. "Sienna is trying to drive me to my death!" Lucian bolted across the room, wrenching the knife from her grip and wrapping her tightly against his chest. He snapped his head up, glaring at me. "You crossed the line putting your hands on a pregnant woman!" "Put my hands on her? How?" "You had men pin her down and took a baton to her hand! Sienna, is this what you call handling business?" "I tried talking to her. She doesn't understand plain English." "How could you hit a pregnant woman?!" "Whose child she's actually carrying—don't you know better than anyone?" Lucian froze on the spot, his entire frame stiffening. "What do you mean by that?" I didn't bother answering. "She signed the transfer. Tell her to book her own flight." I reached up, unzipped my jacket, and pulled the collar down over my right shoulder. A jagged, thick scar ran across the flesh. "You still recognize this scar, don't you?" Lucian stared at the mangled tissue, his lips parting slightly. "Five years ago. Took a grenade blast for you. The surgeons said the shrapnel is fused too close to the bone to ever take out. It's inside me for life." I tossed the heavy tactical baton onto the glass table, letting it land with a dull, ringing thud. "Over the last seven years, I've broken through nine ambushes to drag you out alive. The Vice President seat you sit in today was bought with my blood." "I have twenty-seven scars on my body. This one is the deepest." "A cluster of unborn cells doesn't outweigh the cold steel embedded in my shoulder." Every bodyguard in the room kept their head bowed. Nobody dared breathe. Lucian stood frozen with Chloe in his arms, unable to squeeze out a single word. I zipped my jacket back up, turned on my heel, and walked out of the lounge.Sienna's POV After that day, Lucian swore Chloe wouldn't show her face in front of me again, and then he vanished right along with her. He sent proxies to cover his executive meetings and stopped coming home altogether. I didn't care. Soon, the day arrived for my routine check-up on the old injury. Rain was pouring down as I drove alone to the medical center. The shrapnel sat dangerously close to the joint capsule. The specialist gave me the exact same verdict: operating was too risky; one slip, and I'd permanently lose function in the arm. I slid the X-rays back into my folder and walked out of the exam room. Just as I rounded the corner of the corridor, my feet stopped dead. By the large bay window along the connecting walkway, Lucian was holding Chloe in his arms. "Don't worry," he was murmuring softly. "I'll stall the overseas transfer for you. Once the baby is born, I'll take care of everything." Chloe clutched the lapel of his coat. "What if she forces me out anyway? That woman is ruthless." "As long as I'm here, she doesn't get the final say." "But she controls the entire syndicate." "The company belongs to her, but the baby in your belly is mine." "What if she finds out?" "So what if she does? A woman like her has nothing in her head except profit and leverage." Chloe let out a soft laugh, resting her cheek affectionately against Lucian's chest. I stood behind the corner of the wall, taking no further steps. My hands hanging at my sides curled slowly into fists, my fingernails biting deep into my palms, leaving four pale crescents in the skin. The metal inside my bone was something I took for him. Over the past seven years, every single time I came to this hospital for a check-up, I had come alone. Not once had I asked him to hold my hand. And in his eyes, I was just a ruthless woman who cared about nothing but profit. I stood there for three seconds, then turned toward the stairwell and walked down the steps. When I got home that evening, the living room lights were blazing. Lucian, wearing an apron, emerged from the kitchen carrying dishes, two sets of silverware neatly arranged on the table. He ladled a bowl of creamy mushroom soup for me, pulling out my chair. "What I said at the hospital this afternoon... I was just playing along to keep her calm. I was worried she'd do something reckless to the baby. Don't take it to heart." I stared down at the bowl of soup. "I didn't take it to heart." "You have to believe me, Sienna. I'm only protecting her for the sake of the child." "I know." The corner of my mouth twitched into a faint, hollow smirk. He still remembered my favorite soup. He still remembered the date of my hospital check-up. Every bit of his attentiveness had been turned into a dose of anesthesia, meant to keep me blind and numb. Just as I picked up my spoon, my phone buzzed frantically on the tabletop. Logan's name flashed across the caller ID. I tapped the speaker button. Logan's voice cut through the air, tense and urgent: "Miss Vance, Tyler Craig—the one whose left eye you shot out years ago—just got released from prison. He and his crew just snatched Miss Miller." The soup bowl in Lucian's hand tilted, scalding liquid spilling over his knuckles, turning his skin bright red. He shot to his feet. "Where are they? How much money does he want?" I cut the call from speaker and grabbed my trench coat off the rack. "Send the coordinates to my phone." On the rooftop of the syndicate's headquarters, the howling wind whipped our coats around us. Tyler stood dead center on the gravel roof, the muzzle of his handgun jammed hard against Chloe's temple. Chloe was a sobbing, trembling heap in his grip, snot and tears smearing across her face as she shook uncontrollably. Every stairwell and elevator shaft had already been locked down tight by Logan's tactical team. Whispered updates from snipers and breach points crackled steadily through our earpieces. Lucian and I stood on the opposite side of the roof. The second I took half a step forward, Lucian's hand clamped down on my arm. "Don't move. He's here for cash." I wrenched my arm out of his grasp with a cold snap of my wrist. Tyler's single, scarred eye locked directly onto me, brimming with venom. "Sienna Vance. You spared my life back then, and today I'm here to collect the debt." He shoved the barrel harder against Chloe's head, drawing a strangled whimper from her lips. "Only one woman walks off this roof alive today. Lucian, you make the call. Pick wrong, and my hollow-points don't have eyes." The gusting wind shredded his words into sharp fragments. I stood rooted to the spot, completely motionless. The hand holding the gun across from me had been locked in position for too long; Tyler's knuckles were whitening under the strain. He couldn't hold that posture indefinitely. When fatigue forced him to readjust his grip, the muzzle would inevitably dip at least half an inch. I was waiting for that half-inch window. And I was waiting for the man beside me to speak. In the past, when rivals had surrounded him nine separate times, I had thrown myself directly into the line of fire every single time. Lucian turned his head, his eyes lingering on me for what felt like an eternity.Sienna's POV A brief, clipped confirmation came through the radio below—all perimeter exits were officially welded shut. Tyler let out a raspy bark of laughter, completely unfazed. "Chloe is scheduled to be shipped overseas," Lucian said, his voice flat, emotionless, like he was reading a quarterly earnings report. "You're my wife. You take her place." I met his gaze dead-on, without blinking. "Alright." A muscle in Lucian's jaw twitched violently. His lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. "Sienna, I..." "You made your choice. That's all that matters." Every drop of color drained from Lucian's face in an instant. Without waiting for anyone to push me, I stepped forward, closing the distance between Tyler and me one measured stride at a time. "Trade her for me." Tyler blinked, momentarily stunned, before a wide, twisted grin split his face. He signaled with his free hand for his thug to drag my arms behind my back and zip-tie my wrists to a heavy steel pipe. He stepped close, running the freezing steel barrel of his revolver from my cheekbone down to my chin. "Sienna Vance... You're the one who blew my eye out and had me rotting in a cell for three years." "Today, let's see if taking a bullet for Lucian actually makes him give a damn about you." As he spoke, Tyler's head tilted slightly to check the commotion below, and his grip slackened by half an inch. That was the exact split-second I was waiting for. I whipped my right leg up, channeling every ounce of leverage in my body into a vicious kick straight to Tyler's gun wrist. The revolver flew from his hand, skidding violently across the concrete toward the low ledge. "Pin her down!" Tyler roared at the top of his lungs. Both sides collided instantly. Chloe shrieked, rolling onto the gravel with her hands locked over her head. Tyler went wild, lunging across the ground toward the dropped weapon. A gunshot cracked through the howling wind, deafeningly loud. At that exact second, Lucian hurled his entire weight through the air, slamming me down onto the cold concrete. The bullet grazed past my scalp, shattering an industrial exhaust duct behind us in an explosion of concrete dust and sparks. Logan's operators swarmed the roof like a tidal wave, slamming Tyler face-first into the grit, gagging him with heavy cloth, and hauling him toward the service stairs. The rooftop fell silent once more, save for the whistling wind. Lucian's full weight was pressed against me, his palms flat on the gritty roof, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. "Sienna... Why did you actually walk over there?" I lay flat on the frigid concrete, staring up into the overcast, gray sky. "You chose me." "I did," Lucian choked out, burying his face into the hollow of my shoulder, his voice shaking violently. "But I couldn't just watch you die." "You had a sidearm tucked in your waistband. You were standing two paces closer to him than I was." Lucian had no answer for that. He scrambled to his feet, pulling me up and brushing the grit from my clothes. "Your scalp... it's bleeding." "I won't die from it." "From now on, wherever you go, I follow," Lucian said, staring into my eyes. "I'll stand by your side no matter what." I knocked his hands away, coldly gathering my disheveled hair into place. "Lucian, on this roof today, the person who told me to go die was you." "I'll remember that." "Good. Make sure you do." Logan jogged up quickly, asking in a low murmur if we should head to the ER immediately. I shook my head. "Where's Tyler?" "In custody, Miss Vance. You need stitches first." "Keep him locked down. I'll deal with him when I get back." Lucian chimed in from behind me: "Sienna, leave Tyler to me. Don't get your hands dirty." I started walking toward the rooftop fire doors, not bothering to look back. "This is my building."Sienna's POV The moment I stepped into the elevator lobby, darkness washed over my vision and I collapsed. Logan rushed me to the emergency room in the middle of the night. When I opened my eyes, my head was wrapped in heavy medical gauze. Lucian was sitting on a folding chair beside the hospital bed, a fresh adhesive bandage over his knuckles—a scrape from diving onto the rooftop concrete. A thick stack of specialist consultation sheets sat on the nightstand. Seeing me stir, Lucian poured a cup of warm water and held it out. "You're awake? Drink some water." I didn't take it. Pushing against the mattress, I hauled myself into a sitting position. Lucian set the cup down and leaned forward. "I picked Chloe because she was carrying a child, not because I don't love you. Sienna, you have to believe me." I leaned back against the headboard, watching him. The room was deathly quiet, punctuated only by the steady, rhythmic hum of the wall monitors. "Back on that roof, Tyler told you to pick one woman to walk." Lucian's shoulders locked rigid. "You picked me, Lucian. You chose me to take the fall." "Tyler had a gun!" Lucian insisted desperately. "If I didn't say her name, that gun would have gone off right then and there!" "So I was the one who was supposed to be traded for her life." "Sienna, I tackled you! I threw my own body in front of that bullet for you!" "You didn't block anything. I kicked his wrist off target. You were half a second too late." Lucian sat there, struck dumb. I reached under my pillow, pulled out the neatly folded divorce papers, and tossed them beside his hand. "Sign it." Without even glancing at the pages, Lucian shoved the folder right back toward me. "I'm not signing. We are not getting a divorce." A knock sounded at the door, and Logan stepped inside holding a velvet jewelry box. "Miss Vance, Lucian had this rare gemstone set flown in overnight from an overseas auction for you." He set the box on the nightstand, exchanged a brief look with Lucian, and lowered his voice to deliver the rest of his report. "Lucian also reassigned twenty-four executive protection guards to Miss Miller, rotating in three shifts. The entire floor where she's staying has been locked down, and all keycard access was recoded overnight." I turned my gaze back to Lucian's face. "Twenty-four men? Are you planning to hide her away in that room until she pops out your heir?" Lucian reached out to pull my blanket up, not bothering to deny it. "She went through trauma while pregnant. I have to protect her. Nothing can happen to that child." "Protect her? Or protect that unborn son of yours?" "Sienna." Lucian's brow furrowed in irritation. "Stop making it sound so ugly. We've been together all these years. Don't you know who has my heart?" A dry laugh escaped my lips, utterly devoid of warmth. "Lucian, do you remember what you swore in front of everyone years ago?" Lucian looked away, avoiding my eyes. "You said your life was dug out of a pile of corpses by my hands, and from that day on, every breath in your body belonged to me," I said, my voice completely steady. "You swore that out loud in front of the entire crew." Lucian stared blankly out the window at the overcast sky. "A man can't live in the past forever." "Fair enough." I nodded, slipping the divorce papers back beneath my pillow. "Then let's look at the present." Twenty-four personal bodyguards to guard one woman, while my legal documents remained locked tight inside his safe. That was what he called caring about me. I didn't spare him another look. I slid back under the covers and closed my eyes. Three days later, my bandages were removed and I checked out of the hospital. The velvet jewelry box on the nightstand was left completely untouched. The moment the official overseas transfer order cleared the system, I instructed Logan to host an annual VIP client appreciation gala in the penthouse ballroom. Every high-value client, executive partner, and retired board member from the old days was invited. As Logan finalized the guest list, he couldn't help but keep his voice low. "Miss Vance, hosting the gala right at this moment... what are you planning...?" Standing in front of the full-length mirror, I pulled my long hair back into a clean, tight ponytail. "The final score needs to be settled in front of everyone."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."