He Stole My Babies' Hearts , So I Burned His World Down

It wasn't until my third pregnancy that I learned the truth about my husband, Bertram Delgado, and the kind of man he really was.

My mother-in-law handed me a bank card and told me to have the baby, then disappear. If I refused, she'd dig up my mother's grave.

I laughed in her face, snapped the card in half right in front of her, and told her she didn't know the first thing about love.

That night, I was kidnapped. I called Bertram ninety-nine times. He didn't pick up once.

A baseball bat slammed into my lower abdomen. Blood soaked through the hem of my dress.

By the time everything was beyond saving, Bertram finally showed up.

His eyes were red as he personally dealt with every last one of the men who'd hurt me. Then he pulled me into his arms, stroking my hair again and again. "Prue, we'll have another baby. I swear I'll find whoever did this and make them pay."

I thought that was the worst thing I'd ever endure. I had no idea it was only the beginning of hell.

Not long after, my mother-in-law personally led a crew to desecrate my mother's grave. My father collapsed from a heart attack on the spot.

I stumbled my way to the surgical ward, and just as I reached the doors, I caught sight of Bertram and his mother around the corner.

"She disrespected you, Mother. I simply gave her a small punishment."

"And now what? Alexis is your sister. All we had to do was wait for this third baby to be born and she'd finally be cured for good. The first two were useless; their hearts were too weak. If we keep dragging this out, Alexis's body won't hold."

"Don't worry, Mom. If there's no baby, we'll just take her heart instead. She owes Alexis that much."

So the killer he'd sworn to hunt down was himself all along.

He'd stolen my children under the guise of miscarriages and given their hearts to another woman.

I collapsed onto the freezing floor, both hands clamped over my mouth.

All this time, I hadn't thrown myself into love. I'd thrown myself into a game where I was the sacrifice.

Everything I was, everything I had, was nothing more than cold medicine to keep Alexis Pruitt alive.

I wiped my tears. With trembling hands, I dialed a number.

One week. In one week, this game would have a new player writing the rules.

...

"I'll marry you."

My voice shook as I said it, and no amount of willpower could push down the bitterness rising in my chest.

Silence on the other end. Then a quiet laugh. "Well. I never thought the devoted Mrs. Delgado would say those words to another man."

"There's one week left in the divorce cooling-off period. Don't worry. I don't love him anymore."

I hung up and stared at the two torn halves of my marriage certificate in my hands. My heart felt like it was being carved apart piece by piece. The shredded red booklet slipped from my fingers and fluttered to the floor.

Three weeks ago, I'd finally conceived Bertram's third child.

Zara Delgado came to me directly and told me to leave.

"Bertram's status is special. You're not worthy of him. There's enough money on this card to keep you comfortable for the rest of your life. Have the baby and get out. You've already killed two of them. Don't kill a third."

I looked at the bank card she'd tossed at me, and the memory of my first two babies, born without ever drawing a single breath, cut through me like a blade.

Ten years ago, Bertram Delgado, a man notorious for his indifference to women, fell for me at first sight.

To win me over, he quietly studied my habits and preferences. When I came down with a fever, he sat at my bedside for three days and three nights without leaving.

To thank him, I agreed to go with him to a college reunion. On the way there, the brakes failed.

He pulled me into his arms on instinct. The impact shattered several of his ribs.

In that moment, the wall I'd built around my heart, the one I thought nothing could ever break, came crashing down.

After that, we fell together naturally.

Once we were married, he spoiled me until I became the "princess" everyone in our circle talked about. He taught himself the difference between foundation shades just so he could pick the perfect one for me. When I hit a wall with my studies, he whisked me away on trips to clear my head. When I felt lost in my career, he was there with encouragement and unwavering support.

Because of all that, I never once doubted what we had.

Remembering this, I looked Zara dead in the eye, laughed coldly, and snapped that card in half with my bare hands.

"You've got it wrong. I never loved cold numbers on a screen. And Bertram would never let me walk away from our child."

Her face twisted with the sour humiliation of being shut down. She sat in silence for a moment, then snatched up her purse.

As she passed me, her voice dropped to something frigid.

"You won't hold that seat as Mrs. Delgado for long."

That night, I was taken by strangers. They placed bets with cash, wagering on how many swings of a bat it would take to kill a three-month-old baby still inside its mother.

I called Bertram ninety-nine times. Not once did he answer. On the hundredth call, it finally connected, and I told him our baby was gone.

Silence on his end. Then: "I'm sorry, Prue. I swear I'll find whoever did this and make them pay. Just hold on."

He told me not to hang up. He was on his way.

But the very next second, a woman's tearful whimper came through the phone. It was Bertram's foster sister, Alexis Pruitt.

"Bertram, my ankle hurts so bad... ah..."

"Alexis!"

That single cry of alarm did something I'd never witnessed in ten years of marriage. It shattered the composure of a man who never lost his cool, and it stopped my heart dead.

In a decade together, I had never once heard Bertram Delgado sound panicked.

Through the phone, I listened to him bark hoarse orders at over a dozen private physicians to treat Alexis. Every frantic shout, every note of tender anxiety that crept into his voice when he spoke to her, poured into my ears, and the agony in my chest pulled at my abdomen until it felt like I was being ripped apart.

It hit me then. He wasn't a man who stayed calm under pressure. He simply hadn't met the person worth losing his calm for.

By the time night had fully fallen and blood pooled around my lower body, Bertram finally arrived with his people in tow.

"Sorry, Prue. Traffic was bad."

He scooped me up into his arms. That familiar face was as cold and unreadable as ever.

Looking at him, I couldn't reconcile this man with the one who'd been choking on panic just hours before.

My throat sealed shut. I couldn't make a single sound. My heart felt like it was being flayed alive, one slow strip at a time.

"My brave Prue."

The words hit me, and something inside me almost laughed.

Brave. Of course I was brave. I'd swallowed the agony of losing my child while listening to my own husband ignore his kidnapped wife, too busy losing his mind over another woman to spare me a single thought.

My gaze locked onto those eyes, the ones I'd fallen for a thousand times over, searching desperately for even a flicker of guilt in their depths.

There was nothing. He didn't even glance my way.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips before I could stop it.

Right. A man who didn't care about his wife or his children could hardly be expected to remember a phone call that had never been hung up.

I didn't know how much time passed before the sharp sting of disinfectant pulled me back.

I opened my eyes. Alexis's face filled my vision.

The moment she saw I was awake, her eyes lit up.

She set the apple and paring knife in her hand aside, dug into her bag, and tossed a stack of paper onto my bed.

"You're awake! Quick, tell me if this love letter turned out okay."

The sheets were a collage, pieced together from strips of paper covered in handwriting I knew by heart.

Beside the meticulously assembled creation sat a notebook, its pages ripped apart without a shred of care.

I recognized everything on that bed in an instant. My breath stopped.

Those were my love journals. Ten years of them.

The pieced-together letter began: To my beloved, Alexis.

She must have caught the color draining from my face, because Alexis tilted her chin up, her expression still perfectly innocent.

"Bertram told me yesterday he wanted to use these to buy one of my smiles."

Pain lanced behind my eyes. Every word out of her mouth was a blade, and it was suffocating.

So that was why he hadn't answered his phone. He'd been with Alexis.

He'd shredded everything I'd written without a second thought, just to piece together a love letter for her. Just to make her happy.

The taste of blood seeped between my teeth. My voice shook when I finally spoke. "Are you done with the act?"

Alexis blinked, then shrugged like it meant nothing. "He told me he'd always have my back. No matter what."

My eyes flickered.

She wasn't wrong. Bertram had always shielded her.

The first time, she'd "accidentally" fed me abortion pills disguised as vitamins. His punishment? Making her post a public apology on social media.

The second time, she'd faked a stomachache right as I was going into labor, delaying delivery until my baby suffocated. His punishment? Grounding her for three days to "reflect."

I'd sobbed to Bertram about how unfair it all was. He'd looked at me with flat, distant eyes and said:

"She already knows she was wrong. Be the bigger person."

And now, once again, it was because of her.

Before I could respond, Alexis leaned close to my ear, her lips curling into a smile.

"You know what, sis? Instead of wasting your energy being mad at me, maybe you should go check on that useless father of yours. Someone dug up your mother's grave, and the shock gave him a heart attack. He's still on the operating table."

My mind went blank. Her words echoed in my skull, over and over.

By the time I came back to myself, I was already standing outside the operating room.

"Why are you in such a rush? The doctor said that waste of space can't have children anymore. If it weren't for the fact that her womb could save Alexis, I never would've let her play Mrs. Delgado for ten years."

"Relax, Mom. No more babies? Then we take her heart instead. She owes Alexis that much."

I stared at the two familiar figures around the corner, and my heart slammed against my ribs so hard I thought it would crack.

So my babies hadn't died. Bertram had taken them under the guise of miscarriages and given their hearts to his precious other woman. The "culprit" he'd sworn to hunt down was himself all along.

His words after each "miscarriage" flooded back to me in a sickening rush.

"Half a dose of abortion pills and the kid couldn't hold on? Would've been too fragile anyway. Not fit to lead the Delgado family."

"So the baby didn't want to come out on time. If this one doesn't love our Prue, we'll just try again for one who wants to love Mommy with Daddy."

I sank to the cold floor, an icy chill crawling up my spine.

I'd thought Bertram was simply cold-natured, that beneath it all, he genuinely wanted to raise our children. The truth was, he'd only ever wanted to find Alexis a perfect heart.

The realization crashed over me, and I pressed my hands against my face, drowning in it. I'd been so stupid. So impossibly, pathetically stupid to think I could ever wring a drop of sincerity from Bertram Delgado.

My phone screen flashed. Then flashed again.

I lowered my gaze to the message, and something dark and sharp moved behind my eyes.

One week. In one week, every single person who had laid a hand on my children would pay.

Bertram's secretary came sprinting toward him, face drained of color.

"Mr. Delgado, Miss Pruitt has been kidnapped!"

In an instant, all the blood left Bertram's face.

Before I could even react, he was already tearing past me. I looked up and caught a flash of his dark eyes, wild with panic.

But his gaze barely grazed me before he bolted past, heading for the stairwell behind me.

In that split second as our paths crossed, his shoulder slammed into me and sent me crashing to the floor.

The bodyguard trailing him stepped on the back of my hand without breaking stride.

I winced against the sharp bite of pain and watched Bertram's retreating figure, stumbling in his desperation, growing smaller down the hallway. Something inside my chest seized and went still.

I'd already heard the panic in his voice over the phone. I'd known. But seeing it with my own eyes still sent a blade twisting through my heart.

After a moment, I tugged weakly at the corners of my mouth.

Of course. Bertram had always been this way.

The second anything involved Alexis, nothing else in the world existed for him.

On the hospital rooftop, a man with a savage, contorted face held Alexis hostage. A knife gleamed at her throat, the blade pressed flat against her skin.

Alexis was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face.

As more people crowded onto the rooftop, the man retreated toward the edge, his agitation spiraling into something feral and unhinged.

His bloodshot eyes locked onto Bertram.

"Bertram Delgado! All I wanted was one heart to keep me alive. But you'd rather give this bitch heart after heart after heart than spare me a single one. Fine. Then don't blame me for taking it with my own hands!"

Bertram's burning gaze fixed on the thin line of blood trickling down Alexis's neck. His face was a mask of composure, but his hands trembled at his sides.

He drew a slow breath. "A heart from someone with cardiac disease. How long do you think that would keep you alive?"

I stood in the corner of the crowd, watching the scene unfold.

Then, in the next instant, a pair of familiar eyes found mine through the press of bodies.

Before I could process what was happening, Bertram had pulled me into his arms.

"Only a heart from someone healthy would be worth anything to you."

His voice rang out, clear and deliberate, right beside my ear. My body went rigid. I lifted my gaze to his cold, hard face, and every drop of blood in my veins turned to ice.

He knew. He knew the kidnapper wanted a heart to save his own life, and he'd shoved me forward anyway, painting a target on my back.

All of it, every last bit, just to save Alexis.

The betrayal crashed over me like a wave, so massive it nearly dragged me under.

The kidnapper's frenzy only intensified. "You think finding a compatible heart is that easy?! You're trying to trick me into swapping hostages so you can save this bitch. Dream on!"

Bertram's expression didn't waver. "Her heart won't keep you alive for long. But if you take her instead..." His gaze dropped to me for a fraction of a second. "You'd have leverage over the person I love. I can find you a compatible heart."

The kidnapper hesitated, suspicion flickering across his face as his eyes settled on me.

And Bertram, catching the shock in my eyes, looked away with something almost like guilt. His voice dropped to a murmur only the two of us could hear. "Prue, you've trained in self-defense. I know you can hold out until the police arrive."

I stared at him, eyes wide.

I'd already braced myself to be used as a shield. But I never imagined he'd say it to my face with such shameless audacity.

Before I could fire back a single word, the kidnapper barked his command. "Fine! Bring her over. We trade, one for one!"

Bertram pushed me forward. There wasn't a flicker of hesitation in those deep, dark eyes.

I took it all in, and a bitter laugh echoed somewhere inside me.

A sacrificial pawn who could be discarded at any moment in this game had no right to hope for even a scrap of genuine feeling.

Just as the exchange was about to happen, the kidnapper threw his head back and let out a jagged laugh.

"You'd throw away your own wife to save this bitch, and you call her the one you love? What a joke! Today, I'm killing HER!"

Before the last word left his mouth, he kicked Bertram aside and raised the knife high.

Laughing like a man possessed, he lunged for Alexis's chest.

"Alexis!"

Bertram's pupils contracted to pinpoints. He shoved me away with all his strength and threw himself over Alexis.

And I lost my balance completely, pitching backward off the edge of the rooftop.

The wind screamed louder and louder in my ears. Above me, the man with terror blazing in his eyes for the woman he loved grew smaller and smaller, shrinking into nothing.

A single tear slipped from the corner of my eye.

Even now, all he cared about was whether my heart was still usable.

I didn't know how much time passed before I woke to the sharp sting of antiseptic.

Bertram stood by the window. I blinked, momentarily stunned.

"You're up. How do you feel?"

He crossed the room when he saw my eyes open, pressing the back of his hand gently to my forehead.

My heart leapt into my throat.

The warmth of his touch was so real it made everything inside me twist tighter.

"If you're feeling alright, get up and pick a dress. I need you at an event with me."

His voice landed somewhere deep in my chest and sent a tremor through me.

A row of dresses in different styles already hung along one side of the room.

I pressed my lips together, suddenly greedy for this moment. For the illusion of it.

Everything felt the way it used to. He was still him, the man who bent the world to his will and no one else's.

But when his car pulled up in front of a prenatal school, I froze.

Wasn't he taking me to an event?

Bertram said nothing. He strode inside without a word.

The receptionist at the front desk hurried over, practically bowing.

"Mr. Delgado, everything you requested has been arranged. Your wife is inside, in class."

Wife? Class?

I looked at Bertram, frowning.

He didn't offer a single word of explanation. Not until I saw her through the glass partition: Alexis Pruitt, sitting attentively in a parenting class.

The air left my lungs.

Three pregnancies. Three times I had asked him to come to parenting classes with me.

And every time, the same answer: "Prue, I just took over the company. All my energy needs to go into the projects."

To make things easier for him, I had swapped out the parenting classes for massage techniques and cooking courses instead. Every day I stayed home like a good wife, waiting for him to walk through the door so I could cook for him, knead the tension from his shoulders.

Ten years. Ten years I kept that up.

I couldn't stop myself from looking at him, and the dull ache in my chest deepened into something unbearable.

Bertram's gaze was locked on Alexis. The faint smile curving his lips, the tenderness spilling from his eyes, was so thick it was almost obscene.

I suddenly felt ridiculous. Pathetic, even, for daring to hope he might come back to me.

"Hey, doesn't that dress she's wearing look familiar?"

Two receptionists whispered behind me.

"I knew something was off about her the second she walked in. Now it makes sense."

"That's hilarious. Trying to copy Mrs. Delgado's style to seduce Mr. Delgado, and he won't even look at her."

"See the snagged thread on the hem? Last time Mr. Delgado brought his wife to parenting class, Mrs. Delgado was wearing that exact dress and caught the fabric on something. Mr. Delgado didn't even blink, just bought her a dozen limited-edition dresses on the spot."

Their voices weren't loud, but they were loud enough.

I turned to look at the man beside me. His sharp, cold profile hit me like a slap I couldn't hear.

The taste of blood lingered between my teeth. My fingers clenched the fabric of my skirt until my knuckles went white.

So that was it. To Bertram, I was only fit to wear Alexis Pruitt's hand-me-downs.

"Bertram!"

The next second, Alexis burst out from behind the glass partition, beaming as she ran toward us.

She slammed into my shoulder as she passed, then threw herself into Bertram's arms.

The impact sent me stumbling sideways. My lower back cracked against the corner of the wall, and cold sweat broke across my skin.

Bertram's voice drifted over, impossibly gentle. "You're pregnant. Don't run around like that."

"I just missed you so much." Alexis pouted, clinging to him. Then her eyes widened with theatrical surprise. "Oh? Prudence, you're here too!"

I glanced at that guileless, butter-wouldn't-melt expression of hers and felt my stomach turn.

"I certainly am. And imagine my surprise, finding out the Delgado family's foster sister gets to be called 'Mrs. Delgado' around here."

The color drained from Alexis's face.

"Wait, what does she mean? Alexis is the fake wife?"

"Sounds pretty convincing to me. But if that's true, why does Mr. Delgado always come here with her?"

I looked at the happy couple, my gaze dripping with contempt.

But beneath it, my heart was still waiting. Still stupidly hoping for Bertram's choice.

After a long silence, he reached out and pulled the woman beside him into his arms. The pressure radiating off him crashed over me like a wave.

"Prudence, do you really have to drag Alexis down just to feed your pathetic little need for attention?"

Of course.

I watched them and let out a bitter laugh.

"Fine. I'll keep my distance."

I turned to leave, but in that same instant, my feet stopped.

Not far away, a mascot costume stood propped up, perfectly still.

Ten years ago, on my birthday, I had worked until well past midnight. When I finally stepped outside, there was a ring-toss booth set up in front of the building. The vendor was someone in a big brown bear suit.

I tossed ten rings. Missed every single one.

Then the bear pulled off its head.

Bertram's hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. His usually stern face was flushed pink from the heat.

Under the moonlight, those eyes, brimming with love and bright as stars, made my heart skip a beat.

I would never forget the way he caught his breath, teasing me with a voice that was careful and tender all at once: "How about you just take me home instead?"

I found out later that he had stood in that sweltering costume under the blazing sun for five hours, all to surprise me on my birthday.

The memory hit me, and the heart I thought had gone numb stirred again, aching with something I couldn't name.

Then a hand seized my arm and yanked me back.

"Do you have to humiliate me like this?"

"Humiliate you?" My eyes burned red as my palm cracked across his face. "Do you even know the meaning of the word?"

Bertram clearly hadn't expected that kind of reaction. His expression froze.

I seized the stunned silence and walked out without looking back. Another second in that place and I swore it would shave years off my life.

But the man recovered fast. He caught up to me at the corner.

His eyes were dark and dangerous. He seized my arms and pinned me against the wall, every word dropping from his lips like shards of ice. "Prudence, what the hell is wrong with you?"

His grip hurt enough to make me wince.

Before I could speak, my gaze caught something on his neck. A flush of red just above his collar.

A fresh kiss mark. It drove into my eyes like a thousand blades.

The cheap perfume clinging to him was unmistakably Alexis's. I thrashed harder.

"Don't touch me. You're filthy."

The words were barely out before I regretted them.

Bertram's already cold expression turned black as ink, radiating the kind of chill that cut through skin and settled in bone.

After a beat, he looked at me and let out a derisive laugh. "You want to talk to me about filthy, Prudence?"

What he said next plunged my heart into an abyss.

"If you're so clean, why did you throw yourself at me when you were nineteen?"

"If you're so clean, explain how you spent six or seven hours locked in a warehouse with over a dozen men. Who knows whether you lost that baby from a beating or from something else entirely? What right do you have to call me filthy?"

I stared at him, frozen. It wasn't his unhinged fury that terrified me. It was the fact that those words had come from his mouth at all.

So when he'd gone to find those kidnappers, he'd already known what they might do to me. He'd left me with them anyway. He'd convicted me before he ever came to get me.

After venting the rage inside him, Bertram noticed my trembling body and softened slightly.

"Fine. I'll admit Alexis went a little too far about some things. I'll let that slap go. Now come back, put on the mascot costume, and help celebrate her birthday. She said she wants both of us there to wish her well."

Alexis again. I opened my mouth to refuse, but he cut me off.

"The hospital just called. Your father is still in the ICU. If nothing goes wrong, he should wake up in the next day or two."

I stared into those deep, unreadable eyes. My voice came out raw. "Are you threatening me?"

"That depends on what you decide."

He dropped the words like stones and walked away.

Watching his retreating figure, I felt something sharp lodge behind my eyes.

Ten years. I hated that I could decode every unspoken meaning in his words. I hated even more that he'd always known exactly which strings to pull.

By the time I appeared in the lobby wearing the mascot costume, the birthday party was in full swing.

Everything that had just happened might as well have been a minor interruption. No one cared.

Alexis had her hand on Bertram's shoulder, rising on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek.

The pain of watching it ground my bones to dust like a millstone. All I could do was gulp down the thin air inside the costume, fighting to stay calm.

Every breath felt like swallowing a thousand razor blades.

They weren't even pretending anymore.

"Hey, what are you standing there for? Go deliver the rings!" Someone beside me jabbed their elbow into my side.

Rings?

Instinctively, my hand went to the pocket on the costume's belly, because ten years ago, when Bertram had confessed his feelings, he'd hidden his gift in that exact spot.

Through the tiny mesh eyeholes, I saw an elegant red velvet box.

My fingers found the ring on my own left hand. The one whose color had long since worn away. I rubbed it without thinking.

The bitterness wouldn't leave.

Under everyone's gaze, I silently chanted my father's name like a prayer and walked forward like a bridesmaid, presenting a ring to my own husband and his so-called foster sister.

But when Alexis reached for the velvet box, Bertram snatched it away first.

"Don't touch it. God knows how many germs are on that thing. I don't want you getting hurt."

The disgust in his eyes nailed my feet to the floor.

Ten years ago, when Bertram had confessed to me, I'd laughed and told him he actually looked pretty good in that costume. He'd kept those words close to his heart.

From that day on, the man who commanded boardrooms and crushed rivals had personally washed this mascot costume on a regular schedule.

Because he believed it was the token of our love. The keepsake of everything we were.

And now he found it too dirty to touch.

Maybe it was the airless heat trapped inside the costume, but every inch of my skin felt like it was being scorched alive with nowhere to hide.

So this was how obvious love and its absence could be.

When he loved you, everything about you was a treasure. When he didn't, everything about you was just filthy garbage.

The birthday party was in full swing. I stood in a corner of the crowd, my phone screen lighting up again and again.

Your divorce cooling-off period has expired...

I stared at the text message, my eyes flickering.

Finally. It was almost over.

"Prudence!"

Bertram's low voice snapped me back to reality. His gaze dropped to my phone screen.

I locked it instinctively and hid it behind my back.

But Bertram only gave me one long, unreadable look before speaking.

"Alexis wants to go to Subzero for a bit. You're coming with us."

Subzero. The most exclusive club in the city.

"You two go ahead. I'll just"

I caught the utter indifference in his eyes and silently mocked myself for the panicked way I'd hidden my phone.

I should have known by now. He would never care.

But before I could finish, his cold voice cut me off.

"If you hadn't behaved yourself tonight, I never would have let you tag along. You should be grateful to Alexis for the privilege of setting foot in a place like that."

I watched his retreating back, my nails digging so deep into my palms they broke the skin.

Subzero Club.

Bertram sat dead center, Alexis curled in his arms. The two of them flirted openly, shamelessly, right under my nose.

I told myself I could endure it. Just hold on until the party ended. Then the spinning wheel's pointer stopped in front of me.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little lady!"

One bold man spoke first. When the man in the center didn't so much as glance up, the rest turned to me with leering grins.

"Since it's a lady, we'll go easy. One button undone, one drink. Three buttons, three drinks!"

"Don't listen to him, sweetheart. I'll only make you undo two. With a body like that, you should give us a little dance!"

The whole room erupted in laughter.

I pressed my lips together as their demands grew filthier, one after another.

But what shattered me wasn't them.

It was Bertram.

He was peeling a grape, head bowed, placing it gently between Alexis's lips.

"They say eating grapes during pregnancy makes the baby's eyes bigger."

"Really? Then I'd better have a few more."

Their voices were soft, barely above a murmur, yet somehow they cut through the music and the vulgar jeering and reached me with perfect clarity.

Did he love her that much?

Enough to sit there while his own wife was humiliated and not spare a single glance?

My throat sealed shut, packed tight as if someone had shoved a fistful of wet cotton down it. I couldn't even form a cry.

Then one voice rose above the rest.

"A man and a woman, alone in a room, ten minutes!"

Bertram's hands finally went still.

Like the first time we'd met, ten years ago, his gaze found mine across the crowd.

Only this time was nothing like that day. The eyes that should have been filled with love were murky, distant, hollow.

He seemed to read the plea in my eyes. He stood.

Just as I thought there might be a shred of conscience left in him, his words plunged me into ice.

"Prudence, games have rules. Stop being so dramatic."

I stared at him in disbelief. He was willing to push me toward a stranger, just like that? He didn't even care about his own reputation?

"If you don't want to do it, drink. Three glasses. That's all. Stop wasting everyone's time."

He'd forgotten. He'd actually forgotten that I was severely allergic to alcohol. Three glasses could kill me.

After a long silence, I drew a slow breath and spoke, my voice flat and even. "I'll take the room."

The words landed like a slap. Every face in the room went rigid, including Bertram's.

He hadn't expected me to choose that.

Seconds later, his expression darkened visibly, his voice dropping to a terrifying cold. "Fine."

I looked at him and laughed inside.

Who was that jealous act supposed to fool?

I was shoved into a room along with a man bundled head to toe, and the door locked behind us.

Before I could react, he grabbed me and flung me onto the bed.

The next second, he pinned me down.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

In the struggle, I tore his mask off.

Beneath it was a face I recognized.

The man who had kidnapped Alexis.

I froze. My eyes went wide. It took a long time before I found my voice.

"You... what are you doing here?!"

The man flashed a sickening grin, his yellowed teeth turning my stomach.

"Don't be scared, sweetheart. I'll be gentle." He reached for the collar of my shirt.

"Don't touch me! Get off! Help! Bertram!"

I kicked him off and scrambled to the door, pounding on it with everything I had. Even now, in danger, the first name that tore from my throat was his.

But all that came through the door was a love song, followed by Alexis and Bertram's voices entwined in a tender duet.

The man seized my ankle and dragged me back to the bed.

Seconds crawled by. My voice gave out, shredded raw.

In the silence that swallowed my last scream, I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was Bertram's profile.

He must have sensed me looking, because he glanced down. Our gazes locked, and something complicated flickered through his eyes before vanishing in an instant.

He cleared his throat twice.

"What happened at the club was Alexis's fault. She got too excited about her birthday and forgot to screen those people beforehand. I'm apologizing on her behalf."

My lashes trembled.

When I spoke again, my voice was raw but dripping with sarcasm. "How long are you going to keep playing dumb, Mr. Delgado?"

Bertram watched me in silence, his eyes unreadable.

After a long pause, he drew a deep breath.

"Alexis was wrong about this, yes. But if you hadn't stirred up trouble during those ten minutes, no one would have laid a finger on you."

I stared at him, eyes wide, unable to believe those words had actually left his mouth.

Did he honestly think all of this happened because I couldn't control myself and went out of my way to seduce my own kidnapper? That I deserved it?

My voice shook, every syllable catching in my throat as I tried, desperately, to reach whatever conscience he had left.

"We changed locations so many times that night. So why was it that specific man? Why did he just happen to show up at the club? Alexis knows the answer better than anyone!"

Bertram's gaze darkened, his eyes turning glacial.

Before he could respond, the door to the hospital room swung open.

Alexis rushed in without a word and dropped to her knees in front of me, tears streaming down her face like spring rain.

"Prudence... I'm so sorry... I know what I did was wrong. Please, I'm begging you, just let me go!"

I was completely blindsided by her sudden performance.

The woman cried harder, her sobs growing more agonized by the second.

"I know what happened hurt you terribly, but... but why would you send my photos to the group chat just to get back at me?"

Bertram reached over and took the phone from Alexis's hand.

One glance. That was all it took. I could feel the temperature around him plummet.

"Prudence Henson, I never realized you could be this vicious!"

The next second, he hurled the phone straight at me.

It struck the bridge of my nose dead-on. Pain exploded through my face, sharp and blinding, my eyes stinging as my entire face went numb.

Through blurred vision, I could see what was on the screen: photos of Alexis with her clothes in disarray.

My brow twitched hard.

"That wasn't me..."

I tried to explain on instinct, but Alexis had already collapsed into Bertram's arms, her face chalk-white.

He cradled her, calling her name over and over, his eyes wild with panic.

He roared toward the hallway. "Doctor! Someone get a doctor!"

Bertram scooped her up and turned to leave, his frigid gaze landing on me one final time.

What came out of his mouth next hit like a bolt of lightning.

"Someone hold her down. She likes sharing other people's photos so much? Then strip her bare and take as many as you want!"

The instant he turned away, I saw the woman in his arms open her eyes.

That taunting look she gave me was a silent, savage mockery of my helplessness.

I froze. A wave of ice crawled up my spine and coiled around my heart.

By the time I found my voice, I was screaming at his retreating back. "Bertram! I didn't do this! She's faking it!"

Over a dozen men surged forward, drowning out my cries. I fought with everything I had, eyes burning, but it was useless.

I couldn't believe Bertram would go this far for Alexis.

Then my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I looked at the caller ID and clung to it like a drowning woman grasping the last lifeline she'd ever get. I pressed myself into the corner, answered the call, and thrust the screen toward the mob.

"Don't touch me! My fiance will kill every last one of you!"

The two men at the front squinted at the name on the screen, exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing.

"Aiden Vance? That ghost of a CEO who makes people disappear? Sweetheart, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Aiden Vance? The untouchable devil who owns both sides of the law? And you, some cast-off piece of trash your own husband threw away, you're claiming he's your fiance?"

But the next second, a low voice cut through the phone speaker.

Even through a screen, the sheer force of it was suffocating.

"I dare anyone to touch her."

A gust swept through the room. Something thin and flat sliced across the lead thug's face and embedded itself in the wall behind him.

It all happened in a heartbeat, but the man clutching his face and howling in agony told the whole story.

The thug beside him went white as a sheet.

"It's... it's him..."

Seconds later, a dark stain spread between the man's legs.

With Aiden Vance's protection hanging over me, I made all dozen of them sit down and digitally edit over a hundred fake nude photos of Bertram and Alexis together.

I admired the stack of printed photos, then ordered the men downstairs to hand them out like flyers in front of the hospital.

They wanted to smear me? Fine. I'd give them something real to talk about.

It wasn't long before chaos erupted through the building.

I slipped out in the commotion, gathering my things as I went.

In the VIP suite, Bertram had his hand inside Alexis's blouse. Neither of them had the faintest idea what was unfolding outside.

I barely spared them a glance. I pulled out my phone, sent him one final email, and walked away without looking back.

A black sedan was waiting behind the hospital.

The moment I climbed in, calls and messages flooded in like a death knell.

I powered off the phone, calm as still water, and tossed it out the window.

This was only the beginning. From here on out, I would dismantle every single person who had ever hurt me and my children. One by one.