Chapter 2

Angelina's POV

They sprang apart like guilty teenagers caught by their parents.

Joseph's face went completely white as he scrambled to his feet, frantically trying to zip up his pants. Rosanna, though, Rosanna took her sweet time smoothing down her dress, and I swear to God I saw triumph flash in her eyes before she replaced it with fake tears.

"Angelina!" Joseph held up his hands. "This isn't—it's not what it looks like!"

"Really? Because it looks like you were finger-fucking your dead brother's widow while she jerked you off. So please, enlighten me about what it actually is."

Rosanna pressed her hand dramatically to her chest, letting tears spill down her cheeks. "Angelina, please, you don't understand. I'm pregnant, my hormones are completely out of control, I needed some kind of release. Joseph was just helping me out as a favor. We didn't actually have sex or anything."

"Helping you?" I couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. "You call this helping?"

Joseph moved toward me with his most pleading expression. "She's right, Angelina. It's not like we had actual intercourse. Rosanna was suffering from hormonal needs, she needed relief, and I was just trying to be kind and help her through a difficult time."

"Kind? You were being kind by kissing her like that? By putting your fingers inside her? By letting her wrap her hand around your cock?"

"Oh my God, Angelina, are you seriously this uptight about this?" Rosanna's tears disappeared instantly, replaced by pure irritation. "It was just physical relief, nothing emotional. We didn't actually penetrate with our genitals, so it doesn't even count as real cheating. I honestly can't believe you're making such a huge deal out of literally nothing."

Nothing. She just called watching my husband pleasure her nothing.

I looked down at the floor between us.

I'm pregnant, Joseph. I came home to tell you we're going to have a baby together, that we're going to be a family. But you don't deserve to know. You don't deserve to be a father to my child.

"You're absolutely right, Rosanna," I said. "This is nothing. My marriage is nothing. My husband is nothing."

"I want a divorce."

"What?" Joseph's face went from deathly white to angry red. "No! Angelina, you can't be serious about this!"

"I've never been more serious about anything in my entire life." I turned toward the door.

"Angelina, wait!" Joseph grabbed my arm. "I love you! What happened here was just a mistake, one moment of weakness, but I love you, not her!"

I looked down at his hand gripping my arm, then slowly raised my eyes to his face.

"Your love is cheap, Joseph. I don't want it anymore."

I yanked my arm free and ran down the hallway, into our bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind me. I could hear him pounding on it, shouting my name, making promises and excuses that meant absolutely nothing now.

I ignored him completely. Grabbed my suitcase from the closet. Started throwing clothes inside without even looking at what I was packing. I didn't need much, just enough to get me through a few days until I could get back to New York, back to my real life, away from this complete nightmare.

The baby. I have to protect the baby from all of this.

My hand pressed against my still-flat stomach. "I'm sorry," I whispered to the tiny life inside me. "I'm so sorry your father turned out to be a complete piece of shit. But I promise you, I'll keep you safe. We don't need him for anything."

Twenty minutes later, I slipped out through the servants' entrance and called a cab. Joseph was still upstairs in our room, trying to "explain" through the locked door.

I didn't look back as the taxi pulled away from the Valentino estate.

The hotel near O'Hare Airport was generic and anonymous, exactly what I needed. I checked in under my mother's maiden name, Marino, and collapsed onto the stiff hotel bed.

My phone buzzed constantly. Joseph calling over and over. Mrs. Valentino leaving angry voicemails. Even Rosanna, sending me text messages about how I was "overreacting" and "being unnecessarily dramatic about nothing."

I turned the phone completely off.

Tomorrow I'd fly to New York, to my apartment. In ten days, when Father's people came to the Valentino estate to collect us and found me gone, they'd track me down easily enough through their network. I'd explain everything that happened. Father would understand why I had to leave.

And Joseph? Joseph would never know about the baby growing inside me. He'd never get the chance to hold our child, to be a father, to have any part of this new life. That privilege was reserved for men who actually kept their wedding vows.

He doesn't deserve us. This baby is mine, only mine. I'll raise them on my own.

I was finally drifting off to sleep with one hand protectively on my stomach when I heard the knock on the door.

"Room service?"

I hadn't ordered room service. I sat up immediately, suddenly wide awake and alert. "I didn't call for anything."

The door burst open with a violent crack. The electronic lock had been overridden somehow, probably bribed. Four large men in expensive dark suits filled the doorway, and every instinct in my body screamed danger.

"Mrs. Valentino," the lead man said, his voice professionally cold and emotionless. "Mr. Valentino has requested that you return home immediately."

"This is kidnapping!" I scrambled off the bed, looking frantically for an escape route. There wasn't one, they'd positioned themselves to block every possible exit.

"Please don't make this difficult for everyone." Two of them moved forward, grabbing my arms with practiced efficiency. Their grips were firm but not painful, these were professionals who knew exactly how much force to use.

"Let me go! Joseph can't do this! Let me—"

They dragged me toward the door as I fought and screamed as loud as I could. No one in the hotel came to help, no doors opened, no one even peeked out. Either the entire floor had been paid off, or they genuinely didn't care about a woman being dragged away by men in suits.

The black SUV waiting outside had windows tinted so dark you couldn't see anything inside. They pushed me into the back seat with one man on either side of me, making escape impossible.