Chapter 2

Sammy’s feigned loyalty worked like a charm.

The shipping routes and port projects I had spent months setting up were handed to Chloe one after another.

Her moves were sloppy, almost childish, but she had Asher’s silent permission behind her.

He even took the logistics proposal I bled over for weeks and casually tossed it across Chloe’s desk.

"Here, use this. Don't stay up late anymore—it hurts me to see you tired."

I never caused a scene.

I quietly watched Chloe tear away piece after piece of my territory.

After seeing endless tabloid photos of Asher parading Chloe around town, the hurt had hollowed out. There wasn't even pain left.

Until Chloe reached for Pier 42.

That pier was the throat connecting New York waters to the high seas. If the Belmonts secured it, the number of missing children smuggled out would double overnight.

I knew I had to speed up my death.

Gripping the lab report I’d received from the clinic that morning, I pushed open the door to Asher’s penthouse office.

He was standing by the floor-to-ceiling glass, on a call, his voice soft and dripping with affection.

I didn't need to guess who it was. Chloe.

Asher turned with a frown. When he saw me, irritation flashed across his eyes.

"Yeah, I'll come over tonight, baby. Be good."

He hung up reluctantly, turning to me with cold detachment:

"What is it? I told you to take time off. You shouldn't be at the office right now, you..."

"I want Pier 42."

My words cut him short.

It was so blunt that even Asher looked caught off guard. He immediately scoffed:

"No. I already promised that terminal to Chlo—"

I didn't let him finish. I slid the white envelope across the mahogany desk.

[Positive. Gestational age: approx. 6 weeks.]

Asher froze.

As his eyes scanned the paper and registered what it meant, his fingers began to tremble uncontrollably.

He snapped his head up, his eyes suddenly rimmed in red.

"You... you never wanted to have a child with me before. Why now...?"

Compared to his raw shock, I was stone-cold.

"I’ll carry it to term. Give me Pier 42."

Asher looked like he had been struck across the face.

The joy drained from his features, leaving wide, wounded disbelief.

Then, a harsh, humorless laugh tore from his throat.

"Jill... are you using our baby as a bargaining chip?"

I met his gaze, finding his question utterly ridiculous.

"What else would it be?"

"Did you really think I’d willingly bear the child of a man who cheats on me?"

"You don't have to agree. It just means I visit the clinic again this afternoon and take care of it."

The office dropped into suffocating silence.

Asher stared at me as if looking at a stranger.

A dry, bitter rasp tore through his chest.

"Fine. Fine. Great!"

"You really are the ruthless queen everyone fears. Cold. Merciless."

He glared into my eyes, his own swirling with a mix of fury and shattered pride:

"The pier is yours."

"And you will keep this baby safe."

I said nothing, turning toward the door.

"Jill!" he called out suddenly.

My hand lingered on the handle.

"Besides the baby..." His voice was barely a whisper. "Did you really have nothing else to say to me today?"

I paused.

I couldn't understand what right he had to sound so broken.

He was the one who strayed. He was the one who asked me to tolerate it. He was the one who empowered Chloe.

There was nothing left between us.

"Nothing."

I walked out without looking back.

Behind me on his desk, his phone screen lit up slightly, displaying an empty recent call log.

He had lied.

He wasn't on the phone with Chloe at all.

Clutching that flimsy sheet of paper, Asher broke down, caught between weeping and laughing like a madman:

"Jill... how the hell did we end up like this...?"