Chapter 9

I touched my empty stomach, forcing a hollow, bitter smile. "She's dead. Thanks to you. Her own father left her to bleed out in a bathroom on Christmas Eve."

Donovan staggered backward, staring at me like I had physically struck him. "No! You're lying!" he yelled. "I want to see her."

He ran down the hall and threw open the nursery door. Instead of tiny reindeer and baby stockings, he found only a small white urn resting next to an ultrasound photo.

A raw, guttural scream tore from his throat. "No! This is just revenge! You're lying!"

I leaned against the doorframe, my voice cold and sharp. "I begged you seventeen times. Seventeen. You chose her over our baby. You aren't a man. You're a monster."

Desperate and sobbing, Donovan fell to his knees to beg for forgiveness. "I'll fire Chloe! I'll never see her again, I swear! Just give me another chance!"

I stepped back in disgust. A harsh laugh escaped me, sounding like breaking glass. "You gave her my wedding dress. You locked me in a bathroom to die. Your love makes me sick."

I shoved the divorce papers hard against his chest. "Sign them. Or I'll send the ER video to every news outlet in the city."

He tried to avoid me for a month, but I leaked one photo a day—exposing his affair, his cruelty, and his sheer neglect. His company's stock crashed, and he finally caved.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'll sign."

The day the divorce was finalized, I filed a wrongful death lawsuit and released the ER video to the world.

Blake got six months. Donovan got two years.

Chloe lost everything. She fled back to her hometown, where she eventually married and divorced three times over.

While Donovan sat in prison, his company collapsed. I hired his best employees and built my own firm from the ground up.

He took my baby and my ability to love, but he never broke me. My future belonged to me, and I would never let a man hurt me again.