Chapter 3

The operation took nearly eight hours. Leo survived, but his condition was more critical than ever. His life now depended on a cocktail of incredibly expensive medications to keep him stable until her second pregnancy was far enough along for the umbilical cord blood to be harvested. Without the medicine, he wouldn't last a month.

Aria wiped her tears away. She’d been released from prison a year ago and had found Cade again. They were still married. Not for love, but for his vengeance. He wanted to punish her for her betrayal.

He had systematically destroyed her career prospects in the art world, making himself her only source of income. She had to prostitute herself to him, and only him, to make money.

It was a profound agony to kneel before him like this, but she had no choice. Leo was her entire world. She would trade her dignity, her body, her soul—anything—for the money that could keep him alive.

She was determined to see this through.

Aria ran a hand through her messy hair before leaving the hospital. She called Cade’s Manhattan townhouse on a whim and was surprised to hear he was there.

He might not be in the mood for sex in broad daylight, but she was desperate. She had to try.

She laughed at herself, a bitter, hollow sound. All she had to endure was a few minutes of his punishing thrusts, and if she was lucky, she could get another fifty thousand dollars.

There was no room for shame anymore. She was used to the humiliation. With a brazen resolve, she walked into the townhouse.

“Cade.”

She went straight to their master bedroom. What she saw on the bed shattered her already broken heart into a million tiny shards.

Her stepmother, Kendra Yates, was clinging to Cade’s body. He was tracing a finger across her chest, slowly unbuttoning her silk blouse.

Aria’s voice cracked. “What are you doing!?” It was such a stupid question.

She knew immediately. A man and a woman, alone in a bedroom, their clothes in disarray. The answer was obvious.

She could tolerate any other woman. But not Kendra.

Kendra was the architect of all her misery.

Six years ago, it was Kendra who had threatened her with her father’s life to force her to leave Cade. When Aria finally went to see her father after the breakup, he was already dead. Murdered. By Kendra.

The murder weapon was a paring knife from their kitchen. Kendra had worn gloves. Aria’s fingerprints were the only ones on it.

“Kendra, get the hell out of here! You killed my father. You should be rotting in a prison cell! How dare you seduce my husband!?”

With a surge of strength, Aria yanked the woman out of Cade’s embrace. “Cade, you’re my husband! Don’t you dare touch her! Six years ago, she was the one who threatened me! She…”

Smack!

Cade’s hand connected with her cheek. The sound was sharp, final. “Aria, I’ll kill you if you speak about her that way again!”

“What are you trying to accomplish with these lies? I won’t believe a word you say! All I know is that our child is dead because of you and Julian Kinsley. Kendra was the only one who stood by me when I was a goddamn cripple!”

Aria stood there, stunned, staring at him in disbelief. He had never hit her before. That was a first.

Kendra. It was always Kendra.

The physical pain was nothing. Her heart ached with the memory of his empty promises.

Aria, I promise to spend my life loving you, cherishing you, making you the happiest woman in the world.

Cade, you promised her a world of happiness. Now, it was all just ash.

Cade looked as shocked as she did. It was never his intention to strike her. A flicker of remorse crossed his face.

But the thought of his dead child hardened his heart again. He could never forgive her for what she had done in her pursuit of a life without him.

His upper lip curled in a sneer. “Why are you here in the middle of the day? So eager to get paid? If you’re here for business, you’d better be ready. I’m not paying for the clothes,” his sarcasm was a weapon designed to strip her of her last shred of self-worth.

“Take them off!”