chapter 6

Macy lit up the moment she saw Samuel's text. She replied almost instantly, "On my way!"

It was the first time Samuel asked her to come to his villa in broad daylight.

For a second, she let herself believe the fantasy. Maybe Samuel and Hayley were officially done. Maybe he finally wanted her to take Hayley's place as Mrs. Gray.

Just the thought of it made her feel giddy.

She strutted in on sky-high heels, hips swaying, and stepped through the villa's front door.

She missed the sympathy in the eyes of the butler and the other staff.

The moment she spotted Samuel in the living room, she smiled sweetly and asked, "What's wrong? Do you want me to cheer you up?"

Then she pouted, pretending to be annoyed. "And by the way, you still owe me for running off at that wedding. If you don't get me that Bvlgari emerald necklace, don't expect me to forgive you."

She turned her head dramatically, but kept sneaking glances at him, waiting for the usual indulgent smile, the coaxing tone, the gentle touch.

But Samuel didn't move.

Instead, he stared at her with a coldness she had never seen before. He asked coldly, "Did you go to see Hayley?"

Confused, Macy answered, "Yeah, I did."

"What for?"

"I just wanted to see what was so special about her. I only looked at her from a distance. Why? Is that a crime?"

Samuel let out a short, humorless laugh, the kind that came from pure anger.

"You think I don't know what you said to her?

"If you hadn't gone there to provoke her, she would never have left."

Before she could react, Samuel grabbed her by the throat. His fingers dug into her skin, cutting off her breath.

He glared at Macy who drove his wife away, forgetting every sweet promise he'd made with her in bed.

Within seconds, her face turned a dark purplish red.

Her eyes bulged, tiny blood vessels bursting under the strain.

She clawed at his wrist, her mouth gaping open, desperate for air that wouldn't come.

Right when she thought she was going to die, Samuel let go.

Macy collapsed to the floor, shaking violently. Terror broke her composure, and survival ripped words out of her throat—the kind she never dared say before.

"Samuel… you can't kill me. I'm pregnant. It's your baby!"

Samuel looked down at her, and something twisted inside him—disgust, regret, rage.

How had he ever cared about someone this stupid?

Because of her, he had lost the only person who mattered.

He kicked Macy in the stomach.

Macy folded instantly, clutching her belly with a strangled scream.

"My baby… no… my baby…"

That one kick shattered not only her delusion of climbing into the Gray family but also any illusion about who Samuel truly was.

Pale and sweating, she stared up at him and choked out, "Why? That's our child… You even made Hayley get rid of hers for this baby…"

Her words stabbed him, and he snapped, furious and cruel, "Shut up! That brat—who knows whose it is!

"Because of you, Hayley lost her child and left me!

"You're going to feel a fraction of the pain she suffered."

Terrified the baby might still survive, he grabbed a bottle of pills, forced her jaw open, and tried to shove them down her throat.

Macy spit them out, shaking her head violently.

Samuel lost it and ordered people to drag her away.

"Send her to a nightclub. She drinks with whoever wants her until that thing is gone.

"And if she ever gets pregnant again, deal with it the same way."

Macy's whole body trembled uncontrollably.

She tried to crawl toward the door, sobbing, but the staff dragged her back inside.

What waited for her was a darkness she would never escape.

After that, Samuel didn't spare her a glance. He called the TV station.