My husband’s mistress locked me inside a hospital room, beat me while I was thirty-three weeks pregnant, and tried to force me to surrender my marriage, my company, and my unborn child. She thought my father was a harmless mechanic—until one phone call revealed he was the most powerful anonymous mafia boss in the world. / Chapter 1 / 40

Chapter 1 - The Executive Key|

I was thirty-three weeks pregnant when Odalys Crane walked into my private hospital room wearing my husband’s executive elevator key around her neck.

She didn't knock. She didn't hesitate.

She swung the heavy wooden door shut, turned the thumb-latch until it clicked into place, and pulled down the white privacy shade over the observation window.

Then, with smooth, practiced movements, she reached behind my hospital bed and yanked the connector cord out of the wall, instantly powering down my bed controls and the emergency nurse call button.

My heart hammered violently against my ribs.

“How did you get that key, Odalys?” I whispered, clutching the blanket over the pronounced swell of my belly.

She smiled, a cold, glossy movement of her lips.

“Silas is remarkably resourceful when he wants privacy,” she said.

That was the exact moment my world shattered into sharp, jagged pieces. That was when I knew my husband hadn't just neglected me—he had dispatched her.

Odalys strolled over to the side of my bed, reaching into her tailored designer coat. She pulled out a crisp, thick stack of legal papers and tossed the separation agreement directly onto my stomach.

“Read page four,” she instructed smoothly. “It’s very generous.”

I didn't touch the papers.

“What is this?”

“Your resignation from Vance Dynamics,” Odalys said, folding her arms. “A complete surrender of any claim to Silas’s corporate shares, a flat payout of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and your agreement to allow professional guardians to determine if you are mentally fit to raise your daughter.”

A bitter, hysterical laugh almost escaped my throat.

I had built Vance Dynamics from a garage start-up. I had designed the proprietary encryption algorithms that made the company worth billions. Silas was just the handsome face who knew how to pitch my genius to venture capitalists.

“Are you insane?” I spat. “I made that company. And Silas used my patents to hide millions in an off-shore shell company called Kade Capital. I know everything.”

Odalys’s smile vanished instantly.

Her eyes turned pitch black with fury.