I Faked My Death to Take His Empire

His brow creased.

"Penny, we can't keep this baby. Not now."

"Seraphina's pregnant too. She has severe depression. She can't take any kind of shock."

I stared at the man in front of me, unable to believe it.

She was pregnant too.

So they'd been together all along.

A wave of nausea rose and I doubled over, retching.

He rubbed my back.

I pushed him off. "This is my baby. It has nothing to do with you."

Val brushed away the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes.

"Be good. Get rid of it."

He sighed, like he was coaxing a child who didn't know any better.

"We'll have others later. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

I stepped back, out of his reach.

"I already told you. I want a divorce. This baby is mine."

Right on cue, Seraphina clutched her chest behind him and let out a low, pained gasp.

Val's face darkened, and he waved his hand at the bodyguards behind him.

"Take the young Mrs. James to the operating room. Get her the best doctor."

The bodyguards moved at once, seizing my arms and hauling me up.

I fought with everything I had. It made no difference.

In the end they shut me into a VIP room to wait for the operation.

Tears spilled from the corners of my eyes. Fear and helplessness closed over my head.

The door opened. It was Seraphina.

I glared at her with everything in me.

She smiled at me, cold and sly.

"You think a dirty twice-married woman like you could give birth to the James heir? Keep dreaming."

"If you didn't have a face that looks like mine, do you really think you'd ever have gotten your claws into Val's brother?"

The words were barely out before she swung at my face again.

This time I bit down hard on her hand and didn't let go until I tasted blood.

She screamed for the doctor. "Don't give her any anesthesia!"

The operation began.

I screamed, a raw, tearing sound, watching my baby torn out of my body alive.

Body and soul in agony, I coughed up a mouthful of blood and passed out.

When I came to, a cramping pain twisted through my lower belly, wave after wave.

I stared at the ceiling, and the tears wouldn't stop.

My baby was gone.

In the next room, Val and Seraphina laughed and talked, looking forward to a new life coming into the world.

I wiped my face dry and made a call. "I'll work with you. Meet me at the coast."

Numb, I went home and walked straight into Val's study.

I took a tiny flash drive from my pocket and plugged it into his private computer.

I thought for a moment, then keyed in a number.

The password was right.

It was the day Seraphina nearly let him drown in the sea.

But there was a second password.

I tried several. None of them worked.

In the end, on some impulse, I typed in our wedding anniversary.

The screen unlocked completely.

I couldn't help laughing. What a ridiculous kind of devotion.

The progress bar raced through James Group's core confidential files.

I went out alone to the beach on the edge of the city.

Whenever I was hurting, I came to look at the sea.

Then footsteps sounded beside me.

"It really is you, Penelope. He wasn't lying to me."

A greasy man's voice slid into my ear.

I turned my head, and my pupils shrank.

Calvin Sanchez.

The nouveau-riche bully from Riverton, my ex-husband, the one who'd treated me as something to take it out on.

I backed away on instinct.

"What are you doing here? How are you here?"

Calvin looked me over, a lewd grin spreading across his face.

"Penelope, long time no see. You've only gotten prettier since you left me."

"I hear Val James dumped you. Why not come back to me? I promise I'll have you begging for more every single night."