Veronica's POV
The presidential suite felt cold despite its luxury, wrapped in nighttime silence.
I lay there with a black blindfold covering my eyes, my fingers clutching the bedsheets so tightly my knuckles went white. Every muscle in my body was wound tight with nerves.
The mattress dipped as someone's weight settled beside me.
I sensed him reaching toward me and quickly caught his wrist.
"Don't look at my face!"
His voice was deep, with a magnetic quality that made my pulse skip. "Don't you want to know who you're giving your first time to?"
Pain shot through my chest as hot tears leaked from beneath the blindfold. I shook my head hard. "I don't care who you are. You're my savior, thank you!"
I couldn't risk anyone discovering my identity!
If people learned that the Bogart family's eldest daughter had sunk so low as to sell her body for $200,000, the humiliation would destroy me.
Handing over my most precious gift to a complete stranger felt devastating and hopeless.
But what choice did I have? My mother was fighting for her life in a hospital bed, and only money could save her.
If my father hadn't turned his back on me, if my boyfriend hadn't betrayed me—stealing my shares before throwing me out—I never would have ended up here.
A subtle, intoxicating fragrance drifted through the air.
He made another offer. "I can give you two million, but I want you to bear my child. Would you agree?"
Two million could save my mother's life!
"I agree..."
"Good girl."
His lips curved into an enchanting smile as he moved closer.
Months later, late at night.
The acrid smell of smoke yanked me from sleep. I opened my eyes to flames dancing outside the window, orange tongues licking through the glass and catching the curtains.
The!
Terror hit me as I realized the danger. With my swollen belly making every movement awkward, I fought to get up and flee the room.
Downstairs, the living room was already consumed by flames, thick smoke choking the air. I pressed my hand over my mouth and nose, forcing myself forward through the haze.
The worst discovery was that every door and window in the villa had been sealed tight. I found the landline, but someone had already cut the connection.
From outside, I caught fragments of familiar voices.
"Once her mother dies, my mom will marry into the Bogart family, and Veronica will probably never know that I'm also a Bogart daughter."
My cousin Liana was actually my father's biological daughter?
"Everything that belongs to her is already in your hands. She has nothing now!"
That was Alonzo Yohan's voice?
He had stolen my shares and plotted with Liana?
"Pour more gasoline. Make sure the fire burns hotter. It's best if she and that bastard in her belly are burned to ashes."
"She has to die, only then will we be truly safe."
It was them. They wanted me dead!
The sound of footsteps eventually disappeared, leaving only the roar of flames and suffocating smoke.
The licked at my skin while terror consumed me completely.
Thinking of my mother still fighting for life in the hospital, I knew I couldn't die...
I shattered the window glass, screaming desperately into the night. "Help... The... Help!"
Time became meaningless. I collapsed on the floor, barely able to draw breath.
In that moment of crisis, the villa door burst open, and an elderly figure charged into the inferno.
"Miss! Miss!"
"Javion, I'm here..."
Hearing the old butler's voice in my despair brought tears of relief.
Javion kicked burning furniture aside, risking everything to reach me as I struggled for air. "Miss, hurry, come with me..."
With Javion's support, I protected my belly as we made our way toward the exit. Just as we were about to escape, a burning beam crashed down toward me.
Javion shoved me through the doorway, taking the impact himself and becoming pinned beneath the beam.
I hit the ground hard, then turned to see Javion consumed by flames.
Tears poured down my face as I screamed in anguish, "Javion! Javion..."
"Run, Miss... Go as far as you can... Never come back..."
"Javion..."
My eyes burned red as the flames devoured everything, leaving nothing but a raging inferno.
——
Leonardo's POV
Some time later, I was handling business in my 59th-floor office at Nelson Enterprises Group when my assistant, Tony, burst in with urgent news. "Mr. Nelson, our people discovered a premature newborn at the villa's entrance."
"What?"
No one else knew that villa's location except that girl.
Understanding what this meant, I shot to my feet. "Where is the baby now?"
"The baby is extremely weak and ill. I've already rushed him to the hospital for care."
"To the hospital!"
In the hospital's incubator, I found a baby boy, impossibly tiny and fragile, yet absolutely beautiful. The moment I saw his face, something inside me melted.
Despite his small size, his features held a faint resemblance to mine. This was definitely my son.
I had paid two million for that woman, Trish, to carry my child, and she had kept her word!
With this realization, I immediately ordered Tony, "Go, I need to locate the baby's mother immediately. Bring her to me."
"Yes, sir!"
Tony assembled a search team, and days later, he returned with his report. "Sir, we've combed through all of Aurelia City, but we couldn't locate any woman named Trish. We even checked every maternity ward, but found no matching records."
"Keep searching. I must find that woman!"
My brow creased with deep concern. Where had she disappeared to after delivering my child?