ELLA.

"Don’t you dare lay your hands on me!" I snapped, my voice rising despite the dryness clawing at my throat.

It wasn’t just a warning, it was everything I had left to stand on.

But Alex didn’t stop.

"Cooperate with me, my love...I’m doing this for your own good," he said, taking another slow, calculated step closer, as though I were some fragile thing he could corner and claim. His tone was soft, persuasive and dangerously familiar. "Those triplets cannot be trusted. I know them too well, Ella."

His words grated against my ears—lies, half-truths and manipulation wrapped in concern.

"I promise you... I will scream!" I shot back, forcing strength into my trembling voice.

It was a threat...but also a plea.

Because I knew Alex. I knew how much he cared about his image, his name and his reputation. He wouldn’t want attention, he wouldn’t want witnesses.

But then...he smiled and something inside me dropped.

"Scream all you want, Ella..." he said slowly, almost amused. "...you seem to be forgetting...you are still my wife."

My breath hitched.

"And I can prove that," he continued, his voice lowering into something darker, more dangerous, "to anyone who dares to interfere."

Before I could react, before I could even step back...He moved too fast. A glint of metal flashed in his hand, and in the next second, the cold edge of a dagger pressed against my throat.

I froze.

My heartbeat slammed violently against my ribs.

"One wrong move, darling..." he murmured, his voice dropping into a chilling whisper. "...and everything ends."

The blade kissed my skin, as it was too close. Fear clawed its way up my spine, wrapping around my lungs, tightening with every breath.

But beneath that fear...something else rose, defiance.

I wasn’t going back, not to him, not to that life, not when my child depended on me before my mind could catch up with my body...I moved forward.

The blade sliced into my skin. A sharp, burning pain tore through my throat, and I winced as warm blood immediately began to trail down, staining my collar, dripping slowly onto my chest.

A gasp escaped me, but I didn’t step back nor did I flinch.

For a split second, there was silence, then his voice came.

"Ella, are you insane?!" Alex’s voice broke, panic flooding through it as his composure shattered completely.

The dagger clattered to the ground, forgotten.

He grabbed the nearest cloth from the table, his hands trembling as he pressed it urgently against my neck, trying to stop the bleeding.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he demanded, his voice no longer controlled, no longer calm.

But I didn’t answer and I just stared at him because now I knew that I was right. If he truly wanted me back, if he needed me alive...He wouldn’t kill me.

And that...that was my only leverage, my only protection. Even as the pain throbbed through my neck...even as the blood continued to seep through the cloth...I held his gaze, unyielding.

Because this time, Alex was the one panicking.

The door burst open so suddenly that the sound cracked through the room like thunder.

"Get your hands off her!" Lawrence’s voice roared with a force that didn’t even sound human anymore.

It carried the weight of his wolf, raw and furious, shaking the air as he surged forward in a blur of movement.

Before Alex could even react...Lawrence slammed into him.

The impact was brutal.

Alex’s body was thrown backward, his head snapping against the wall with a sickening thud. The sound echoed, sharp and heavy, but there was no pause, no moment to recover.

Lurgard was already on him.

He grabbed Alex by the collar, yanking him up with such force that the fabric strained under his grip.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Lurgard bellowed, his voice thick with rage, his chest heaving as his eyes burned with something dangerously close to losing control. "Answer me! Why is she bleeding?!"

Alex barely had time to form a response, as Lurgard’s fist connected with his neck.

Hard.

The blow forced a choked sound out of Alex as his body jerked from the impact, his balance completely shattered.

Everything was happening too fast and in the middle of it all...Lawrence was suddenly in front of me.

His hands were on me, firm but careful, pressing the cloth tighter against my neck, trying to stop the blood that wouldn’t seem to slow.

"Stay with me... stay with me..." he muttered under his breath, though I wasn’t even sure if he realized he was saying it.

But I...I was slipping.

The room tilted.

The walls felt like they were closing in, spinning slowly around me. My head grew light, my body heavier, like I was being pulled under something I couldn’t fight.

My fingers twitched weakly at my sides.

No..no...no...I couldn’t lose consciousness, not here and definitely not with them.

All four men in this room were dangerous—Three of them wanted my child gone and one...One wanted to take me away entirely.

My breathing grew uneven, shallow and unstable.

If Alex found out...If he found out about the baby...

No.

That couldn’t happen.

Even if the triplets overpowered him... even if they drove him out...What would happen next?

What would happen to my child?

Panic flickered weakly in my chest, but even that felt distant, like everything inside me was fading too quickly.

"All of you... get out..." The words left my lips, but they were barely sound, just a fragile whisper that dissolved into the chaos around me.

I wasn’t even sure anyone heard.

"Call the damn doctor!" Lawrence’s voice exploded again, right beside me, loud and commanding, echoing painfully in my ears.

Leonard, who had stood frozen just moments before, finally snapped out of it.

His expression shifted instantly, panic breaking through whatever control he had been holding onto.

Without another word, he turned and rushed out of the room, fast and desperate.

Everything blurred again, my vision wavered, shadows creeping in at the edges.

I didn’t understand...It was just a small cut, just a slight graze.

So why...

Why was there so much blood?

"Theresa, don’t you dare close your eyes!" Lawrence ordered, his voice sharp, almost frantic now, as if he was trying to pull me back by force.

But his words felt far away.

My eyelids burned, as my body gave in.

And no matter how hard I tried...

I don’t think I obeyed him.