Chapter 1 - THE MARBLE FOYER
"Stop it, please! You’re breaking his arm!"
Lily’s desperate scream echoed off the four-story marble foyer of the Blackwood mansion.
Fourteen-month-old Baby Ethan was collapsed on the polished white stone floor, his tiny face turning a terrifying shade of deep purple. His sobs were fading into weak, ragged gasps for air. Standing over him was Serena Montigue—the celebrated socialite, high-fashion icon, and fiancée of Chicago’s most feared underworld kingpin, Victor Blackwood.
Serena’s manicured hand gripped Ethan’s slender arm, twisting and dragging him across the floor like a discarded rag doll simply because he had spilled a few drops of organic milk onto her designer coat.
"Get your hands off him!" Lily sobbed, throwing herself forward. Her bare feet slid frantically across the cold marble, her arms outstretched to shield the boy she had raised and loved as her own for six agonizing months.
CRACK.
Serena didn't even flinch. She pivoted on her left foot and drove her three-inch red-bottom heel squarely into Lily’s abdomen with brutal force.
The impact knocked the breath straight out of Lily’s lungs. Pain exploded behind her ribs, sending her crashing violently backward onto the hard stone floor. She curled into a ball, clutching her stomach, wheezing for oxygen.
"You pathetic little pest," Serena sneered, wiping an invisible speck of dust from her cuff. "Know your place."
Lily struggled onto her elbows, tears blurring her vision. But she didn't care about her own body. Her eyes locked onto Ethan. The little boy’s arm hung at a sickening, unnatural angle. His cries were reduced to faint, heartbreaking whimpers. He was slipping into shock.
Serena stepped over the trembling child, stepping directly toward Lily. She pressed the point of her heel firmly into Lily’s ribs, applying agonizing pressure.
"Touch him again," Serena whispered, her voice smooth, icy, and entirely devoid of humanity, "and I’ll make you disappear into the Chicago River. Nobody cares about a nobody like you. You think anyone in this city will take the word of a cheap nanny over Victor Blackwood’s future wife?"
Lily gasped, her hands trembling as her knees scraped against the cold floor. She dragged herself forward one agonizing inch at a time toward Ethan.
"Please..." Lily choked out, blood tasting metallic in her mouth. "He's just a baby..."
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Serena laughed—a light, musical sound that sent a wave of utter horror through the silent mansion. She raised her foot, aiming the heavy heel directly at Lily’s outstretched fingers.
"Then both of you can learn a lesson today."
