Chapter 2
Elizabeth's POV
Cleo was trembling with rage, her mouth opening to retaliate, when a figure suddenly shot out from the side.
It was Aiden's sister, Jessica Smith.
As she rushed past me, she feigned a casual stumble, her foot jutting out with the clear intention of tripping me.
Her plan was simple and cruel: to humiliate me in front of everyone.
If this had been the old me, the one who valued a fragile peace above all else, I would have swallowed the insult, maybe even forced a laugh after I'd fallen and claimed it was my own clumsiness.
But that person was gone. The baby growing inside me was my only leverage now, the critical piece in my counterattack against the entire Smith family.
If her petty act of malice made me fall, if anything happened to this child, what bargaining power would I have left with the Windsor family? The sheer vindictiveness of it was chilling.
Since the Smiths had decided to dispense with all pretenses of civility, I saw no reason to maintain them myself.
My gaze turned to ice. In a single, fluid motion, I sidestepped her outstretched foot.
The momentum of my turn carried my hand upward and around, and I brought it down in a hard, stinging slap across her face.
The crack of palm against cheek echoed through the cavernous living room, sharp and undeniable.
Jessica was stunned into silence.
She clutched her rapidly reddening cheek, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at me. A shriek, sharp enough to pierce eardrums, finally tore from her throat. "Elizabeth! Are you insane? You actually hit me?" She screeched, her voice cracking.
"This is the Smith house! How dare you, you shameless woman, lay a hand on me?"
I flexed my tingling fingers, my expression unyielding as I met her furious glare. "I am your future sister-in-law, a legal member of this family. Since your mother has clearly failed to teach you basic respect, I don't mind taking over the lesson."
Jessica's face contorted with fury, and she lunged forward, her arms flailing as she aimed to grab a fistful of my hair.
"Stop it!" A furious voice barked from the doorway.
Aiden strode into the room, he yanked Jessica back, pulling her behind him as he fixed me with a look of profound disapproval, his brow deeply furrowed. "Elizabeth, what do you think you're doing?"
"Jessica is young and immature. You're going to be her sister-in-law. How could you stoop to her level? And hitting her?"
A wave of nausea washed over me. Young?
Jessica was twenty-four, only a year younger than me.
Aiden's talent for instinctively defending his family, no matter how wrong they were, was as polished as ever.
The old me would have already been blinking back tears of frustration, desperate to explain my side of the story.
But now, all I felt was the bitter absurdity of it all.
I held his gaze, my eyes cold as I took in his hypocritical performance. "She tried to trip me."
Then, I stepped closer, lowering my voice to a near-whisper, meant only for him. "Aiden, I'm pregnant. If she had succeeded, if I had miscarried because of her… who would have taken responsibility for that?"
The Smiths didn't know about the pregnancy yet. Aiden hadn't told them, and I certainly wasn't going to. I knew exactly what game he was playing, and I was more than willing to watch the drama unfold.
As expected, Aiden's expression froze.
His gaze flickered down to my stomach, a flash of genuine alarm crossing his features. I understood immediately. He wasn't worried about the baby; he was worried about Bianca, the woman waiting for a life-saving transplant.
The doctors had been explicit: the donor needed to be in optimal physical condition. If I were to hemorrhage from a miscarriage, what would happen to Bianca?
"Jessica! How could you be so thoughtless?" Aiden spun around, glaring at his sister. "Apologize to Elizabeth. Now!"
Tears of indignation welled in Jessica's eyes. "Aiden! Are you taking her side against me? She's the one who hit me!"
"Shut up," he hissed through clenched teeth.
He turned back to me, his features softening into a mask of practiced affection as he reached out to place a hand on my shoulder. "Elizabeth, don't be angry."
"You know how Mom spoils Jessica."
"Come on, let's go back to our room. There's something I need to talk to you about."
Suppressing a powerful urge to recoil, I allowed him to guide me away. It wasn't the time to burn everything to the ground. Not yet.
The moment the bedroom door clicked shut behind us, Aiden launched into his well-rehearsed damage control speech.
"Elizabeth, I know you were wronged."
"But Mom and Jessica… they're my family. Can't you just endure it a little longer, for me? Once we're married, I promise I'll move us out of here."
Empty promises. It was always empty promises. I had been fed the same hollow lines for the past five years.
I sat on the edge of the bed, lowering my head to hide the cynical glint in my eyes. When I looked up again, my face was a perfect portrait of hurt.
"Aiden, am I not your family?"
"I'm constantly ostracized and ignored in this house. I have feelings. I'm not a robot. I just… I can't take it anymore."
A flicker of panic crossed his face. "Elizabeth, what are you saying?"
I took a deep breath and held out my hand, palm up. "I need compensation."
He stared at me, bewildered. "What?"
"If I'm not going to get respect in this house, then I want something tangible to make up for it."
I looked him directly in the eye, enunciating each word with chilling precision. "Ten million dollars. Consider it payment for my emotional distress over the last few years. And, of course, a trust fund for the baby."
Aiden sucked in a sharp breath, his face darkening. "Elizabeth, don't be ridiculous. Ten million? Do you think I have money growing on trees? The Smith Group's cash flow is already tight right now…"
"Then we have nothing more to talk about." I stood up and made a show of reaching for my suitcase. "In that case, I have no intention of having this baby. It would only suffer in a family like this anyway. I might as well call the clinic and book the procedure now. Get it over with."
"Don't!" He lunged forward, his hand clamping around my wrist like a vice. A vein throbbed in his forehead. "Elizabeth! Don't be impulsive!"
His eyes were locked on my stomach, a desperate, calculating struggle playing out in their depths.
I knew what he was thinking. Ten million dollars to save Bianca's life.
Was it worth it? To him, it was a bargain. As long as I agreed to get tested, he knew he had countless ways to force my hand later, even if I refused the donation.
In his eyes, I was nothing more than a walking, talking, backup supply of bone marrow.
After a long, tense silence, he finally spoke, the single word forced from between his gritted teeth. "Fine."
"I'll give it to you," he conceded. "But, Elizabeth, you have to promise me. From this day on, you will take perfect care of yourself."
A cold laugh echoed in the silence of my mind, but my lips curved into a reassuring smile. "Don't worry."
Ten minutes later, my phone buzzed. A bank notification confirmed the ten-million-dollar transfer. Staring at the long string of zeros, I felt absolutely nothing.
Aiden, his face a thundercloud, made an excuse about an urgent matter at the office and left.
I knew he was stinging from the financial loss and rushing to find solace in Bianca's arms.
After all, a man who'd just lost a fortune deserved some comfort from his true love.
Once I confirmed his car had sped away, I locked the bedroom door, pulled out my phone, and quickly typed out a message to an encrypted number. The content was brief: [Money transferred. Dig up every tax issue the Smith Group has had for the past five years.]
Less than three seconds later, a reply came back. A single letter. [K.]
I deleted the exchange and walked to the window, watching the taillights of Aiden's car disappear into the night.
A corresponding chill settled deeper into my heart. Just then, a soft knock sounded at the door.
"Mrs. Elizabeth Smith." It was the butler's voice, formal and distant. "Mrs. Smith asked me to inform you that tomorrow is the Smith family's formal dinner. She hopes you will prepare accordingly."
A family dinner?
I raised an eyebrow, a slow, deliberate smile spreading across my reflection in the dark glass. "Of course," I called out, my voice smooth as silk. "Please tell Mrs. Smith I will be sure to prepare thoroughly."