“Thanks for the wardrobe, by the way. And the man. And the legacy. You can rot down here while I raise the next heir of Titanis... in your bed.”
She blew a kiss, then turned, her laughter slicing through the silence like glass.
When the echo finally faded, I stared at the shredded photo on the floor. My mother’s smile. My younger self.
My fingers curled over my belly again.
No.
She could wear my name. My robe. My mother’s necklace.
But she would never wear my legacy.
He could chain me down here, but he would never own what was growing inside me.
I stared at my reflection in the dusty metal door.
Where was she?
Where was Danica McKellar—heir to Titanis Global, the girl with the million-dollar mind and an empire in her blood?
I touched my belly. The only part of me still warm.
Three heartbeats. Not just mine. Three tiny reasons to survive.
He could take everything. But he would not take them.
***
I waited.
Days passed. I pretended to weaken. I let my body sag, eyes dull, steps wobble.
And when the guard came—tall, impatient, annoyed—I collapsed into him like a dying animal.
“W-water,” I whispered, barely audible.
He caught me.
Wrong move.