Claimed by the Don, The Price of Loyalty

My husband, Don Dante Torrino, is dangerously possessive.

When my first love returned, he decided to "test" my loyalty.

He brought home six other women.

"This is my house. I'll sleep with whomever I please. Don’t like it? get out."

I endured everything until he reassigned my personal doctor to care for the mistress.

I miscarried in agony.

But Dante said, "Sign the divorce papers. I want to give her the title of Mrs. Torrino."

I signed the papers without a second thought.

Humiliated that I didn't beg, he proposed to his mistress right in front of me.

Six months later, Dante came back, expecting to find a repentant wife.

Instead, he found me on the arm of Alexander Cross, the Chicago business magnate.

Dante's face turned ashen.

"You dare betray me?"

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1

Chained in the cold, damp basement, I struggled, my face a ghostly white.

By the door, Scarlett draped herself over Dante, whispering coquettishly into his ear.

“Don, she’s hurting herself just to drive me away.”

“Maybe… I should just leave…”

Seven years ago, Scarlett had been sold to a strip club by her stepfather. I couldn't bear to see her suffer, so I spent one hundred thousand dollars to buy her freedom. I brought her to Chicago and paid for her to attend the best university.

I had saved her, pulling her from a grim fate, only for her to end up in my husband's bed.

A dull ache tightened in my chest. I ignored her baiting and looked weakly at Dante. "Dante, I'm pregnant. I can't stay down here. Please, let me go upstairs."

Dante glanced at Scarlett, whose eyes were red-rimmed, then back at me, his voice laced with displeasure.

“A child? Evangeline, do you think carrying my heir gives you a free pass to do as you please?”

“Scarlett is my woman. You are not worthy of touching her!”

Tears of gratitude instantly streamed down Scarlett's face. But when she looked at me, her expression was filled with nothing but venom. “Donna Evangeline, you know the Don and I have been together for so long, and I’ve never conceived. Are you just saying you’re pregnant to hurt me?”

The flicker of worry in Dante’s eyes instantly turned to fury.

"Evangeline, don't you dare think that just because you can bear a child, you're somehow superior to Scarlett!"

"That thing in your womb is already a schemer, just like you. It’ll be born a traitor!”

In our seven years of marriage, Dante would often kiss my stomach, praying for an heir.

But now that I was truly pregnant…

He called my child a traitor.

A sharp pain pierced my heart, as if a thousand needles were stabbing it all at once.

My face turned ashen, and I struggled to pull myself up.

But Dante only sneered, roughly yanking an iron chain and locking me to a pillar.

"Evangeline, Scarlett is mine. You have no right to make her leave!"

"Stay here and reflect on what you've done!"

With that, he swept Scarlett into his arms and left me in the darkness.

Powerless, I remained chained in the basement for a full day and night.

The next day, after the old butler secretly unlocked my chains, I cradled my abdomen and staggered to the hospital.