Chapter 2

I lay alone on the operating table.

The doctor held my hand, comforting me. "Mrs. Black, your body is too weak. I'm afraid we couldn't save the baby."

The first time I saw that tiny embryo on the ultrasound report, my heart had instantly softened.

No matter how much the doctors urged me to terminate the pregnancy, I was unswayed.

This was the culmination of my love with Jax. If I could trade my life for my child's, it would be worth it.

But now, there was no need.

Cold instruments churned in my abdomen. I gripped the bedsheet, tears silently streaming down my face.

My phone suddenly rang. The nurse pressed the answer button and held it to my ear.

Jax's enraged voice boomed through the receiver.

"Iris Black, you've utterly shattered my trust! How could you do something like this to Selene?!"

"What are you talking about?" I was completely bewildered, my voice hoarse as I asked him.

"Selene has been kidnapped! The address they sent is that island I gave you!" Jax screamed hysterically into the phone. "Only the two of us know where that island is. Who else could it be but you?!"

The pain was so intense I couldn't speak, only shook my head desperately, forgetting Jax couldn't see me.

Getting no reply, he snarled, "If anything happens to Selene, I'll make you pay a thousand times over!"

The phone only offered the mechanical beeping of a disconnected call.

The nurse's face was flushed with embarrassment as she put the phone down.

I closed my eyes in despair, my heart filled with desolation.

When the surgery was over, the doctor wheeled me out of the operating room.

But Jax's brothers suddenly appeared, dragging me from the hospital bed.

They bound my hands and feet with cold iron chains.

"Jax said to take you to the island too. If they won't let Selene go, we'll use you to pay the price!"

"Are you insane?! Stop it! She just had surgery!" The doctor ran up in a panic to intervene, but Jax's brothers shoved him to the ground.

I was forcibly thrown into a car. The brutal movements sent searing pain through my abdomen.

I soon passed out from the agony.

I don't know how much time passed before I was roused by a splash of ice water.

I jolted awake, my eyes fluttering open in a daze.

Jax furiously slammed the water basin onto the boat deck. He reached out and gripped my neck.

"Iris, have I been too good to you all these years? Is that why you've become so cruel and selfish, to the point you can't even spare an unborn child?"

My entire body was cold, my lips trembling, unable to form a complete sentence. "I... I didn't... It wasn't me who... did it..."

But Jax didn't believe me.

His eyes red, he violently dragged me off the boat.

Selene, heavily pregnant, was tied to the lighthouse, crying piteously.

"Jax, it's too dangerous, don't come closer!"

Seeing me, she cried out, "Iris, if you can't stand me, I can leave! Why would you hurt my baby?"

I frantically shook my head. "It wasn't me! I didn't do any of this!"

"Jax, the person's gone, must have run off." Rook and the others had checked for any dangers around, then quickly untied Selene. Jax pulled her into his arms, his face a mask of agonizing worry.