Chapter 2A Love Made of Scars

I was shoved violently into the back of the car. Alistair’s voice was a shard of ice.

“To the Avalon Clinic.”

The rough rope bit into my wrists, chafing them raw. I screamed, my voice hoarse. “Alistair, you can’t do this to me! On what grounds are you forcing me into plastic surgery?”

He ignored me, focused on soothing Sabrina. He had one of his men stuff a rag in my mouth.

Biting back the pain, I fumbled for the phone in my pocket, trying to call for help. It rang for barely a second before it was slapped from my hand, skittering across the floor.

Alistair’s eyes were cold as death. He spoke to the bodyguard. “Dislocate her arm.”

A sound like a hammer shattering bone erupted from my shoulder. Tears streamed down my face.

At the clinic, I was dragged into an examination room. A thick needle pierced my vein, and a cold sensation spread through my body.

The doctor looked at a report, then stood up abruptly, a strange look on his face as he went to find Alistair.

Lying on the cold operating table, I could hear their conversation through the crack in the door.

“Mr. Vaughn, she’s pregnant. The procedure is far too risky. I can’t perform this surgery.”

My heart stopped.

I looked down at my flat stomach in disbelief. There was a life inside me.

Sabrina’s choked sobs came from the hallway. “Alistair, you promised me you would never touch her. If you’ve fallen in love with her, I’ll just disappear. I’ll never bother you again.”

She made a show of running away, heartbroken.

Alistair caught her, his voice shaking with rage as he kicked open the operating room door. “Seraphina! So that night wasn’t a dream! You drugged me. You actually dared to drug me!”

My mind went blank. My throat was tight with pain.

A month ago, Alistair had come to my room, blind drunk. He gave me no chance to resist, his kisses rough and desperate all over my body. All night long, he had called out my name. Twenty-three times.

A foolish joy had bloomed in my chest. I thought maybe, just maybe, he cared for me a little. The next morning, worried about his restless sleep, I’d gone to the kitchen to make him a hangover remedy.

But when I returned with the warm soup, the bed was empty.

Seeing the blood drain from my face now, Alistair sneered. “Did you really think you were worthy of carrying my child? Not unless you drugged me to get it.”

A crowd had gathered outside the room. Their disdainful stares and vile words were needles piercing my eardrums.

“So shameless, drugging a man to get pregnant.”

“Even the cheapest bar girl trying to climb into a rich man’s bed has more class than her.”

My voice trembled as I tried to defend myself. “I didn’t drug him…”

Sabrina’s eyes filled with tears as she turned away from Alistair, pouting. “It’s me or the child, Alistair. You can only choose one.”

They were going to take my baby?

Panic seized me. I reached out, my fingers clenching his sleeve. “You can’t take him from me! We can get a divorce. I won’t ask for anything. Just please, let me keep the baby.”

For a moment, Alistair’s expression softened. But in the next second, Sabrina let out a wail and sank her teeth into my arm. “You just want to use the baby as a bargaining chip! Just like you bribed the butler to rig the drawing so you could marry Alistair! Now you want to use his child to control him forever!”

I shook my head desperately, trying to explain. “No…”

But Alistair’s eyes had turned to stone. He saw my plea as just another calculation.

“Get rid of that bastard thing. Now. Then proceed with the facial surgery.”

The doctor gave me a look of pity as the nurses held me down. The anesthetic entered my bloodstream, and my consciousness began to fade.

Tears of anguish streamed from my eyes. I couldn’t understand. Why, after he had regained his sight, had he become so cruel?

Had he forgotten?

It was he who had taken my hand, he who had confessed his love, he who had promised me a lifetime.