---- Chapter 20 Arthur POV: Her words hit me like a physical blow, even though | already knew. Hearing her admit it, hearing her try to use our child as a shield, sent a fresh wave of rage through me. | strode towards her and grabbed her by the throat, my fingers digging into her soft flesh. "You drugged me," | hissed, my face inches from hers. "You violated me. You used our child as a weapon against the woman | love." She clawed at my hands, her eyes wide with terror, gasping for air. "I did it because | love you!" she choked out. "I just wanted us to be a family!" The madness in her eyes, the twisted logic of her obsession, was more than | could bear. | threw her from me, and she collapsed onto the floor in a weeping heap. | turned to Marcus, my voice cold and dead. "Take her to the hospital. The one downtown. Tell Dr. Peterson to perform an abortion. Now." Claudia' s head snapped up, her face a mask of horrified disbelief. "No! Arthur, no! You can' t! He' s your son! Our son!" She crawled towards me, grabbing at the hem of my pants. ---- "Please, Arthur, I' Il do anything. Don' t kill our baby. Please." | looked down at her, my heart a block of ice. "You should have thought of that before you tried to kill Jody. You should have thought of that before you destroyed my life." The guards pulled her away, her screams echoing through the mansion as they dragged her out the door. Hours later, Marcus returned. 'It' s done, sir," he said, his voice neutral. | nodded, feeling nothing. No relief. No satisfaction. Just a vast, aching emptiness. My revenge was not over. It had just begun. | had them bring her back and force her to kneel in the yard, in the same spot where | had made Jody kneel. | had them place the medical waste container from the procedure on the grass in front of her. | wanted her to see what she had lost, what she had forced me to do. She stared at the small, sealed box, a low, keening wail escaping her lips. It was a sound of pure, animalistic agony. She screamed my name, she cursed me, she begged for a mercy | no longer possessed. After a day and a night, | had them drag her to the basement. To the same dark, damp room where | had locked Jody. But for Claudia, there would be no quick release into unconsciousness. ---- | had them suspend her from the ceiling, her wrists bound with ropes soaked in salt water, her bare feet dangling just above a floor scattered with upturned thumbtacks. | had a doctor on standby to keep her alive, to revive her when she fainted, to ensure she felt every second of her torment. Every day, | would go down there and look at her, at the broken, pathetic creature she had become. | felt no pity. | only felt a burning, endless hatred for the woman who had made me destroy my own child, my own soul. And in the long, silent nights, | would sit in Jody's empty room and look at the single photo | had left of her, my tears falling onto the smiling face of the woman | had driven away. "I'm sorry," | would whisper into the darkness. "I'm so sorry, Jody. I" Il fix this. ' Il get you back." Then, one evening, a message arrived from my assistant. It was a link to a news article. Rising star in chemical engineering, Jody Campbell, to receive the prestigious Innovator of the Year award at a ceremony in her hometown. She was coming back. My heart seized in my chest. It was a sign. A chance. A chance to finally make things right.