---- Chapter 16 Darius had no intention of giving her that chance. He had betrayed Joana enough. If he allowed this child to be born, any chance of reconciliation, no matter how slim, would be gone forever. His mind was made up. He nodded to his bodyguards. They hauled Kaylee to her feet and dragged her, kicking and screaming, to the waiting car. The next thing she knew, she was on a cold operating table. An anesthetic was injected into her arm, and the world faded to black. When she woke up, her stomach was empty and cramping with an unbearable pain. The baby was gone. She lay in the stark white hospital bed, her body trembling with a despair so profound it felt like the end of the world. A guard stood by her door, a silent reminder of her next task. A few hours later, Darius watched the video she posted online. Her face was bruised and swollen, her voice a monotone as she confessed her lies and apologized for the pain she had caused Joana Scott. A humorless smile touched Darius's lips. What good was an ---- apology now? It wouldn't bring Joana back. He still had no idea where she was. She had vanished so completely, it was as if she had never existed. If it weren't for the digital ghosts of their life online, he might have believed she was just a dream. "If only | hadn't gone to see Kaylee that day," he muttered to the empty room. "Maybe she wouldn't have left." He sat alone in a dark bar, drowning his regrets in whiskey. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept. The house was unbearable, a silent, hollow tomb that echoed with her absence. The alcohol didn't numb the pain; it only sharpened it, making her absence more acute. "Joana... I'm sorry," he slurred, holding his glass up to the empty seat beside him. "| shouldn't be drinking. You hate the smell of it on me." He started to cry, his voice like a lost child's. "Please come back. I'll stop drinking, | swear. Just come back." His friends found him like that. They brought women with them, young, beautiful models eager to catch the eye of the grieving billionaire. "Whoever can win him over tonight," one of the men whispered to the girls, "will have a life of luxury." A bold young woman slid into the booth next to Darius, her fingers tracing a line on his chest. His eyes snapped open. "Get out," he snarled. He grabbed the ---- whiskey bottle and smashed it over her head. She screamed as blood streamed down her face. He kicked her viciously as she fell to the floor. "You disgust me! Get out!" The other women fled in terror. His friends stared at him, aghast.