No Longer Your Bridge: The Heiress Awakens

I thought I was the center of Michael's universe, carrying the heir to his shipping empire. That illusion shattered the day I found his journal.

It turned out I was just a "vessel" to launder money, while his "cousin" Selena was his true love.

The cruelty peaked at lunch. When a tureen of scalding lobster bisque tipped over, Michael didn't lunge for his pregnant wife.

He threw his body over Selena to protect her silk dress.

The boiling soup soaked my stomach. As I screamed in agony, feeling the life slip from my womb, Michael only glared at me.

"Stop making a scene, Liv! It would have ruined her outfit."

That fall killed his son. But I didn't tell him.

Instead, I watched him panic when Selena went into kidney failure days later. He begged me to get tested as a donor.

"She's family, Liv. Please."

I asked him, "If it were me dying, would you ask her to cut herself open?"

"No," he whispered. "I wouldn't let anyone hurt her."

That was the answer I needed.

I agreed to the test just to distract him.

While he liquidated his entire fortune to buy her a black-market organ, I finalized the divorce, emptied the accounts, and vanished.

I left him with nothing but a medical report on his desk: *Fetal Demise due to abdominal trauma.*

He saved her dress. But he killed his heir.

Chapter 1

Liv Hayes POV

The moment my eyes landed on the woman standing beside my husband-clutching a boy who wore his exact shade of jade-green eyes-I knew the "baby brunch" I'd spent weeks curating wasn't a celebration.

It was my execution.

My hand instinctively flew to my stomach, shielding the six-month bump that I foolishly thought was the center of Michael's universe.

It wasn't.

Just two hours ago, I had been floating on air.

I had arranged the blue hydrangeas on the patio tables of our Hamptons estate, humming a soft lullaby to the life growing inside me.

I was Olivia "Liv" Hayes, the sheltered daughter of old money, and I had poured my entire inheritance-millions of dollars of "clean" capital-into Michael's legitimate shipping logistics.

I believed I was building our future. I believed I was washing the blood off his hands.

Michael had come up behind me then, his large hands spanning my waist, thumbs pressing possessively into the swell of my belly.

"You look beautiful, *tesoro*," he had whispered, his breath hot against the sensitive skin of my neck. "My prize. My only treasure."

His possessiveness usually felt like a warm blanket, a shield against the cold world he inhabited. Being the wife of a Capo in the Bratva-Cosa Nostra alliance meant safety was a luxury I paid for with silence.

I had leaned back against his chest, feeling the hard muscle of a man who killed for a living but promised to die for me.

"Are you happy about today?" I had asked, turning to face him.

He kissed my forehead, his eyes dark and unreadable. "I am always happy when I have you right where I want you. In my house. Carrying my heir."

There were signs, of course. Late nights. The lingering scent of perfume he claimed belonged to the wives of business partners.

When I asked, he would smile that charming, dangerous smile and tap the tip of my nose.

"It's the hormones, Liv. You're hysterical. You know the family business requires... diplomacy."

I believed him. God help me, I wanted to believe him.

But now, standing across the manicured lawn, the illusion didn't just crack; it shattered.

Michael was laughing. A genuine, unguarded laugh I hadn't heard in months.

He was looking at *her*. A woman with raven hair and features sharp enough to cut glass.

And the boy.

"Liv," Michael called out, waving me over. His voice was casual-too casual.

"Come meet my cousin, Selena. And her son."

I walked over, my legs feeling like they were encased in lead.

When I reached them, I saw it. The magnetic pull snapping between Michael and Selena. It wasn't the look of cousins.

It was the look of two people who shared a soul.

"Nice to meet you," Selena said. Her voice was smoke and honey.

She looked at my stomach, then up to my eyes.

There was no kindness in her gaze. Only a triumphant pity.

"Michael speaks of you often," she added.

"He calls her his little bird," the boy piped up, looking up at Michael with adoration. "Daddy, can I have a tart?"

The world stopped spinning.

The air left my lungs in a rush.

*Daddy.*

Michael didn't flinch. He didn't freeze. He didn't correct the boy.

He just ruffled the kid's hair and smiled.

"Go ahead, champ."

He looked at me then, his eyes flat and devoid of warmth. "It's a nickname, Liv. Don't start with the hormones again. Not in front of guests."

He turned his back to me to hand Selena a napkin, his hand lingering on her lower back. A touch so intimate it burned my retinas.

My mother, Elizabeth, stood by the buffet. She took a sip of her champagne, her eyes narrowing as she watched them. She didn't look surprised.

She looked resigned, as if she were watching a tragedy she had already read the script for.

I felt sick, bile rising in my throat. I excused myself, stumbling toward the house.

I needed to breathe. I needed to find his phone. I needed proof that I wasn't losing my mind.

I went into his study. The one room I was explicitly forbidden to enter.

I didn't care anymore.

I tore through the drawers, my hands shaking. Nothing.

Then I saw it. A leather-bound journal tucked behind a row of dusty law books he never read.

I opened it. Photos spilled out like secrets.

Michael and Selena in Paris. Michael and Selena tangled in bed sheets. Michael holding the baby boy years ago.

The dates went back five years. Before me. During me.

I opened the journal to a marked page. Michael's handwriting was jagged, angry.

*She is soft. Liv is the perfect bridge. Her money will clean our accounts, and her womb will give me a spare. But she is just a vessel. A tool. Once the money is laundered, I can bring Selena home.*

*Spare.*

My baby was a spare.

*Vessel.*

I was just an incubator with a bank account.

I read the line again: *She is a bridge to power. Nothing more.*

Thunder rumbled outside, matching the cracking sound of my heart breaking into two distinct pieces.

The door handle turned.

I shoved the book back and grabbed a random piece of paper, pretending to fan myself as the door swung open.

Michael walked in. He saw me, and for a split second, panic flared in his eyes.

Then his phone buzzed.

He looked at the screen, his face paling.

"I have to go," he said abruptly. "Business."

"But the guests..." I whispered, my voice trembling.

"Handle it, Liv. You're good at playing hostess."

He didn't even kiss me goodbye.

He rushed out, leaving me alone in the room that held the written evidence of my foolishness.

I walked to the window, watching him run to his car. Selena was already waiting in the passenger seat.

He drove off, leaving me standing in the wreckage of my life.

I looked at the photo I had palmed from the journal. It was just me, pregnant, smiling like an idiot.

I took a silver lighter from his desk.

I watched the flame eat my smiling face until there was nothing left but ash.

I wasn't a bird. I wasn't a vessel.

And I was done being a bridge.