Chapter 3

A few weeks later, Diamond staged another one of her dramatic episodes. The news came from her doctor that her "condition" was permanent. The bullet wound had left deep, irreparable scarring. There was no chance she could ever conceive.

Erica found her in the solarium, weeping in Alex's arms. It was a perfect performance of heartbreak.

"I'm worthless, Alex," Diamond sobbed, her body shaking. "A woman who can't have a child is nothing."

"Don't say that," Alex murmured, stroking her hair with a tenderness he hadn't shown Erica in months. "You are not worthless. I'm here. I'll always be here."

"But it's not enough!" Diamond cried, pulling back to look at him, her eyes wide and desperate. "I wanted a family with you. I wanted to give you a child. It's all I've ever wanted."

Erica stood in the doorway, a silent, invisible witness to this twisted play.

"Promise me something, Alex," Diamond whispered, her voice thick with manipulation. "Promise me you'll do anything to make this right. Anything I ask."

"I promise," Alex said, his voice raw with emotion. He was completely under her spell. "Anything."

Diamond's eyes flickered toward Erica for a split second, a glint of pure, cold triumph in their depths.

Later that night, Alex came to Erica. He looked exhausted, his face drawn and pale.

"We need to talk," he said.

He told her Diamond's plan. The words came out in a flat, rehearsed monotone. Diamond wanted a child. She couldn't have one. But Erica could.

"She wants... she wants us to use a surrogate," Alex said, unable to meet Erica's eyes.

Erica felt a chill spread through her. "A surrogate?"

"No," he corrected himself, taking a deep breath. "She doesn't want another woman carrying the child. She wants... she wants to ensure you can't have one either."

The room tilted. Erica couldn't breathe. "What are you saying?"

"She thinks it's only fair," Alex continued, the words tumbling out now. "An eye for an eye. A womb for a womb. She wants you to have a procedure. A hysterectomy."

"No," Erica gasped, backing away from him. "No. You're insane. She's insane."

"She thinks it will bring her peace," he pleaded, his voice cracking. "Erica, this is the only way to pay the debt. Once this is done, it's over. We can be free."

"Free? You want to have me sterilized to appease your psychotic boss and you call that freedom?" She was screaming now, her voice raw with disbelief and horror. "That's not a debt, Alex. That's a sacrifice. And you're not sacrificing yourself. you're sacrificing me!"

"I don't have a choice!" he yelled back, his composure finally breaking. "I gave her my word!"

"What about your word to me? The vows we made? 'In sickness and in health.' Does that mean nothing?"

"She can't have my children," he said, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "So you won't either."

The finality in his tone terrified her. It was then that she knew he would go through with it. He would let this happen.

She lunged at him, her ruined hands balled into fists, beating against his chest. "I hate you! I hate you!"

He just stood there and took it, his face a mask of misery. He didn't fight back. He didn't even flinch. When she was exhausted, her sobs racking her body, he grabbed her arms.

"It will be over soon," he promised, his voice hollow. "I swear it. Then we can go away. Just the two of us. We can start over."

Two days later, his men came for her. They didn't knock. They used a key. They dragged her from the apartment, her screams echoing in the empty hallway. Alex stood by the door and watched. He didn't move. He didn't say a word.

They took her to a private clinic, a clean, sterile place that felt more like a laboratory than a hospital. It wasn't a real clinic. Diamond owned it. The "doctor" was a man with cold eyes and a history of doing favors for the rich and powerful, no questions asked.

Diamond was there, waiting. She was dressed in a crisp white coat, playing the part of a surgeon.

"Hello, Erica," she said, her smile sharp and predatory. "Don't you look lovely today. A bit pale, perhaps."

She circled Erica, who was strapped to a medical chair. "He was always so taken with you. Your body. The way you could create life. I could never understand it. You're so... ordinary."

"You're a monster," Erica spat, her voice trembling.

"I'm a survivor," Diamond corrected her. "And I'm simply leveling the playing field. He can't have what he wants with me, so he won't have it with you, either. No one who belongs to Alex Wade will ever have anything I can't have."

Erica struggled against the restraints, a raw, animal terror rising in her throat. "Alex! Alex, don't let her do this!"

Diamond laughed. "He's not here, darling. He couldn't bear to watch. He's a coward."

The "doctor" approached with a syringe. "No anesthetic," Diamond said, her voice light and casual. "I want her to feel everything. I want her to remember what happens when you take something that belongs to me."

The pain was unimaginable. It was a white-hot agony that tore through her, shredding her from the inside out. She screamed until her throat was raw, her vision blurring, the world dissolving into a vortex of pain and darkness. She passed out, woke up to more pain, and passed out again.

Through the haze, she could hear Diamond's voice, calm and conversational, narrating the procedure to the empty room. "See? We're just removing the problem. A simple, clean extraction. Now she's just like me. Broken. Incomplete."

The last thing Erica remembered before the darkness took her completely was Diamond leaning in close, her breath hot on Erica's ear.

"Now," Diamond whispered, her voice filled with triumphant glee, "he's finally all mine."

When Erica woke up, she was in a real hospital. The pain was a dull, throbbing constant. Alex was sitting in a chair by her bed, staring out the window.

He looked over at her, his face etched with a guilt so profound it seemed to have carved lines into his skin. He couldn't look her in the eye.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could he possibly say?

"Are you happy now?" Erica whispered, her voice a dry, rasping sound. "Is the debt paid?"

A single tear traced a path down his cheek. He didn't answer.