"I do," Rose Harrison murmured, a soft, radiant smile gracing her lips as she looked toward the officiant.

"Die, you bitch!"

Before the words could fully leave her lips, a shadowed figure lunged from the crowd. The glint of steel sliced through the air, aimed directly at her. Without a second thought, Rose curled her body into a defensive coil, shielding her stomach. She braced herself, throwing her body forward to meet the blade.

Chaos erupted. The wedding turned into a scene of carnage. Caspian Hughes reacted with lightning speed, tackling the assailant and throwing him aside like a ragdoll. He scooped up the blood-drenched Rose, his voice cracking as he roared, "Ambulance! Get a car now! Get to the hospital!"

The crowd scrambled, but Caspian didn't look back to see who the attacker was. He held Rose tight, her blood soaking through his fine suit as he begged her to stay awake. The drive was a blur of high-speed maneuvers and frantic prayers.

Inside the car, Rose’s skin turned the color of parchment. Blood bubbled from her side, thick and relentless. Yet, even in her agony, the instinct of a mother took hold. She clutched at Caspian’s sleeve, her voice a fragile whisper. "Caspian... save the baby. You have to save my baby."

"Shut up, Rose!" Caspian barked, his eyes stinging with tears. "Don't you dare speak. Just hold on. We're almost there. You're the one who matters!"

"Don't be a fool," she wheezed, her eyelids fluttering. "If I go... what will you do?"

The blood loss was too great. Her consciousness began to fray at the edges, slipping into darkness.

"Rose, no!" Caspian threatened, his voice thick with desperation. "Do not close your eyes. If you die, I swear I will hand the baby over to Maximus Anderson!"

Rose forced her eyes open, struggling against the encroaching void, but the road to the Hughes-owned hospital felt endless. Finally, the light in her eyes flickered out.

As they screeched to a halt, Dr. Gardner and his team swarmed the gurney. Caspian grabbed the doctor’s coat, his knuckles white. "Dr. Gardner, I beg you. Save her. Please, save the mother."

Rose had taken the blow intentionally; the baby would likely survive, but the mother... the odds were slim.

The doctor looked grim. "We’ll do everything we can." He knew as well as anyone: the mother was hanging by a thread. A brave woman, yes, but her body was failing.

Back at the hotel, a man stood frozen in the wreckage of the wedding, his hands trembling. It was Maximus Anderson. He had watched the entire scene unfold, his heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. The realization hit him with the force of a physical blow.

He didn't hesitate. He grabbed his keys and sprinted for his car.

"Give the baby to him?" The words echoed in his mind, searing and cold. The baby. So, the child was his?

Maximus pulled over, burying his face in his hands, his fingers clawing into his hair. The agony of the realization sobered him instantly. The child was his. They had been married for seven months; the baby was almost full-term.

He begged every deity he had once mocked. He promised anything, everything, if she would just live.

*You stupid, reckless woman,* he thought, his chest tightening with a grief he hadn't yet named. *Why would you throw your life away? The baby can be replaced, but you—if you're gone, what am I supposed to do? What about the people who love you?*

In that moment, he wasn't the cold, calculating head of the Anderson Group. He was just a man, terrified and hollow, not yet understanding that the child, too, would one day be as irreplaceable as the woman bleeding out on the table.

The surgery dragged on for an eternity. Finally, a thin, sharp cry pierced the silence of the hospital wing. The baby had arrived.

But the operating room remained a hive of tense, focused activity. Another two hours passed. Dr. Gardner emerged, his face gray with fatigue. He shook his head, his shoulders slumping.

"I’m sorry," he whispered, the finality of the words cutting through the air. "We did everything we could. The patient... she is officially brain dead."