He Chose The Mistress, I Chose Freedom

hild i

t, announced to the world, his hand resti

in doing so, he signed the death wa

ly gotten the positive test we

claim a traitor's b

ront him, he dismiss

lena. You aren't pregnan

dn't

t his mistress critical, he

y blood to save her, ign

I was already

e clinic, where I had removed the "com

he was be

s killing his own son t

ating his "heir," I left a whit

*Termination of Pregnancy. 8

read it, I wa

pte

eir to save her life, he didn't just break his vows to me; he s

and hall, rendered invisible by

the blinding glare of

the Capo dei Capi o

fit the broad, lethal e

nite line that usually made

asn't resting

on the small, rounded swel

him with tear-fil

of the fragile, prot

, their voices a frenzied cacophony,

s it true? Is t

didn't

a deep rumble that vibrated through the f

fia carries the Moretti heir. Any

d in a storm of

from my face, pooling

nstinctively to m

doctor had handed

iti

e y

and prayed f

had just survived, amidst the blood and the terror, I ha

just rendered

of her affair with a traitor-he had sa

blood oath he swore

cly declared that any child I

f the Russian captivi

a whore to ma

e the camera flashes could cat

later, the silence of the room a

ass of amber whiske

a man who had just d

ing a battlefield where accepta

" he said, not

just told the world you cheated on me. You leg

, his dark eye

led her for sleeping with the enemy. I swore to her

e?" I asked, my voice tremblin

his presence suffocating. "You have my name.

out to touc

ck as if he h

es nar

strategic lie. The child

ere pregnant? What then, Dante? Would you claim m

rough his dark hair, exasper

na. We've been trying for

t me like a

dn't

rioritized a dead man's promise over his li

, my heart shattering

head down. Let the rumors blow over. I

t me, brushin

xpensive cologn

sigliere's office

ervous, sweat beadi

ation papers across

u sure? The Don... he

e void of emotion. "He told

ed up

r the signature lin

gnature bette

t on love lett

t it on our ma

ish, the ink flowing like blac

nt pale. "Elena...

ood that ran through my veins. "And book me an ap

r w

, standing up. "To re

nto the biting

te's number

g thre

is voice was cl

ell you something.

e background, shrill and joyful.

ath hitched

na. Handle whateve

ne wen

at the ph

into the trash c

into th

med, a sterile drone again

king at the ultrasound screen. "The f

so

ir he

ked from my eyes,

is no father. There is no futu

overed my face, I rememb

he world to k

rning it,

me to turn to as