na's
he hospital break room pierced m
have pa
m - from well before the first contraction - on an
nd stared at the c
of my hand, clear fluid drippin
om was
ooking for me. He hadn't
hand and pulled out the n
d welled up fr
rk trousers and pus
idor, an obstetrics nurse blocked
ied me toward the luxury su
as decorated with palatial opulence, the air thic
de was suffoc
and the family's most powerful capos and elde
indow, his towering frame
on the hospital b
and clutched to her chest was a bundl
walk in, Valentina b
d held the child out with trembling wris
voice. "You are the Don's wife. It's only right that you
approvingly, murmu
y of spirit, fully embraci
nd's bastard - while everyone pre
inst the floor, signalin
Matriarch gave me one long, m
clicked shut, l
ged, the gentleness drain
against her chest, a vici
my son?" The soft, wounded tone was gone
the bed and watched h
a servant," Valentina sneered. "Tasting every dish, flu
w. In that house, you're n
at the cloc
-one ho
red my silence, a
y screams, my tears - anything that
d on the antique St. Jude medal resting against
silver chain - the only keeps
ecklace," Vale
r, unmoving. "
ted, relentless. "Consider it a gift f
said flatly. "You will
rned with a soft click -
ormed in the blink of an eye,
lutched the baby protectively to her ch
t he saw Valentina crying, his face
do to her?" he
et. "She said my son wouldn't survive his first year...
dro wen
go was the one trigger he could never contr
essandro's command was
single word," I
ie to me
ance in two stride
and cologne rolled o
d met his gaze with
my chest, and he remembered that Valenti
erdict - how could a dead woman's keepsake possib
e necklace,"
N
idn't waste
erful hand, seized the heavy silve
k of my neck, and as the clasp snappedoded acro
s fist, turned his back on me, and dropped
my neck. My fingertips
lt no anger and no grief - only the steady, me
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