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 snapped

oded acro

s fist, turned his back on me, and dropped

my neck. My fingertips

lt no anger and no grief - only the steady, me