The Bishop's Gambit She Burned the Throne to Save Her Blood

I was nine months pregnant, expecting to deliver within the week, when a receipt from the Cielo Grande arrived at the estate. It was the most exclusive hotel in the city, the place where Nico had taken me on our wedding night, and tucked inside the envelope was a handwritten note on cream-colored card stock.

Hope you and your husband had an amazing night.

My husband of seven years. Nico Moretti, Don of the Moretti Family. He had been taking his mistress to the same suite where he first undressed me, and he had been doing it for the past two years.

The first time was the day I miscarried.

My phone buzzed. An anonymous message, sent from a number I didn't recognize, routed through whatever back channels people in this world used when they wanted to deliver a wound without leaving fingerprints.

"His one true love who can produce an heir for the Family unlike an infertile Don's wife. Last night we had sex in your honeymoon suite."

Multiple photos were attached. Two videos.

I was numb, tears streaming down my eyes as I clicked on one of them.

"You are the only one I love. I will leave Bianca and marry you." I closed my eyes to the recorded confession of my husband.

One message after another flooded my screen.

*"I hope you know the truth now."*

*"I'm Nico's woman."*

*"Every night he claimed he was out handling Family business, he was actually in my bed."*

*"He told me he's only staying with you because he needs an heir."*

*"Here's my Instagram. It's full of our photos together. Even on your wedding anniversary, your husband was with me."*

My fingers trembled as I opened the link.

The page loaded instantly.

Photo after photo filled the screen, each one documenting an intimate relationship that should never have existed.

The most recent image showed Valentina sitting comfortably on a man's lap while kissing him.

The caption beneath it read:

**January 23rd. The day he first saw me two years ago. Love at first sight.**

January 23rd.

My birthday.

A hollow laugh escaped my lips as tears blurred my vision.

I continued scrolling.

Nico's face never appeared clearly in any of the photographs.

But I recognized him immediately.

How could I not?

I was the one who had spent years choosing those watches for him.

I knew every piece in his collection.

The weight of each watch.

The tiny scratch on his Patek Philippe from the night he slammed his hand onto the table during a Family meeting with the Cavallis.

I knew his hands.

His cuffs.

The signet ring engraved with the Moretti crest.

I didn't need to see his face.

I knew exactly who he was.

Then my scrolling stopped.

A single photograph froze me in place.

In the picture, Valentina was wrapped around a man's waist while proudly displaying a diamond ring.

Flowers filled the background.

Fireworks illuminated the sky behind them.

The caption beneath it made my blood run cold.

**March 19th. He asked me to be his girlfriend today. Guess what? I said yes.**

A year ago.

The day I lost my baby.

The memory hit me so hard I could barely breathe.

I remembered calling Nico again and again.

He never answered.

When I finally managed to message him that I was in the hospital, he called back only to accuse me of trying to get his attention.

Then he hung up.

I had been lying in a private clinic protected by Family soldiers, bleeding and terrified, surrounded by doctors who ultimately answered to him.

And he hung up.

I remembered staring numbly as my child's tiny body was taken away.

The shock had shattered something inside me.

For more than two months afterward, I could barely leave my bed.

The estate had grown strangely quiet around me.

The soldiers assigned to the property avoided eye contact.

Even Carmela, who usually had an opinion about everything, suddenly had nothing to say.

Then another message appeared.

My heart dropped.

Valentina had sent an ultrasound image.

Attached beneath it was a doctor's prescription.

And one simple sentence.

**I'm pregnant with Nico's child.**

The world tilted.

My chest tightened so violently that I struggled to draw breath.

The room suddenly felt too small.

Too suffocating.

Downstairs, a door closed.

A soldier's radio crackled briefly.

The ordinary sounds of the Moretti household continuing as usual felt crueler than anything else.

As if nothing had happened.

As if my life hadn't just fallen apart.

Like a woman possessed, I rushed toward Nico's wardrobe.

My hands shook as I searched frantically for his wallet.

For years, he had kept our photo inside.

Our photo.

The one reminder that I mattered.

When I finally found it and opened it, my worst fear became reality.

My photograph was gone.

In its place sat a picture of another woman.

Valentina.

There was no denying it anymore.

The evidence was everywhere.

My husband had been openly cheating on me.

The man who had stood before the Elder Commission and sworn a blood-bound union.

The man my father had trusted with both his daughter and his legacy before his assassination.

The man I had loved my entire life.

With trembling fingers, I opened one of the attached videos.

Nico's voice filled the room immediately.

A voice I knew better than my own.

"You're... you're pregnant?"

His expression lit up with pure joy.

When Valentina nodded, he lifted her into his arms and kissed her.

Then he laughed.

A happy, carefree laugh I hadn't heard in years.

"I'll have the marriage to Bianca annulled as soon as she gives birth to a son for me."

He kissed her again.

"Then we'll finally be a real family."

"I'll finally have two heirs."

For several seconds, I couldn't process what I had heard.

Then I replayed the video.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Each replay drove the knife deeper.

My fingers drifted to my bare ring finger.

I used to twist my wedding band whenever I was nervous.

The ring sat upstairs now, tucked away in a jewelry box because pregnancy swelling had made it uncomfortable to wear.

Only then did I realize something.

That ring had stopped meaning anything long before I ever took it off.

I sat there on the floor, hugging myself tightly as reality crushed everything I thought I knew.

Then the front door opened downstairs.

The subtle shift in the atmosphere was immediate.

The sounds of security personnel straightening.

The faint movements throughout the house.

The unmistakable signs that always accompanied Nico's return.

He was home.

"Bianca?"

His voice echoed downstairs.

"Bianca?"

When he couldn't find me, he climbed the stairs and eventually entered our bedroom.

The lights flicked on.

His eyes immediately found me sitting alone in the corner.

Tears streaked my face.

"Bianca?"

Concern appeared on his features.

"Are you alright?"

When he reached for my shoulders and tried to help me up, every instinct inside me screamed to shove him away.

His hands were warm.

They had been touching her.

"You're due any day now," he continued. "Can you stop being so careless? Why are you sitting in the dark? What if you fell"

"Where were you?"

The question cut through his concern instantly.

He froze.

Only for a second.

Then he recovered.

"Baby, I was with Marco discussing the border dispute with the Cavalli territory."

The lie came effortlessly.

"Really?"

I looked directly into his eyes.

"My friend said she saw you on the riverside today buying hot chocolate."

For a moment, all color drained from his face.

Then he quickly regained control.

"So what?"

His tone sharpened.

"Am I not allowed to buy something I like now?"

His eyes narrowed.

"And why are people following me around?"

The guilt flashed across his face before he could hide it.

He had spent the day with Valentina.

Laughing with her.

Playing with her.

While his soldiers lied for him.

While Marco's name served as a convenient alibi.

I forced myself to stay calm.

"I only asked because I wanted hot chocolate too."

I wanted to see how far he would go.

How many lies he would tell.

Apparently, there was no limit.

Finally, his patience snapped.

"Why are you always so demanding?"

His voice echoed through the room.

"I've been working all day."

"If you want something, ask the staff to get it for you."

Then he shook his head in disgust.

"Honestly, Bianca, how are you supposed to be a proper Don's wife when you're this stubborn?"

Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away.

The bedroom door closed behind him.

Silence returned.

Slowly, I lowered my head and wrapped both arms around my stomach.

Tears finally spilled down my cheeks.

"My sweet baby..."

My voice cracked.

"Your daddy has already abandoned us."

I closed my eyes and gently stroked my swollen belly.

"But Mommy won't."

"Mommy will always take care of you."

Nico's phone suddenly buzzed on the nightstand.

The moment I saw the caller ID, a wave of disgust rose in my throat.

**My Love.**

That was how he had saved her contact.

Two years of marriage to me, the daughter of a Don, and he hadn't even bothered to hide it behind a code name.

That was how little he respected me.

That was how certain he was that I would never discover the truth.

My fingers trembled as I unlocked the screen.

The wallpaper stopped me cold.

An ultrasound image.

A woman's womb.

If Valentina hadn't sent me the exact same image earlier, I would have assumed it was my own child and never questioned it.

That was the plan.

That had always been the plan.

I opened their message thread.

**Nico:** *Baby, I heard pregnant women crave sour food, so I asked Marco to source some specialty imports. I'll bring them to you later.*

**Valentina:** *Won't your underboss get suspicious?*

**Nico:** *Suspicious of what? He'll assume it's for Bianca.*

**Valentina:** *Would you give her half too? I thought you only loved me.*

**Nico:** *Of course not. She's a picky eater. Wasting my effort on her is pointless. You're the only woman I've ever truly loved. I would've had the annulment drawn up months ago, but after her miscarriage she fell into depression. People felt sorry for her. She was too dependent on me, and leaving then would've made you look bad. So I kept her around.*

**Valentina:** *You're the best, Nico. But I'm lonely and craving pastries right now.*

**Nico:** *Alright. I'll bring them to you.*

Every word felt like a knife being driven deeper into my chest.

I bit down hard on my lip, desperately trying to stop the sobs threatening to escape.

So that was all my children had ever meant to him.

Not sons.

Not daughters.

Not lives created from love.

Only heirs.

Only bloodline currency.

Only stepping stones securing his future as Don.

My vision blurred.

Still, I forced myself to keep reading.

Then something unexpected caught my eye.

An attached document.

My heart skipped a beat as I opened it.

The Ferraro dowry holdings.

The waterfront villa.

The safe houses.

The legitimate businesses my father had spent a lifetime building before they buried him in the ground.

My entire body went numb.

Then the numbness transformed into pure rage.

I stared at the signatures in disbelief.

The properties my parents had left for me had already been transferred.

To Valentina.

Months earlier, Nico had claimed the Family was struggling financially.

Tribute collections were declining.

Shipping operations were losing money.

He told me liquidating some of my holdings would ease the pressure on Family finances.

And I believed him.

Like a fool, I trusted him.

I handed control over willingly because that was what a loyal wife was supposed to do.

Because I thought marriage meant partnership.

Because I thought he was my family.

And in the end, everything my parents left me landed in the hands of his mistress.

My body shook violently.

As though sensing my distress, the baby shifted inside me.

A sharp kick.

Restless.

Uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," I whispered instinctively, pressing a trembling hand against my stomach.

Then I began gathering evidence.

Screenshot after screenshot.

Messages.

Property records.

Purchase histories.

Luxury orders delivered to my villa.

The villa where Valentina now lived.

Furs.

Jewelry.

Designer handbags.

Every expense traced back to Ferraro money.

Money my father had earned.

Money Nico had stolen.

When I finished, I carefully returned the phone to its exact position on the nightstand.

Then I climbed into bed.

Pulling the duvet over my head, I buried my face in the pillow and cried silently.

I couldn't let him see me break.

A few minutes later, I heard his footsteps.

The bedroom door opened.

Nico walked inside.

He picked up his phone and smiled softly as he read Valentina's latest messages.

A smile I hadn't seen directed at me in years.

Eventually, he sat down beside me.

His palm drifted over my stomach in a familiar gesture.

"Baby," he said gently, "Marco and I have a sit-down tonight regarding the situation near the docks. Some unaffiliated crews are pushing into our territory."

The lie came naturally.

Effortlessly.

"I won't be home until tomorrow."

As he stood up to leave, I grabbed his arm.

My strength was nearly gone.

But I couldn't stop myself.

"I've been waiting for you all day."

My voice cracked.

"Can't you stay with me tonight?"

Even then, part of me still wanted to believe.

Still wanted to convince myself that the boy I grew up loving could never betray me this completely.

For our child.

For our marriage.

For everything we had once been.

Nico looked down at me.

For a moment, guilt flashed across his face.

His fingers brushed away the tears streaming down my cheeks.

Yet he couldn't meet my eyes.

"I..."

He hesitated.

"What is it, baby"

His phone beeped.

Instantly, everything changed.

His attention shifted.

His expression shifted.

His priorities shifted.

Just like they always did.

"Darling, I can't put you above Family business."

His voice softened with false patience.

"Please understand."

He paused.

"I'll ask your mother to come stay with you."

When I didn't answer, he finally looked at me properly.

The expression on his face faltered.

Because I wasn't looking at him like a husband anymore.

I was looking at him like a stranger.

"Bianca..."

"Go."

My voice was calm.

Too calm.

That final chance I had offered him was discarded without hesitation.

Just like everything else.

For a moment, he stood frozen.

Then he turned and left.

The bedroom door clicked shut.

Moments later, the front door followed.

Then came the low rumble of the armored sedan starting in the driveway.

And finally

Silence.

A vast, suffocating silence settled over the Moretti estate.

As though something had been removed from the house forever.

Slowly, I dragged myself out of bed.

I called for a car.

Old Enzo answered.

As always.

His voice was rough but reassuring.

"Where to, Signora?"

"The waterfront villa."

I swallowed hard.

"The Ferraro property on Riverside."

When we arrived, Nico's car was already parked outside.

Across the street, I watched him step out and scan the area carefully.

The way men checked for surveillance before doing something that could get them killed in any other Family.

Then he rang the bell.

The front door opened.

Valentina rushed straight into his arms.

My hands tightened around my phone.

I recorded everything.

The embrace.

The smile.

The kiss.

The tenderness.

The way his hand settled naturally against the small of her back.

Exactly the way he used to hold me.

Tears blurred my vision.

Still, I kept recording.

Then Nico slowly lowered himself to one knee.

With infinite care, he pressed a kiss against her stomach.

Against the child she carried.

A child he celebrated.

A child he wanted.

The pain in my womb intensified immediately.

A sharp, twisting agony.

Yet I couldn't move.

Couldn't speak.

Couldn't even cry.

I simply sat there frozen in the backseat, watching my marriage die.

A short while later, Nico helped Valentina into the passenger seat.

He fastened her seatbelt himself.

His movements careful.

Protective.

Loving.

Their laughter drifted through the night air.

I gasped as another wave of pain hit.

This time stronger.

More urgent.

Slowly, my fingers brushed over my wedding ring.

Not for comfort.

For farewell.

The ring would be gone soon.

Just like him.

"Enzo."

My voice barely rose above a whisper.

"Can you follow them to the hospital?"

Enzo looked at me through the rearview mirror.

One glance was enough.

Concern immediately softened his weathered features.

Without asking questions, he pulled back into traffic.

When we arrived at the private clinic, he even helped me out of the car.

"Signora."

He held the door open gently.

"Having a child is precious."

His voice was quiet.

Steady.

"A woman deserves happiness and peace. Not a man shameless enough to abandon his wife."

He paused.

"Please take care of yourself."

"Don't carry all this pain alone."

Something tightened in my throat.

This old man had shown me more compassion in a few minutes than my husband had shown me in years.

I nodded gratefully.

"Thank you, Enzo."

Then I lowered my hand to my stomach.

A sense of calm slowly settled over me.

For the first time all night, I could finally think clearly.

I wasn't living for Nico anymore.

I was living for my child.

"Don't worry."

My voice was steady.

Stronger than before.

"That man means nothing to me now."

I looked toward the brightly lit hospital entrance.

And for the first time, I truly believed my own words.

"Soon, I'll be completely free of him."

I stood there in the shadows watching as my husband lovingly held his mistress and took her to the hospital for a prenatal checkup.

Two years ago, when I miscarried, the doctor told me that it was not due to my poor health but rather due to my husband's negligence. He had not brought me to the clinic on time when my water broke, and my child suffocated to death. Even after that catastrophe, my husband did not bother to bring me to any of the checkups this time either, citing his duties with the Family.

"Stop whining like a weakling! Can't you do something productive for once! You are the wife of the Don of the Moretti Family, so for God's sake stop being selfish! I must take care of the Family as well. Ask your mother to take you to the doctor."

This was what he had said to me when I begged him to accompany me, yet here he was looking so concerned as he collected medications for his mistress.

I realized it wasn't that he was too busy. It was just that I was never his priority. He had long abandoned me in his heart.

Since the hospital was crowded, Nico held Valentina close to him before speaking.

"Baby, about the sour delicacies I brought they've been a day old so don't eat them anymore." Valentina laughed when Nico fussed over her health.

"Just a day old, so what? They're perfectly fine, Nico!"

"No, what if it harmed your health? Come, I'll buy you your favorite hot chocolate. It's getting really cold, baby."

"This time I'll compromise, but you have to promise me that we'll have a lot of sour delicacies at our wedding."

"Anything you say, baby. Our wedding would be the most lavish one in all the allied Families. Just wait a month more. When Bianca delivers, I'll find some excuse to send her away in the name of recuperating. I will make you the most envied lady of the Moretti Family."

"If you say so." She pouted, making him kiss her.

I froze at the words. I could almost hear my heart shattering. It was ironic how they resembled the loving couple that Nico and I used to be. And to think he was already trying to get rid of me.

I followed them like I was bound with invisible rope, wanting to see what they would do now. I shivered as the cold wind gushed against me without mercy while I saw my husband carefully wrapping Valentina with a scarf after putting his warm jacket around her.

When the skies roared as it thundered dangerously, I stood in the background beside a tree as Nico hurriedly took his mistress inside the car, worried that she would get drenched in the oncoming rain and suffer. With the lower car windows, I could see my husband of seven years gently cupping Valentina's face and kissing her.

Surprisingly, she opened her eyes looking straight at me before deepening the kiss. The jacket was discarded, and I could see them making out with such intimacy that it made bile rise up my throat.

It seemed all this time she was completely aware of me watching them. Time and time again Valentina would look at me as if to signify that my husband was never mine in the first place.

I took out my phone and shakenly dialed my husband's number.

Nico, who was kissing his mistress, saw my caller ID and for a moment guilt flashed across his face. Yet as soon as Valentina encircled his neck calling him sweetly, he gritted his teeth in annoyance before hanging up.

When I called again he picked up in anger.

"What?! Don't you have any work to do so why are you always disturbing me?!" He hung up and even blocked my number.

Droplets of water poured from the skies as clouds rumbled when the car drove away, leaving me standing on the side pavement getting drenched in freezing rain. The street was empty. A soldier posted near the clinic entrance had seen his Don leave and gone with him, the way soldiers always did. Nobody remained.

"I give up on a cheating man like you, Nico. From now on there is no relationship between us. You can have him, Valentina."

I gathered up courage and dragged myself to the lawyer's office in my drenched clothes. Clara Ricci took one look at me, removed her glasses, folded them with precise, deliberate care, and set them on the desk before calling for a dress for me to change into. The sympathy in her eyes was controlled, professional. She had seen wives of powerful men walk through her door before, but perhaps not like this. Not seven months pregnant and soaked through to the bone.

I presented all the evidence I had collected to her, along with the audio and video which had Nico explicitly telling Valentina:

If she gives birth to a son and agrees that you can be my wife, then I wouldn't mind keeping her as a mistress. If she refuses, then I will threaten her with our child and throw her out of the Family.

I winced, heart thrumming painfully when I heard those words. My thumb drifted to the inside of my wedding band and turned it slowly, deliberately, the way I always did when something inside me was hardening into decision.

"Ma'am, now that I have everything in front of me, I will make sure that you get rid of Don Moretti and live a better life."

As soon as I exited the office, I saw my mother calling me.

"Bianca, I heard the maid telling me that you had a high fever yesterday. Did Nico take you to the hospital?"

My lips wobbled as I could hardly stop the heart-wrenching cry leaving my lips. Hot tears streamed down my face, and I fought to contain my emotions.

"Mom, I I am better."

"Don't lie, Bianca. Your voice is so low. Are you really alright?"

"Yes. Yes, Mom." I closed my eyes, lying so that my mother wouldn't be worried. "Nico is here with me. He's buying me hot chocolate. He even took me for a health checkup and the doctor said that I can go into labor any day now." My mom sighed.

"It's okay then, but frankly speaking I don't trust Nico after how irresponsible he was in the past. But since you are together, it's okay."

I took a deep breath as my body shivered with cold.

"Bianca, it's raining so hard, darling. You better come back soon. I have cooked your favorite food today."

I did not answer that and hung up so that my mom could not hear me breaking down. There I kneeled on the pavement as my legs lost strength. The rain hammered the concrete around me, and somewhere in the distance a church bell was ringing, steady and indifferent, the way the world keeps turning when yours has stopped.

I cried because I lost everything at this moment. All my life turned out to be a lie.

Late that night, Nico called me.

"Bianca, I'm tied up right now. Can you ask the caporegime to send over the trade agreement from the Cavalli Family"

I gritted my teeth and cut him off before he could finish.

"It's past midnight."

My voice was hoarse with exhaustion.

"I had a fever yesterday. If you can't take care of your child, then the least you can do is stop trying to work me to death."

"W-What?"

Across the city, Nico was lounging on a sofa with Valentina curled against him, watching late-night television.

The sharpness in my tone clearly caught him off guard.

"Bianca, baby, it's important. The Family needs"

"Then do it yourself."

I didn't let him continue.

"Or have one of your men handle it. Why are you always pushing everything onto your pregnant wife?"

The bitterness I had been swallowing for months finally surfaced.

"Or are you trying to kill this child too? Just like last time?"

"Bianca!"

His voice rose instantly.

But I was too exhausted to listen anymore.

Before he could say another word, I hung up.

What I didn't know was that Nico sat frozen for several seconds afterward.

For the first time, he realized I believed he was responsible for my miscarriage.

Guilt flickered across his face.

Regret followed.

When he tried calling back, I ignored every call.

The next morning, a massive bouquet of fresh roses arrived at the estate.

His apology.

I threw them directly into the nearest trash bin.

Afterward, I went to Clara Ricci's office and signed the annulment papers without hesitation.

The moment the documents were finalized, I arranged for a copy to be delivered directly to Valentina's residence.

My waterfront villa.

The home that used to belong to me.

Five years of marriage.

Five years of sacrifice.

And I was finally walking away.

I had barely returned home when the doorbell rang.

Opening the door, I found Valentina standing on the porch.

An expensive watch gleamed on her wrist.

The moment my eyes landed on it, her smile widened knowingly.

"Oh."

She lifted her arm slightly.

"You recognize it, don't you?"

My stomach tightened.

Of course I recognized it.

It was the matching watch set I had gifted Nico years ago.

Valentina's smile turned smug.

"Such a shame."

She tilted her wrist deliberately.

"He never wanted to wear it with you, but he gave it to me."

A sharp pain pierced my chest.

The watch wasn't just any gift.

My late father had given it to Nico and me on our third wedding anniversary.

It contained part of a Ferraro heirloom collection.

A keepsake carrying my father's initials.

Years ago, Nico told me my matching piece had been accidentally broken.

I remembered crying for two days after losing it.

Now I knew exactly where it had gone.

Tears burned behind my eyes.

"What do you want?"

Instead of answering, Valentina pushed past me and walked into the house uninvited.

She slowly surveyed the room.

"The decor is boring."

Her lips curled.

"Just like you."

She turned toward me.

"Maybe that's why Nico got tired of you."

Her gaze swept across the room.

"When I become the lady of this house, all of this garbage will be thrown away and replaced."

To her disappointment, I didn't react.

Not really.

My thumb traced a slow circle over the bare skin where my wedding band used to rest.

My heart was calm.

Steady.

Almost detached.

A flicker of irritation crossed her face.

I smiled.

"That's all you've ever been good at, isn't it?"

She froze.

"Replacing other people."

I took a slow breath.

"Living in my villa. Sleeping with my husband. Flaunting my watch."

My gaze dropped briefly to her stomach.

"What's next?"

I tilted my head.

"Faking a pregnancy?"

The color drained from her face instantly.

Then anger replaced it.

"So what if everything used to be yours?"

She snapped.

"It belongs to me now!"

Her hand instinctively moved to her belly.

"My child will be the next Moretti heir."

Her eyes flashed maliciously.

"Unlike yours."

"Your child will be abandoned by his father."

I almost laughed.

"Really?"

My voice was calm.

Too calm.

"You honestly think someone as selfish as Nico would throw away his future heir for a woman?"

Her expression darkened.

"And honestly, Valentina, you can have him."

I shrugged.

"That unreliable, manipulative coward is all yours."

Her eyes widened.

I continued before she could interrupt.

"Do you know why Nico's father entrusted me with Family affairs instead of his own son?"

Silence.

I answered my own question.

"Because Nico wasn't capable."

For years, I had managed the books.

Negotiated alliances.

Handled disputes.

Maintained relationships between Families.

While Nico enjoyed the title, I carried the burden.

I looked directly into her eyes.

"Who do you think looked after the widows and children during the territorial conflicts?"

"Who monitored neighboring Families and deployed soldiers when threats emerged?"

"Who kept this Family functioning?"

The answer was obvious.

Me.

"When I'm gone, all those responsibilities become yours."

I smiled faintly.

"Good luck."

For the first time, genuine panic flashed across her face.

Nico had promised her a glamorous future.

He had never mentioned the workload.

The sacrifices.

The endless responsibilities.

"I'd rather free myself from parasites like you than spend another day destroying my life."

I rested both hands protectively on my stomach.

Then I stood.

Ready to leave.

Valentina's face twisted.

Things weren't going the way she wanted.

"What are you planning?"

She stepped forward.

"You think I'll believe your innocent act?"

Without warning, she grabbed a fistful of my hair.

Pain exploded across my scalp.

"You bitch!"

She yanked harder.

"What did you say to Nico yesterday?"

Her voice cracked with fury.

"Why did he leave me alone last night?"

I tried to pull away.

She shoved me violently.

Everything happened too fast.

My foot slipped.

The floor rushed toward me.

Then

Impact.

A sickening thud echoed through the room.

Pain tore through my abdomen.

For one horrifying second, I couldn't breathe.

Then I saw it.

Blood.

A spreading crimson stain.

My vision blurred instantly.

No.

No.

Not again.

The nightmare from my first miscarriage replayed before my eyes.

I looked up.

Valentina stood frozen in horror.

Then she turned and ran.

Coward.

Monster.

I clutched my stomach desperately.

Tears streamed down my face.

"Help!"

My voice broke.

"Please save my baby!"

I screamed until my throat felt raw.

"Someone help me!"

Shaking violently, I grabbed my phone and dialed Nico.

The call connected immediately.

For my child, I was willing to beg.

"Nico"

He didn't even let me finish.

"You already caused enough drama yesterday."

His voice was sharp with annoyance.

"And now you're skipping the sit-down too? Stop bothering me while I'm cleaning up your mess."

The line went dead.

He hung up.

I stared at the screen.

The man I had loved my entire life had just abandoned me again.

Then footsteps thundered through the hallway.

"Mrs. Moretti!"

One of the household soldiers rushed into the room.

His face turned white when he saw the blood.

"Oh my God."

He immediately grabbed his radio.

"Get a doctor!"

His voice shook.

"And call the Don! Right now!"

The room spun around me.

Their voices grew distant.

Muffled.

Unclear.

"Mrs. Moretti, stay awake!"

"Please stay awake!"

I tried.

I really tried.

But the pain was too much.

Darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.

And just before unconsciousness finally claimed me, one final thought echoed through my mind.

If I lose this child...

I will go before the Commission myself.

I will have this marriage annulled.

I will erase Nico Moretti from my life forever.

Then the darkness swallowed me whole.