Dante followed the doctor into the office to collect the prenatal report. Nicoletta, however, made an excuse about needing the restroom and lingered in the corridor instead.
Once they were both inside, she finally spoke, her voice low and unhurried. "You can come out now. You've been standing there watching long enough. Haven't had your fill yet?"
I stepped out without a word, my expression blank.
Seeing that I stayed silent, Nicoletta grew impatient. Her gaze sharpened with mockery.
"What, no shame left at all? You knew Dante never loved you, yet you still insist on holding on to the Morano name?"
I let out a cold laugh. "And you don't find it shameful to be the other woman, fully aware he's married?"
Nicoletta's lips curled into a smile. Her fingers drifted to the hollow of her throat, pressing there lightly, as if steadying herself before she delivered the next line. "I knew Dante long before you did. If I hadn't been sent away, you'd never have had the chance to marry into his Family."
She patted her belly, then added smugly, "But I'm back now. And I'm carrying his child. So I'd say it's time for you to step aside."
From the moment I married Dante, I knew he had a woman he considered his one true love. The one who had supposedly saved him from the fire, the one the entire Morano household spoke of in reverent whispers. But I never thought she'd hold such an unshakable place in his heart.
The pain that shot through my chest nearly brought me to my knees. My grip tightened instinctively on the report in my hand.
And that's when Nicoletta saw it and snatched it from me.
She scanned the conclusion and burst into wild, gleeful laughter. The sound bounced off the clinic's marble floors, filling the private corridor the Ravenna network kept quiet for Family visits.
"Cancer, huh?" she said. "So, what do you think? Will you live long enough to give birth to that bastard baby, or are you both going to die together?"
Her laughter rang in my ears like sirens and something in me snapped. I stepped forward and slapped her, hard.
She staggered back dramatically, then fell to the ground with a wail.
"Seraphina, I didn't mean to keep this from you! But I'm pregnant! How could you hit me like that?"
Huge, dramatic tears rolled down her cheeks. And before I could even process her performance, I felt a violent shove from behind. I lost my balance and my belly slammed into the cold, hard floor.
Dante grabbed my arm and yanked me up. I was still dazed, still trying to process the shock, when he yelled in my face.
"Are you out of your mind? How could you push Nicoletta? She's pregnant!"
I stared at him, stunned. Before I could speak, Nicoletta cried out, "Dante, please don't fight with Seraphina because of me. I shouldn't have asked you to come to the appointment with me. This is my fault. As long as the baby's okay, she can slap me."
She looked like a tragic heroine. Eyes glassy, lower lip trembling. The perfect performance for a man who had been raised to protect what was his and destroy what threatened it.
Dante's face twisted with anger. His voice was low and sharp when he turned to me.
"You've crossed the line, Seraphina," he said coldly. "Apologize to Nicoletta."
The sound of it shocked even me. I laughed. Bitterly.
"You want me to apologize?" I said, my voice hoarse. "Dante, do you know what this is?"
I shoved the cancer report into his chest, my hands shaking. My throat tightened with emotion. The Don of the Morano Family, the man whose word moved men and money across three territories, and he couldn't be bothered to look at a single piece of paper his wife held against his heart.
He didn't even look at it.
He tore the paper in half and glared at me like I was the problem.
"I don't care what that says! All I know is you've gone too far. God, you're pregnant, Seraphina! How could you be cruel to another woman?"
Tears finally slipped down my cheeks, hot and silent. My whole body trembled. Not from pain, but from sheer fury. My fingers found the inside of my left wrist without thinking, pressing against the raised skin there, the scars he had never once asked about.
Dante saw me crying and for a moment, his expression softened. His tone shifted to something gentler.
"Alright… can you just apologize? I know I haven't been giving you attention these past few months. But I promise I'll make it up to you once the baby's born."
Then, without a trace of shame, he pushed me toward Nicoletta.
She looked back at me, eyes glinting with smug triumph.
I looked hard at Dante, wondering how the man who once swore he loved me could change so drastically the moment Nicoletta came back. Had he forgotten every promise he made the day we stood before the altar at Saint Jerome's, with both Families watching, with the old code binding us together in blood and name? He had kissed my hand. He had called me his. The Commission had raised their glasses.
I drew in a long, steadying breath.
"No," I said quietly. "I won't apologize. And Dante… you've truly disappointed me."
Then I turned and walked away. My footsteps echoed down the private corridor of the Ravenna clinic, past the stationed soldier who wouldn't meet my eyes, past the heavy doors that sealed this world from the one outside. No one followed me.
