When I opened my eyes, I was back in the Family's private ward, hidden on an isolated floor where no names appeared on doors and no records existed on paper.
The numbness remained.
I still couldn't feel anything below my waist.
Lorenzo sat beside my bed, his face drawn with exhaustion. The moment he saw my eyes flutter open, relief flooded his expression.
He immediately took my hand and pressed it against his cheek.
"Serafina... you're awake."
His voice was soft, almost trembling.
"How do you feel? Does anything hurt? I'll call Dr. Bruno right away."
His touch was as gentle as it had always been.
Only now did I realize how empty his eyes truly were.
It was almost admirable.
A man raised for the Falcone throne learned to lie long before he learned to pull a trigger.
And Lorenzo had mastered both.
I smiled faintly and reached up to brush my fingertips over the stubble along his jaw.
"You haven't slept, have you?"
"I'm alright."
"You should get some rest."
He studied me for a moment before letting out a weary breath.
Finally, he nodded.
Within minutes, exhaustion pulled him into a deep sleep.
My gaze drifted to the phone resting on the bedside table.
Almost instinctively, I reached for it.
The wallpaper was still the photograph we had taken before the blood union, the one prepared for the alliance announcement.
Looking at it now felt almost laughable.
His messages were still open.
At the very top sat Ambra's name.
I tapped the conversation.
There were only a handful of messages.
Each one felt like another knife sinking deeper into my chest.
> Gia called for her daddy again today. She already knows how handsome you are. She's going to break a lot of hearts someday.
> She finished every bite of the cake you sent.
> She's been begging to go to the amusement park with you. I tried talking her out of it, but she wouldn't listen. Come if you have time.
Lorenzo had barely replied with words.
Instead, beneath every photo was a two-hour video call.
I remembered how many times he'd told me he didn't like children.
Now I finally understood.
It wasn't children he disliked.
It was the idea of having one with me.
I opened his photo gallery.
A hidden album.
The password was Gia's birthday.
More than five thousand photographs.
Three years.
Every birthday.
Every holiday.
Every family dinner.
Every ordinary moment that should have belonged to us...
He had spent beside Ambra instead.
I wasn't in a single one.
The next conversation was with the woman organizing the blood union.
From the very beginning, the bride's name had been Ambra.
The wedding gown had been tailored to her measurements.
The invitations sent to every major Family bore their names.
I had never been meant to stand beside Lorenzo at that altar.
Not even once.
A quiet laugh escaped my lips.
There was nothing left worth reading.
I closed the phone and messaged Delia instead.
Find me a hospital overseas.
Somewhere far away.
Somewhere quiet.
Somewhere beyond the reach of the Five Families.
Then erase my name from every Colombo ledger still tied to Falcone territory.
She didn't ask why.
She simply assumed I had finally seen Lorenzo for the man he truly was.
Her replies came almost instantly.
Every message carried unmistakable relief.
She sounded happier than she had in years.
As if she had been waiting for this day even longer than I had.
I put my phone aside and slowly drifted back to sleep.
When I woke again, Lorenzo was crying.
His shoulders trembled as he clutched a medical report in both hands.
"Serafina..."
His voice cracked.
"Dr. Bruno discovered something during your examination."
He swallowed hard, absentmindedly turning the Falcone signet ring around his thumb again and again.
"You..."
"You were born without a uterus."
"You'll never be able to have children."
I simply looked at him.
Without speaking.
Without blinking.
"It's alright," he rushed to say.
"I don't care."
"You're still going to be my wife."
"Nothing about that will ever change."
"When you're discharged, we'll bring a child into our Family."
"A child will help you heal."
"I promise."
"Everything will be alright."
The diagnosis belonged to me.
Yet he looked like the one whose world had fallen apart.
It was a flawless performance.
Almost.
Only the restless movement of his thumb against the signet ring betrayed him.
A habit he could never quite control whenever he lied.
I said nothing.
I simply watched him continue grieving over a future he himself had stolen from me.
Outside the ward, an enforcer shifted his weight in the hallway.
The sound echoed through the silence before disappearing again.
After what felt like forever, Lorenzo wiped away his tears.
He nodded once, as though he had finally reached some noble decision.
Then he wrapped his arms around me.
"I swear on the Family..."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I'll protect you for the rest of my life."
"No matter what anyone says..."
"I'll never leave your side."
"And after we're bound..."
"I'll transfer every piece of territory..."
"Every dollar of cash flow..."
"Everything I own..."
"It'll all belong to you."
"I just want you to be safe."
His arms held me tightly.
His heartbeat echoed against my chest.
But ours never found the same rhythm.
Not anymore.
