Everything After Survival

I had no one left.

After I was diagnosed with cancer, my relatives stopped visiting, my parents slowly accepted that I might not survive, and the man I had been dating disappeared. Dante was the only person who stayed.

He sold what little he had, paid for my treatment, and made me believe that love could survive anything.

That belief had carried me through ten years of pain.

During treatment, I kept working remotely under Professor Evelyn Shaw. Her closed medical research project accepted only a few doctoral candidates each year. She had asked me more than once to join after my recovery, but I kept refusing because I did not want to leave Dante.

Now it was fading inside his own house.

That night, Dante stayed in my room. I did not refuse him, though the faint rose perfume on his shirt made me nauseous.

The next morning, he kissed my forehead, looking almost relieved.

“The two most important women in my life can finally get along,” he said. “Thank you, Aria. I’ll make it up to you.”

I said nothing.

After breakfast, he returned my phone and allowed me to walk in the garden, though two Russo guards still followed me.

The first thing I did was call Professor Shaw.

“If the project still has a place for me,” I said, “I want to join.”

There was a pause. Then she said, “Aria, I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”

For the next few months, I stopped fighting Serena.

She had Dante hire a private chef, a prenatal doctor, and a stylist for the wedding. I stayed in the old observation room and ate whatever the servants brought me. Even when she flaunted the jewelry and wedding gifts Dante gave her, I felt nothing.

As the wedding approached, Serena’s doctor said her condition was unstable. Don De Luca insisted the ceremony could not be delayed, so Dante packed his things that night.

I sat in the corner of my room, one hand over my belly, feeling weaker than I had in years.

Dante paused at the door.

“Are you okay?”

I did not answer.

“Aria, I’ll come back as soon as the wedding is over. It’s only a fake ceremony. When I return, I’ll stay with you properly.”

I wanted to tell him that I needed him too, that our child needed him too.

In the end, I only nodded.

Dante stared at me for a moment, as if surprised I had let him go so easily.

He had almost reached the door when he suddenly came back and hugged me.

“Forget it. I won’t go. I’ll send someone else.”

For one brief second, my heart moved.

Then I remembered that whenever he was forced to choose, I was always the one asked to understand.

“You should go,” I said quietly. “If anything happens to Serena’s child, you’ll feel guilty forever.”

What I meant was: if anything happens to her child, you’ll blame me forever.

Dante slowly let go.

Just as he reached the front door, a maid hurried over.

“Mr. Russo, please let Miss Aria move back upstairs. The room she’s in is too damp. It isn’t good for her or the baby.”

Before Dante could answer, Serena said, “That won’t work. I’ll be coming back after the wedding. How can she take my room?”

“I don’t want to move back,” I said.

Dante’s expression softened.

“When I return, I’ll buy you a new house. I’m sorry you’ve suffered these few days.”

Then he got into the car and left with Serena.

I watched the convoy disappear, then went back to my room and began packing the research notes I had hidden for years.

After Dante left for the De Luca estate, I forced my weak body to endure the pain and began packing.

There were still six hours before Professor Shaw’s team came to take me to the closed research facility.

I looked through the window at the Russo guards stationed outside the villa and called Professor Shaw.

“There are Russo men outside the villa,” I said. “Dante left them here to watch me.”

Professor Shaw’s voice remained steady.

“Pack your documents and medical records. Do not confront anyone. Our legal team and security detail are already on the way.”

Just after I hung up, the door to my room was pushed open.

Lucia De Luca walked in with Don De Luca, a private doctor, a sealed consent file, and two De Luca guards.

Don De Luca looked at me as if I were a stain on his daughter’s wedding dress.

“My daughter will stand at the altar in six hours. No woman hidden in this house will ruin that.”

Lucia placed the consent form on the table.

“Sign it. The doctor will finish the procedure here.”

I gripped the edge of the table.

“This child is Dante’s.”

Lucia’s expression did not change.

“Dante has already chosen which child he will acknowledge.”

“Serena’s child is not his.”

Don De Luca gave a cold smile.

“Truth does not matter today. Silence does.”

Two guards grabbed my arms.

Panic rose through me so sharply I could barely breathe.

“No. Let go of me.”

The maid tried to stop them, crying.

“Miss Aria is very weak. If you force this procedure, she may die.”

“No one asked you,” Lucia snapped.

I struggled with what little strength I had left.

“The child in my belly is Dante’s. Serena’s child is not his.”

No one listened.

One of the men taped my mouth shut before I could say more. The doctor opened his case, and someone pressed my hand against the consent form. My body was too weak to fight them, and the pain in my abdomen grew sharper as they dragged me toward the old medical room.

Tears slid down my face.

I had once thought about giving up this child when Dante chose Serena’s reputation over us.

But when they truly tried to take the baby from me, I finally understood how much I wanted to keep him.

My vision began to blur. A hot rush spilled between my legs.

Just as they dragged me toward the door, the sound of cars broke through the villa grounds.

A moment later, Dante stepped out of the lead car in his black wedding suit. He was smiling faintly as he turned back to Serena.

“There’s still time before the ceremony,” he said. “I’ll find the ring I left behind and come right back. I won’t delay anything.”

Then he turned toward the doorway and saw me collapsed in a pool of blood.

His face went white.