No Longer Bound

When my mother went into kidney failure and needed a transplant, it was Pauline Maynard—on the brink of death herself—who gave my mom a second chance at life.

Just before Pauline passed, she gripped my hand tightly and whispered her final words.

"Summer, Ricky is my only son. He's rebellious… and fragile. Please, take care of him. Just three years, please?"

I gave her my word.

Then I moved into their home and gave Ricky everything he needed—love, comfort, a sense of safety. For three years, I stayed true to that promise.

By the third year, Ricky had transformed. No longer the wayward boy he once was, he rose to become the Mafia Don Ricky Lenza. And I was carrying his child.

As I busied myself with wedding plans, I overheard something I was never meant to hear—his voice, low and mocking, as he wrapped another woman in his arms.

"Summer? She's just pretending to love me for the sake of my mother's inheritance and a stupid deal. A gold digger like her dreams of marrying me? What a joke."

A sharp pain pierced my chest, like thorns stabbing deep beneath the skin.

On the way to a prenatal checkup, we were hit in a crash. My baby didn't make it. And my mother, sitting in the passenger seat, shielded me with her life.

When I woke up, I stared blankly at the date on my phone.

Three days left. That would've marked the end of the three-year promise.

I realized then—I'd paid my debt to Pauline in full. It was time for me to go.

After my accident, Ricky Lenza's sister, Audrey Lenza, rushed to the hospital in a panic.

She took one look at my numb and eerily calm face, then gently held my hand, her voice soft with sorrow.

"Summer, don't be sad. You and Ricky can still have children in the future. Right now, what matters is your recovery. You should be healthy and radiant when you walk down the aisle."

"There won't be a wedding." I turned my face away, wiped the corner of my eye without letting her see, and opened a news article on my phone. I handed it to her.

It was a full page—headline after headline—announcing Ricky's new relationship with Lindsay Penrose.

Over the past six months, Ricky's name had become a fixture in the tabloids, each time linked to another affair. As the Mafia Don of the Lenza family, he made headlines no matter what he did.

And yet, I pretended not to care, continuing to play the perfect future Donna.

But when the woman he loved deliberately caused the accident that took my mother and child from me, something inside me broke for good.

Audrey stared at the screen, stunned. "How could he… be this cruel?"

She gritted her teeth. "I'll go talk to him. Just don't leave, please?"

I lowered my gaze, said nothing.

Still, she didn't give up. "Summer, you know this. After our mom passed, Ricky