Not Afraid to Start Over

At three in the morning, I was urgently called to an underground hospital in Verdanza to operate on the mafia Don's only son.

But the man lying on the bed was my husband, the same man who had sworn before leaving that he was going on a business trip, promised he would drink less, and told me not to worry.

Outside the operating room, a young woman clutched my sleeve and nearly broke down in tears. "Doctor, please save my fiancé! He got shot while protecting me. We can pay anything!"

A well-dressed middle-aged woman quickly pulled her back. "Sylvia, calm down! Think about the baby."

At that moment, I came to a horrifying realization.

The man I had supported for ten years with my scalpel, the man I believed was bankrupt and drowning in debt…

He was actually the heir to the biggest mafia family in Verdanza.

And now, he had put himself in the ICU to protect another woman.

I felt as though my heart had been ripped open.

In our years together, we had once had a child. Back then, he had convinced me to terminate the pregnancy with the excuse that we were buried in debt and couldn't afford a baby.

Yet now, another woman was carrying his child, surrounded by his family's protection and cherished like a priceless treasure.

If that was how it was going to be, fine.

After this surgery, everything Luca Colleone and I had together would be over.

Ten years of history, wiped clean.

I gathered myself and gently pushed Sylvia's hand away.

"Hospital policy says family members can't interfere with medical staff. Please wait outside for updates."

Years of training made my hands steady like machines. Even though everything inside me was chaos, every move I made on the table was exact.

For years, my life had been nothing but midnight operations and silent exhaustion.

Whenever I reached my breaking point, I told myself to hold on just a little longer, because Luca Colleone promised that once the debts were paid, we could finally live peacefully.

As it turned out, every word of it was a lie.

When I reached the final stitching stage, a sharp voice screeched outside the door.

"Is that doctor even competent? If my son ends up with complications, she's going to regret it! Sylvia is carrying the Colleones' only child, our future heir. If anything happens to her, you'll all pay for it!"

The word "child" slammed into my chest like a bullet. My surgical instrument shook in my hand and nearly slipped.

In our years together, we had a child, too; one Luca casually dismissed with the excuse of wrong timing.

Now, I had understood.

He just never wanted one with me.

The heart monitor started screaming. I took a deep breath, crushed down the storm inside me, and continued.

I was precise, calm, and ruthless.

Under my hands was no longer the man who had deceived me for a decade. He was just