The Day I Died, He Lost Our Twins

The day I found out I was pregnant with twins, Vincent Castellano celebrated like a man who had been handed heaven.

Fireworks over Brooklyn. Vows whispered against my stomach. Promises that his empire, his loyalty, and his life were mine.

That same day, I found out the hospital built in my name had been sheltering his affair.

While I was throwing up and fighting to keep our babies safe, he was holding another woman in the next room.

So I made my choice.

I would keep the twins.

But Vincent Castellano would lose all three of us.

The day I went for the abortion, I brought only the Cassella family’s most loyal steward to an unmarked private clinic deep in Queens, off the Castellano family’s books entirely.

A young nurse kept stealing glances at me before leaning over to whisper to her colleague, “Isn’t that Donna Castellano? Why on earth would she be here alone for this?”

Her colleague yanked her arm sharply. “Shut your mouth. The Don built her an entire private hospital. That can’t be her. You’re seeing things.”

“Ma’am, if you could just sign here,” the nurse said, her voice cutting through my thoughts.

I lowered my eyes to the consent form.

On the television across the room, an interview with Vincent was playing on a loop.

The notoriously cold-blooded Don of New York’s most powerful crime family looked into the camera with a tenderness few people in the world had ever seen.

“My wife is carrying twins,” he said, his voice softening. “Watching how hard this pregnancy is on her breaks my heart. Once the babies are born, everything I own belongs to her and our children.”

The nurse let out a quiet sigh, her eyes full of envy.

“You’ll never find another man like Mr. Castellano in all of New York. They’ve been inseparable since they were kids. When the Cassella family was ambushed, he defied his own blood, wiped out the enemy compound, and proposed to her that same night.”

My pen froze above the paper.

I remembered it all too well.

When I was a child, the Cassellas were betrayed from within, and my parents were slaughtered in cold blood. It was Vincent who had knelt before the heavens and sworn a blood oath to me that night.

“Seraphina, my life is yours. I will be your shield against every storm this world has to offer.”

For that promise, I had turned down an invitation to a top-secret national research laboratory, laid down my family’s legacy, and become his Donna.

In the end, he was the one who shattered that vow into a million pieces.

They were right, of course. Vincent Castellano had loved me with a devotion that made the whole city believe I was the luckiest woman alive.

I had been frail since childhood, so he built Seraphina Private Hospital for me, filled it with the finest medical minds on the East Coast, and opened its doors to the public free