The Madre Strikes Back

Domenico slammed the phone down and spun toward me. "Valentina! You're the Madre of this famiglia. Jealousy is one thing, but how could you actually send someone after Lorita? How dare you harm an innocent woman!"

I let out a bitter laugh. "So you've decided I'm guilty without even knowing the whole story?"

Silence stretched between us.

Domenico finally let go of my wrist, which was aching and bruised from his grip, and turned toward the door. "We'll settle this when I return," he said.

He walked away, leaving me alone in the villa to silently tend to my wounds.

I stood frozen for a long moment before dragging myself to the wardrobe to finish packing. My eyes fell on the bottle-cap ring. The sweetness it once held had turned into bitter mockery.

Without a second thought, I tossed the ring and every gift Domenico had ever given me into the trash can.

As I snapped the suitcase shut, my phone buzzed. Lorita had sent me a video. I grabbed both my suitcase and my phone, tapping on the video to play it.

Carefree laughter spilled from the video, mingling with the innocent chatter of a child.

I froze. There was Domenico, holding a boy who seemed no older than five years old. Lorita clung close to him, smiling sweetly.

A bandage was wrapped around the boy's forehead. There was no blood seeping through it, and his pale face suggested he was only slightly injured.

In a small, hesitant voice, he asked Lorita, "Mamma, is he my Papa?"

Lorita didn't answer the boy. She looked at Domenico with tear-filled eyes, as if she were silently asking him to be the boy's father.

Domenico hesitated for a moment, then gently looked at the boy and whispered, "Sure."

The boy's face lit up with pure joy. He threw his arms around Domenico's neck and shouted, "Papa! I finally have a Papa!"

Lorita took advantage of the moment. While Domenico's attention was on the boy, she looked straight at the camera—at me—with a triumphant, mocking smile.

My mind went blank. Waves of dizziness hit me, and a sharp pain flared in my lower abdomen.

I staggered to the door, barely able to keep my balance, and ordered the Underboss, Gio Rocco, to take me to the nearest hospital.

I held the fresh test results in my trembling hands as a storm of joy and pain collided inside me.

I stared at the paper again and again.

When the doctor confirmed, "You're six weeks pregnant," hot tears streamed down my cheeks.

I had already lost a baby once, before I even knew I was expecting. It was just after our wedding, and the famiglia was in the midst of the deadliest shift in its power struggle. I took a bullet meant for Domenico, and just like that, our piccolino was gone.

Domenico had cried at my side, promising to make me the happiest woman alive and that we would have another baby. Yet now, another woman's child was calling him "Papa".

When I glanced at the video again and saw Domenico holding the boy tenderly, I made up my mind to leave him and take this baby God gave me with me.

Outside the doctor's office, I was still clutching the test results. Before I could put it away, I spotted Domenico there with Lorita's son. He saw me and instinctively loosened his hold on the boy.

"Valentina, what are you doing here?" Noticing the test results in my hand, he approached me, asking, "What's going on? Are you feeling sick? What did the doctor say?"

Before I could say anything, Lorita pushed her son forward, and the boy burst into tears as he clung to Domenico's hand.

He yanked hard on Domenico's hand, refusing to let him come over to me. "Papa, my head hurts. It hurts so much."

I watched hesitation flicker in Domenico's eyes before he finally picked up the boy and looked at me with difficulty.

"Valentina, there are priorities. You should understand that," Domenico said before turning to leave.

I almost laughed. Che ridicolo!

The doctor happened to walk out at that moment. He asked, "Are you Ms. Rossi's husband?"

Before Domenico could reply, the boy suddenly wriggled out of his arms and ran straight toward me. As he ducked his head and charged, I instinctively pushed him away.

"Figlio mio!"

Lorita rushed forward and pulled her son into her arms. She shot me a furious glare. "Valentina, Magno's just a little kid. How could you lay a hand on him?"

I stepped forward to check if the boy—Magno—was hurt, but Domenico shoved me away.

I wasn't ready for it. My abdomen slammed hard into the metal armrest, and I collapsed onto the floor. Pain shot through me so hard that my whole body shook.

Magno pushed out of Lorita's arms again and stomped right on my stomach.

"Donna cattiva! You're a horrible woman! How dare you seduce my Papa? You dirty bitch!" he shouted.

A whole crowd had already gathered around us. They hurled insults at me, calling me a homewrecker and saying I had no shame.

"D-Dom, per favore…"

I forced his name out, begging him to take me to the emergency room. Yet Magno cried even louder and fell into Domenico's arms, complaining that his head hurt too much.

Domenico frowned and lifted Magno in his arms without even looking at me.

"Valentina, you've really let me down. You need to calm down and take some time to reflect."

…

Domenico's Point of View

I held Magno while the doctor checked him. The results came back fine, but that didn't ease the knot of worry tightening in my chest.

Valentina's pale, fragile face kept flashing through my mind, haunting me with every heartbeat.

Once Magno calmed down, I stepped out of the room. I could hear the whispers of the crowd before I even turned the corner.

"That woman almost passed out. I think she lost the baby. She was lying in a pool of blood. It was awful."

"I can't get that image out of my head. It scared me half to death."

My vision went black. All I could see was Valentina's face right before she collapsed. A wave of panic hit me so fast that it knocked the air out of my lungs.

"Dom? Why aren't you coming in?" Lorita asked, reaching for my arm.

I shoved her away without thinking and ran like a man possessed to the place where Valentina had fallen. All I found was a pool of blood. Tears instantly filled my eyes.