The Night I Heard Him Call Her Mine

On the night of our seventh anniversary, I was pulled into an emergency C-section.

Before I could scrub in, my director caught my arm. “Gianna, the woman on that table is under the protection of a man powerful enough to ruin this hospital by morning. Do not make a mistake.”

I glanced at the patient chart and frowned.

Men in our world including Enzo were all obsessed with their wives. How could a man like that possibly have another woman he cherished?

The surgery went well. Clean incision. Clean closure. No complications.

I had barely exhaled in relief when a swarm of men in black dragged me to my knees outside the recovery room and forced me to my knees outside a private recovery suite.

“Our daughter is beautiful.”

I heard my husband’s voice through the glass, and something inside me shattered on the spot.

Rosa smiled weakly from the hospital bed. “Best third anniversary gift you ever gave me.”

Third anniversary.

That was the moment the rest of the lies fell into place.

Every late night at the office. Every dinner he canceled. Every time he came home after midnight and told me family business had run long.

Cold marble pressed into my knees outside Rosa’s room, but it was the ache in my chest that nearly broke me. I stared through the glass and forgot how to breathe.

Enzo sat at Rosa’s bedside, one hand on the baby, the other brushing her hair back from her face.

By the time the surgery ended, I was running on nothing.

I had been on my feet for hours when the emergency C-section call came in. Before I could scrub in, my director caught my arm.

“Gianna, the woman on that table is under the protection of a man powerful enough to ruin this hospital by morning. Do not make a mistake.”

I glanced at the patient chart and frowned.

Men in our world, especially men like Enzo, were obsessed with their wives. How could a man like that possibly have another woman he cherished?

The surgery went well.

I had barely exhaled in relief when a swarm of men in black dragged me to my knees outside the recovery suite.

Then Enzo’s voice came from inside, and the blood in my body turned cold.

“My wife says you hurt her on purpose during surgery. Kneel there all night and apologize.”

His wife？He said it so easily.

Not me. Rosa.

I stared through the glass at the man I had been married to for seven years, the man who had sworn there had never been anyone but me.

Then Rosa’s voice pulled me straight into another memory.

It was Enzo’s birthday. I had traded shifts so I could surprise him with a cake. I opened the bedroom door and found him naked in our bed with a woman I had never seen before.

I threw the cake at them before either of them could speak.

Enzo dropped to his knees so