Chapter 3

By the time Serena returned to the hospital, Mattia had finished his examination. The small figure lay on the hospital bed, his face flushed with fever. When he saw her, he reached out his arms. "Mamma, hold me."

Serena pulled him into her arms and pressed her cheek against his.

Mattia asked softly, "Mamma, where's Papa?"

"Papa's busy."

"Will he come see me when he's done?"

"He will."

The doctor called her to his office to talk. He said the best option for now was to wait for a match from the bone marrow registry or find a close blood relative to test.

A close blood relative. That would be Adriano.

Serena clenched her fingers.

That period of her life was the deepest nightmare she would ever know. She thought she would never have to face that man again, but now…

She had not yet figured out what to do when her phone buzzed. It was a message from Luca.

[In a meeting. I'll stop by the hospital later.]

She did not reply. When she took Mattia for a follow-up exam, they passed by the maternity ward. That was where she saw Luca. He was supporting a young woman, treating her carefully and cautiously like she might shatter at any moment.

The woman's belly was slightly rounded. The way Luca looked at her was so tender it was almost absurd.

When Serena was pregnant, he had been careful too. However, now that she thought about it, it was more like a performance for her benefit.

She was about to turn and leave when Mattia broke free from her hand and ran over.

"Papa!"

Ginevra Bianchi's eyes went wide. "Who's this child? Why is he calling you 'Papa'?"

Her expression shifted. "Luca, you put on such a show chasing after me, but you have a child with another woman behind my back?"

She raised her hand and swung it at her own stomach. "Then I'll get rid of this one right now!"

Luca's expression changed. He grabbed her wrist with one hand and, with the other, shoved Mattia hard.

Mattia fell to the ground. The back of his head hit the tile floor with a dull thud.

"It's a stray kid running around calling strangers his father!"

Serena rushed over and pulled Mattia up. He clutched the back of his head, tears welling in his eyes, but he did not dare cry out loud. He just stared at Luca and asked quietly, "Papa, why did you push me?"

Serena moved Mattia behind her and stood up. She looked directly at Luca. Her heart was pounding wildly. She told herself that as long as he explained, as long as he said those things were not true, she would believe him.

Serena wanted so badly to believe him.

"Luca, tell me. What's going on?" Ginevra stared at him too.

Luca looked at her, then at Ginevra. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, all that remained was impatience.

"Did I say something wrong? I'm not the child's biological father. Who his father is and how this child came to be… Serena, you know that better than I do."

He looked at Ginevra, and his tone softened. "Ginevra, you know how I treat you. I do have a past with her, but that's over. How could I possibly like someone who's been..."

He paused, then said each word deliberately, "... used and thrown away."

Serena heard something shatter. It was not her heart but all the beliefs she had desperately built up over the years.

She remembered that after being rescued from Adriano's hands, she had nightmares every night. Luca would hold her and say, "Serena, it wasn't your fault. You're a victim. Don't ever think of yourself as dirty."

Yet now, to prove his loyalty to another woman, he tore open her wounds himself.

Ginevra stared at Serena for a long moment, then suddenly laughed. "Oh, I remember now. You're Serena Vitale, who climbed into bed with the Romano family's eldest son for money and mafia connections. The one who got filmed in those videos, right?

"Tsk, how do you even have the nerve? You dumped Luca back then because he was illegitimate, and now that he's made something of himself, you come crawling back. You're even trying to play the sympathy card, making some bastard from who knows where call him 'Papa'?"

Serena's body trembled. Images from that dark time surfaced in her mind.

Adriano was a monster. During the time he kept her locked up, he had used wax, whips, and chains on her. Memories she buried deepest were dragged back to the surface.

Her face went pale, and her breathing became labored. She clutched her chest and crouched down.

"Mamma, what's wrong?" Mattia cried out in terror, "Papa, you have to save Mamma!"

"Stop putting on an act. Luca, let's go," Ginevra sneered.

Luca did not even glance at her. He helped Ginevra turn around and walked away.

The world spun, and Serena's vision blurred. The sound of Mattia's sobbing drifted in and out, but Luca's cold, retreating figure remained painfully clear.

During those dark days when she was locked away, she cried every single day. However, every plea for mercy only brought more vicious torment from Adriano.

In those agonizing moments, all she thought about was Luca. Now, she could never rely on him again.