MasukThree years passed.In those three years, Vincent never stopped searching for me. His men scoured every corner of the globe, Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, even the family’s ancestral home in Sicily. He put a $50 million bounty on any clue to my whereabouts. Still, he found nothing. Seraphina Castellano had vanished from the face of the earth.Everyone around him told him to move on. Every time, he flew into a violent rage, threw them out of his sight, and repeated the same words: “She’s not dead. She’s just angry. She’s hiding. I’ll find her. I have to.”Deep down, he always knew I was alive. He knew me too well. I wasn’t one to give up. I wasn’t one to die in a random car crash. He even found out I’d contacted a top-secret government research lab before disappearing. But with all his power, he couldn’t get a single name, a single detail, a single trace of me.Meanwhile, in Seattle, I’d built a name for myself in the lab. My research had earned international acclaim.
When he woke in the hospital, everything clicked into place. He stormed out of the hospital in his gown and drove straight to Seraphina Private Hospital.In the VIP ward, Isabella lay in bed. When she saw Vincent burst through the door, she immediately put on her fragile act, tears streaming down her face. “Vincent, you’re here. My stomach hurts so much… our baby...”She didn’t finish. Vincent roared at her, murderous rage in his eyes. “Baby? What fucking baby?! You are lying. You lied to me this whole time. You killed my wife. You killed my children. I’ll make you pay for this with your life.”Isabella turned pale, scrambling back against the bed. “Vincent, no! It wasn’t my fault! Seraphina chose to die! It had nothing to do with me! You love me! You said you’d take care of me forever!”“Love you?” He laughed out.“You’re nothing. A cheap, disposable distraction. Why did you send her those photos? Why did you rub your filth in her face? You killed her.”He turned to the two made
By the time the first news bulletin hit the air, I was already on a private jet bound for Seattle, my new identity in hand. When I landed, my new steward showed me the news from New York. The front page of the New York Post featured a photo of Vincent, the unshakable Don of the Castellano family, soaking wet on the banks of the Hudson, hunched and broken, as if all the life had been drained out of him. His consigliere stood beside him, helpless.“All traces are wiped clean, ma’am,” the retainer said quietly. “The Castellanos will find nothing. Your estate and the lab here are completely off-grid. No ties to your old life.”I nodded, completely calm. I knew Vincent better than anyone. He would tear New York apart investigating the crash. He would never believe I was dead. But he would find not a single crack in the plan. Besides, he would be too busy opening the gift I left him to think straight.I was right. Back at the Long Island villa, Vincent stormed into the living room, wild
Isabella and Vincent had met by chance three years prior. We’d gone on a trip upstate, and I’d come down with a violent stomach bug out of nowhere. Vincent had carried me three miles through the woods to the nearest hospital, where Isabella worked as a nurse. She’d stuck me three times, missed the vein every time, and Vincent had screamed at her so loud the walls shook. “How dare you handle her so carelessly? Do you know who I am? Get the head of nursing in here. You’re fired, effective immediately!”Isabella had cried, terrified out of her mind. Vincent hadn’t spared her a single glance. He’d only stared at my swollen hand, his face twisted with rage and heartbreak.I’d taken pity on her, young as she was, and spoken up for her. I’d even sent my steward with a gift and an apology, to help her keep her job and secure a promotion. I’d thought it a small, meaningless kindness. I never knew it would give her the opening she needed to sink her claws into Vincent.Instead of focusing
The next day, our wedding anniversary arrived.I woke before sunrise and went downstairs before the kitchen staff had even started the day. For once, I wanted to make Vincent breakfast with my own hands.When he walked into the kitchen and saw me standing at the stove, he crossed the room in seconds, snatched the spatula from my hand, and pulled me against his chest, half angry, half frightened.“What are you doing in here? You’re pregnant. You shouldn’t be standing over a hot stove. Where’s the staff?”“Today’s our anniversary,” I said softly. “I wanted to be alone with you for a little while.”His eyes reddened at once. He buried his face in my hair and held me as if I might vanish the moment he let go.“I should be the one doing this for you. All I want in this life is for my wife to be happy. Every single day.”If Isabella hadn’t shown me the truth, I might have believed I was the luckiest woman alive.But the blood oath had already been broken. There was no going back.Just then,
That night, I told Vincent I wasn’t feeling well and shut myself off from him. He had the housekeeper make me a tonic from my mother’s old recipe.Since I’d conceived, he wouldn’t let me do a single thing, not dry my hair, not bend down to pick up a pen, not even open a car door for myself. The maids always whispered:“A man like the Don is one in a million.”“When Donna has the baby, he’ll pluck the stars right out of the sky for her.”Vincent heard them, stepped outside to make a quick call, then returned to me with a smile. “Darling, I’m taking you to the Hayden Planetarium this weekend. Rented the whole thing out. I got you a gift. I had a star named after you. The catalog number’s our wedding date.”“Seraphina, I know you’ve been low these last few weeks. I know this pregnancy is hell on you, and I hate that I can’t take the pain away. All I can do is to make you smile.” He sat beside me, his voice softening. He would never know those two lives almost never made it into the wor







