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Chapter 4

Autor: Sinclair
On the fourth morning, I laid the medical authorization beside Dario's breakfast plate.

His coffee cup stopped halfway to his mouth.

Mara took one look at the paper, asked no questions, and led the staff out of the dining room.

Dario looked at the document for a long time.

"When did you see this?"

"Yesterday."

He didn't claim it was fake, and he didn't blame the doctors. He just slowly set down his cup.

"Elena—"

"Eleven times," I cut in. "I went through 11 rounds of injections. I prepared myself 11 times. And every single time, I thought my body was the reason I couldn't carry a baby."

Dario fell silent and slowly curled his hand into a fist.

"Five years ago, I stood outside the operating room and watched them carry in bag after bag of blood for you. The doctor came out and asked me which one to save if the bleeding didn't stop: your uterus or your life." His voice was steady. "You were unconscious for two days. The first thing you asked when you woke up was whether you'd lost the baby."

My eyes stung, but I still asked, "So?"

"So I decided there would never be a second time."

"It's my body."

"I know."

"No, you don't."

I couldn't keep my voice down anymore. "If you knew that, you never would have let me keep lying to myself for five whole years!"

Dario's jaw tightened.

"When you woke up, you said that despite the risk, you were willing to try again."

"Yes."

"I don't agree."

"Elena, you can hate me," he said after a pause, his voice lower. "But I won't gamble with your life again."

I pushed Viola's prenatal records across the table to him.

Dario glanced at them. "Viola will only ever have this one baby. Once it's born, I'll send her away. Don't be angry with me over this, okay?"

"So you had my enemy's daughter carry your baby?"

"Cavallo blood will shut the Moretti elders up." His tone was as calm as ever. "Once the baby is born, they'll stop watching to see whether you can have children. They'll stop using your background and your fertility against you."

"Have you ever touched her?"

"No."

He answered instantly.

"The doctors handled everything, from collecting the samples to creating the embryo. I don't love her, and I never wanted her anywhere near our marriage."

I looked at him.

"So you don't consider this a betrayal?"

That night, I locked the bedroom door.

Dario sat outside it all night. When I woke sometime after midnight, the hallway light was still spilling through the gap underneath.

That was when my phone buzzed.

Luca had sent me a map of the route.

The seven-day plan had officially begun.

I stared at the map for a long time, then set my phone face down on the nightstand.

The man sitting outside my door truly loved me.

But something had opened up between us, a gap that seemed impossible to cross.
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  • The Don Loved Me So Much that He Let Another Woman Carry His Baby   Chapter 19

    I went to the hospital after all.When the car pulled up out front, I stayed in my seat for a long time.Luca didn't rush me."You don't have to go in.""I know.""Or you can go in.""I know."In the end, I pushed the car door open.Dario was badly hurt.One bullet had gone clean through his shoulder, and the other had grazed the edge of his ballistic vest near his abdomen. He'd lost a lot of blood, but thankfully, nothing vital had been hit.I waited outside until the doctor said he was out of danger, then went in to see him.When Dario woke up, it was almost dawn.He was clearly startled to see me.His fingers moved, but he didn't reach for me."You're okay?""I'm okay.""Where's Luca?""Outside."He nodded.After a while, he broke the silence. "You can go."I looked at him.Dario managed a thin smile."I know you're not here to get back together."The old Dario would never have said something like that on his own.I pulled out a chair and sat down."What about Viola?""The police to

  • The Don Loved Me So Much that He Let Another Woman Carry His Baby   Chapter 18

    The gunfight quickly spread from the dock access point to the warehouse district.By the time we reached the ground floor through the staff stairwell, the front entrance had already been cut off.Luca pulled open the back door. Outside, warning lights flashed between rows of shipping containers."To the right."He'd barely said it when a spray of bullets hit the wall.We ducked back inside at once.A Moretti guard's voice came over the radio. "Donna—"He paused, as if he'd finally remembered I wasn't Donna Moretti anymore. "Ms. Vitale, the east passage is sealed off. The Don wants you to stay where you are."I glanced at the map."If we stay here, we'll get boxed in."Luca frowned.I was familiar with this warehouse district.A few months earlier, I'd come here to examine a group of old murals awaiting restoration, and the caretaker had led me through a maintenance passage."There's an old passage on the seaward side."Luca looked at me. "You're sure?""I'm sure."I took the radio."Te

  • The Don Loved Me So Much that He Let Another Woman Carry His Baby   Chapter 17

    Dario called me himself to tell me that Viola had disappeared.I'd just gotten back from the workshop that afternoon.A number I hadn't saved flashed on the screen. I would have recognized it anywhere.I looked at it for a few seconds, then answered anyway."Elena."Dario's voice was calm. "Viola's escaped."I stopped in my tracks."How?""A former Cavallo bodyguard helped her get out. We've already caught him, but she's contacted the remaining gunmen.""She's coming after me?""Yes."At 11 that night, an explosion went off near the port.The windows rattled.I sat up in bed. A second later, the alarm in the hallway started blaring.Someone shouted over the radio, "The back dock is under attack!"Luca already had his coat on."Let's go."At the same moment, gunfire broke out downstairs.Viola hadn't come to negotiate.She'd brought the remaining Cavallo gunmen and headed straight for the dock access point behind the hotel.Dario's men were closing in from the outside, and hotel securit

  • The Don Loved Me So Much that He Let Another Woman Carry His Baby   Chapter 16

    After the divorce papers were sent back to Sicily, things between Luca and me actually slowed down.Luca didn't assume that helping me fake my death had earned him the right to get closer to me. And he never said anything like "I've waited years for you" when I was at my most vulnerable.We still ate together and went to the workshop together.When he worked the night shift at the hospital, I walked home along the harbor by myself.Life was so calm that I wasn't quite used to it.The night of the seaside festival, the square was full of music and lights.Luca bought two cups of mulled wine and handed me one."Can you drink this?"I laughed. "You're the doctor, and you're asking me?""Your body can handle it."He paused."What I'm asking is whether you want to."I took the cup.Later, a very slow song came on.Luca watched the crowd for a while, then held out his hand to me."Want to dance?""You can dance?""Barely.""And you're still asking me?""You can say no."I made him wait a few

  • The Don Loved Me So Much that He Let Another Woman Carry His Baby   Chapter 15

    The next morning, Luca set a sealed envelope on my workbench."Someone dropped this off.""Who?"He gave me a look. "You know who."I didn't open it right away.Inside, there were no flowers, no jewelry, and none of the black gift boxes Dario always used.The first was a set of divorce papers he'd already signed.The second was my old passport.The third was the deed granting me full ownership of my parents' vineyard.The fourth showed that the Moretti family no longer had access to my personal accounts or any say in how they were managed.The last document came from the private clinic.It confirmed that all the frozen embryos and medical records belonged to me and that every decision about them from then on was mine alone.No member of the Moretti family, Dario included, had any right to interfere.A single sheet of paper lay on top of everything.There was only one line on it."This time, you decide."I sat there looking at it for a long time.Dario had given me so many things.Diamo

  • The Don Loved Me So Much that He Let Another Woman Carry His Baby   Chapter 14

    I chose the café downstairs from the preview venue. It had an open floor plan.It was crowded, with no private rooms or doors that could be locked from the inside.The moment Dario saw it, he understood why I'd chosen it, but he didn't say a word.We sat down across from each other at a small round table.Once again, the first thing he asked was, "How's the wound healing?""You have ten minutes.""Okay."I didn't beat around the bush."Did you come to take me back?"Dario was silent.That one-second pause was answer enough.I gave a short laugh."I knew it.""I thought about it.""Only thought about it?""The day I found out you might still be alive, I covered my study with maps showing every port and flight route in southern Europe," he said very calmly."I knew that if I gave the order, you'd be found within 24 hours."I curled my fingers into my palm."And then?""I didn't give it."I looked at him.Dario asked quietly, "You'd rather let me hold a funeral for you than just tell me y

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