Chapter 3

Only when the nurse spoke did I realize I was still gripping my phone. Tears had fallen onto the ultrasound image, blurring one corner of the baby’s small outline.

I wiped my face and caught my reflection in the corridor window. My eyes were red, and that was when I admitted the truth I had been trying to avoid.

I still loved Damian.

We had shared six years of marriage. I knew the sound of his footsteps when he came home, the way he drank black coffee during family meetings, and how he stayed beside my bed after every treatment, even when he had not slept for days.

A photograph could expose a lie, but it could not erase six years in a single moment.

I looked down at the ultrasound image and called him.

Damian answered almost immediately. “Elena?”

“I don’t feel well,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady. “Can you come back? I want to see you.”

For a moment, there was only silence. Then I heard a child crying in the background.

“I’m not finished here,” Damian said quietly. “Let the doctor examine you first. I’ll be back soon.”

“I only want you to come back.”

The crying grew louder. Mara said something nearby, and I caught only the words, “He keeps asking for you.”

Damian seemed to cover the receiver.

“Elena, wait for me a little longer.”

The call ended.

I remained seated for several seconds before placing the ultrasound image inside my bag. When the nurse asked again whether I needed help, I told her I was going home.

By the time I returned to the Moretti estate, night had fallen.

Damian was waiting in the entrance hall. The moment he saw me enter, he crossed the room with barely restrained panic.

“The driver said you dismissed him and came back on your own. I’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”

He pulled me tightly into his arms.

“I thought something had happened to you.”

Then he noticed my swollen eyes and cupped my face.

“What happened?”

I looked at him. My reflection filled those familiar gray eyes, and the concern on his face appeared completely sincere.

“I miss Aunt Celeste.”

Damian relaxed and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“You haven’t seen her in a long time. Once the pregnancy is stable, I’ll take you to Geneva.”

As he pulled me closer, I caught the faint scent of baby lotion on his shirt collar.

I stepped out of his arms.

“I spoke to her yesterday. She was happy when I told her about the pregnancy. She wants me to stay with her for a few days, and she’s sending a plane tomorrow night.”

Damian studied me. “That’s sudden.”

“I haven’t been sleeping well. A change of place might help.”

His hand settled against my lower back as he considered it.

“Moretti security will take you.”

“She has already arranged everything.”

“I’ll have my team verify the flight plan.”

I agreed without protest.

Damian eventually gave permission. He ordered the kitchen to prepare food for the flight and told the private doctor to organize my medication, treating the trip as though it were an ordinary visit.

I said I was tired and went upstairs. When I woke the next day, it was nearly noon.

Damian was still at the estate, working by the window. As soon as I opened my eyes, he closed his laptop, came to the bed, and kissed my forehead.

“You’re finally awake. Eat something, then come with me to the family foundation dinner this afternoon.”

I checked the time. Aunt Celeste’s plane would arrive that evening, and the dinner would not interfere with the plan.

To avoid making Damian suspicious, I agreed.

At six, the Moretti convoy arrived at a private hotel in Manhattan. The ballroom was filled with family members, attorneys, political allies, and businessmen whose loyalty depended on Moretti protection.

The moment I entered on Damian’s arm, every eye turned toward us.

“Now that Mrs. Moretti is pregnant, the Don barely lets her out of his sight.”

“Everyone in New York knows his wife has always mattered more to him than anything else.”

Damian ignored the compliments. He took a glass of warm water from a server, handed it to me, and ordered the wine removed from the tables nearest us.

“If you feel tired, tell me. We’ll leave.”

Before I could answer, a woman spoke behind us.“It must be comforting to have the Don watching over you so closely.”

Mara stood at the edge of the crowd in a dark red gown, a flawless smile resting on her lips.

Everyone in the room knew she had pursued Damian years ago. Everyone also knew she had never bothered to hide her contempt for me.

Still, no one had expected her to provoke the Don’s wife in public.

Her gaze dropped briefly to Damian’s hand at my waist before lifting back to my face.

“I imagine this life took some getting used to,” she said. “The estate, the guards, the Moretti name. For someone who wasn’t born into our world, it must have been difficult to know whether any of it truly belonged to you.”

The conversations around us slowly died away.

Mara lifted her glass, her expression almost sympathetic.

“But now that you’re carrying Damian’s child, I suppose you finally have something no one can take from you.”

Her smile deepened.

“A permanent place in the Moretti family.”