Elizabeth’s pov I sat on the couch in the villa’s living room, the evening light casting soft shadows across the patched-up walls. My hand rested on my belly, now noticeably round, the baby growing heavier each day. The vineyard Adam showed me yesterday still filled my thoughts, a promise of a new life, a home far from the blood and betrayal of Naples. But even here, in this temporary calm, I couldn’t shake the unease from Paolo’s execution and the loyalty ceremony Adam held afterward. He was trying to change things, to build a future for us, but the violence clung to him like a shadow. I wanted to believe in the vineyard, in the dream we’d walked through, but fear kept creeping in. I shifted, trying to get comfortable, when a strange flutter stopped me. It wasn’t like the usual movements, the little rolls I’d started feeling. This was sharper, stronger, like a tiny push from inside. My breath caught, and I pressed my hand harder against my belly, waiting. There it was again,
Read more