Lahat ng Kabanata ng MARRIED TO THE MAFIA: Kabanata 111 - Kabanata 120

Lila. I couldn’t settle.After Luca left, the house felt too quiet. Not peaceful, never that but hollow, like something vital had been stripped away.I tried to distract myself. I folded the baby clothes I’d bought, even though the doctor said it was too soon to be nesting. I made tea I didn’t drink, then stood at the kitchen window, watching the wind comb through the grass on the cliff’s edge.Every time a car passed on the road below, my heart gave a sick little lurch.He said he’d come backBut promises in Luca’s world were fragile things.I pressed a hand over my belly and closed my eyes.Please, I thought, not sure who I was even begging. Just let this be over.I didn’t hear Anna come in. I only knew she was there when her perfume a sharp, elegant floral that reminded me of expensive hotels wrapped around me.“You look exhausted.”I turned, surprised by how steady my voice sounded. “I’m fine.”Her gaze swept over me, cool and assessing. She was dressed like she always was impecca

LucaI’d spent most of my life believing patience was a virtue.That if you waited long enough watched long enough everyone revealed themselves eventually.Tonight, I had no patience left.Paolo pulled the SUV up to the private airstrip outside the city limits. The wind howled across the tarmac, whipping the hem of my coat around my legs as I climbed out, leaning heavily on my cane.The security detail Luca had assigned me four men in black fell into formation behind me without a word.The hangar looked empty. But the second I stepped inside, I knew better.The plane Vanessa had chartered wasn’t small. It was the kind of sleek, expensive Gulfstream that required connections to secure on short notice. Which meant whoever was helping her was not some local hustler.Richard.It had to be.But that was a problem for tomorrow.Tonight, there was only one thing I cared about.I stalked toward the plane’s stairway, my cane striking the concrete with a sharp, deliberate rhythm.Paolo fell back

LilaThe morning light was the first thing I noticed when I woke.Soft and gold, filtering through the curtains like it had all the time in the world.For a moment, I let myself pretend it meant the worst was behind us.That Vanessa was gone for good. That Luca and I would have time to breathe, to learn how to be something more than survivors clinging to each other in the wreckage.But hope was a fragile thing in this house.It always cracked under the weight of reality.I sat up slowly, one hand splayed over my belly. The baby kicked a flutter that felt more certain every day.And with that small movement came the reminder that nothing was over yet.There were still so many things that could go wrong.I pressed my palm harder, willing myself to believe it wouldn’t.I found Anna in the kitchen, standing at the counter with a cup of coffee and her phone. She looked up when I stepped in, her expression carefully blank.“Good morning," I murmured.“Morning.” She took a measured sip. “Luca

LilaI didn’t go home that night.I called Luca from the hallway outside the oncology ward. My voice was so hoarse from crying I barely recognized it.He didn’t ask questions when I said I needed to stay.Just told me to text when I could and that he’d have security outside the building all night.Part of me hated how much that comforted me, how much I still needed him, even when it felt like the world was coming apart piece by piece.When I finally went back into my mother’s room, she was sitting up against the pillows, her hair loose around her shoulders, her face drawn with exhaustion.“I thought you’d gone,” she whispered.“I’m not going anywhere,” I said quietly.She watched me cross to the chair and sink into it, my hand going instinctively to the swell of my belly.“I wish you hadn’t had to see all that,” she murmured. “The tests. The doctors.”“Stop,” I said, my voice sharper than I meant it to be. “Don’t apologize for this. For being sick.”Her eyes glistened, but she didn’t a

Luca. I didn’t tell Lila where I was going when I left the house.She was asleep on the couch, her face turned to the cushions, her hand curled protectively over her stomach.I stood there a long time just watching her breathe.Part of me wanted to wake her, to tell her I’d decided to go see her mother.But I knew she’d try to stop me, insist it wasn’t my place.And maybe she would be right.But none of that mattered as much as the ache in my chest, the certainty that if I didn’t do something, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.So I left a note with Paolo and climbed into the SUV.The hospital was quiet when I arrived. A nurse tried to stop me in the hallway, but when she recognized my name, she simply stepped aside.Eloise Carter was sitting up in bed when I came in, a paperback novel open in her lap.She looked smaller than I remembered.More fragile.But when her eyes met mine, they were steady.“Luca,” she said softly.I nodded, stepping inside and closing the door behind me.