Lahat ng Kabanata ng MARRIED TO THE MAFIA: Kabanata 231 - Kabanata 240

LilaThe first thing I realized when they wheeled me out of the hospital was that nothing felt normal anymore.Not the hum of the automatic doors sliding open.Not the warm breeze on my face.Not the way Luca walked beside the wheelchair, one hand resting protectively on my shoulder, as if he thought I might vanish if he let go.Everything felt raw and unfamiliar, like the world itself had shifted while we were inside those hospital walls.And maybe it had.Because nothing could ever be the same again.Gabriel was bundled in my arms, warm and impossibly small. He made a soft, hiccupping sigh, and I pressed my lips to the top of his head, breathing in that sweet, milky scent.I still couldn’t believe he was real.Luca had arranged for a black SUV to meet us at the curb. One of his men opened the back door, and Luca turned to help me in, his jaw tight with concentration.“You okay?” he asked gruffly.I nodded, though my whole body ached in ways I didn’t even have names for. My arms felt

LilaI didn’t think I could cry anymore.My tears had run dry hours ago, or so I thought.But the second they placed him in my arms warm, tiny, impossibly perfect I started all over again.He was so much smaller than I expected.His little hands were curled into tight fists, one pressed to his rosy cheek. Dark hair stuck to his damp forehead. His skin was soft as velvet against my chest.And when he turned his face just enough to make a small, hiccupping noise, something in me broke open completely.I forgot the pain.I forgot the fear.I forgot the way my heart had nearly torn itself apart when I realized I’d be delivering him without Luca at my side.Because he was here now.And so was Luca.I looked up from the baby our, baby to find Luca watching me from the chair beside the bed.He hadn’t said much since they’d cleaned our son and tucked him against my chest.He’d just sat there, one hand braced on his cane, the other clenched so tightly on the armrest his knuckles were white.Hi

LilaI barely made it two steps into the hall before the relief of seeing Luca turned into something else.Something cold.Something that made the edges of my vision go blurry.It started as a slow, dull throb in my side. Like a pulled muscle.Then it grew sharper. Hotter.I thought maybe it was just the adrenaline wearing off. Maybe I was finally letting my body feel the toll of the last few hours.But when I shifted Gabriel in my arms, something warm and wet slid down my hip, soaking into the waistband of my leggings.I stopped walking.My breath caught in my throat.“Lila?” Luca’s brow furrowed. He took a step toward me. “What’s wrong?”I looked down.There was a spreading patch of crimson staining the pale fabric.I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.“Lila?” Luca’s voice cracked. “Talk to me.”“I… ” My throat closed. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady. “I think…I’m bleeding.”For a second, no one moved.Then everything happened at once.Lena let out a strangled

LilaThe first thing I realized when they wheeled me out of the hospital was that nothing felt normal anymore.Not the hum of the automatic doors sliding open.Not the warm breeze on my face.Not the way Luca walked beside the wheelchair, one hand resting protectively on my shoulder, as if he thought I might vanish if he let go.Everything felt raw and unfamiliar, like the world itself had shifted while we were inside those hospital walls.And maybe it had.Because nothing could ever be the same again.Gabriel was bundled in my arms, warm and impossibly small. He made a soft, hiccupping sigh, and I pressed my lips to the top of his head, breathing in that sweet, milky scent.I still couldn’t believe he was real.Luca had arranged for a black SUV to meet us at the curb. One of his men opened the back door, and Luca turned to help me in, his jaw tight with concentration.“You okay?” he asked gruffly.I nodded, though my whole body ached in ways I didn’t even have names for. My arms felt

LucaI’d never known a moment so quiet.Not the hush before a gun went off.Not the silence after a man took his last breath.Not even the bone-deep stillness of lying awake at night, wondering if I’d made the right choices.None of that compared to the silence of sitting in this hospital room, watching my son sleep against Lila’s chest.He was finally here.A part of me one I hadn’t even known existed felt anchored by that truth.But under the relief and the wonder, there was something darker, too.A coil of dread that tightened around my ribs every time I looked at him.Because I knew exactly what kind of man my father was.And I’d spent my entire life trying to prove I was nothing like him.But now, holding my son’s entire future in my hands, I couldn’t help wondering what if the rot was already in me?What if I became him?What if, one day, this little boy looked at me the way I used to look at Richard Romano with fear instead of love?The thought made something in my chest seize