Chapter 131

RAVENNA POVThe room they'd given me felt smaller than my own, though I knew that wasn't entirely true.It was simply the weight of everything sitting inside it with me - the guilt, the fear, the strange gratitude I hadn't expected to feel toward people I'd spent weeks quietly working against. I sat by the window most mornings now, watching the garden below, the same bench where I'd planted that first small lie about a photograph that meant absolutely nothing in the end.Three days had passed since Antonio brought me in.Three days of being watched carefully but kindly, fed properly, treated with a gentleness I knew I hadn't earned. Madame Loretta had even come by twice, bringing extra blankets despite the mild weather, fussing over me the way she did with everyone in this house regardless of what they'd done to deserve or not deserve her care.It made the guilt heavier, somehow. Kindness always did, when you knew you'd done something to forfeit it.A knock came at my door mid-morning

Chapter 132

AMY POVThe nausea hit me before I'd even fully opened my eyes.I sat up slowly, waiting for it to pass the way it usually did, but this morning it lingered longer than I expected, settling uncomfortably in my stomach until I had no choice but to rush toward the bathroom. By the time I made it there, the feeling had already started to ease, leaving me kneeling on the cold tile floor, breathing slowly, wondering what exactly was happening to my body lately.This wasn't the first morning like this.It had started maybe a week ago, small things I'd brushed off easily enough at first - tiredness that sleep didn't seem to fix, a strange sensitivity to smells that had never bothered me before, this persistent nausea that came and went without warning. I'd blamed stress, mostly. Everything happening lately certainly gave me enough reason for my body to feel off - Ravenna's betrayal, Jeremy's threats, Enzo waking up from his coma and bringing an entirely new danger back into our lives just wh

Chapter 133

ANTONIO POVPregnant.The word hit me through the bathroom door with a force I hadn't expected to feel, something cracking open in my chest that I didn't have an immediate name for. I pushed the door open slowly, finding her sitting on the edge of the tub, the small test still clutched tightly in her hand, her eyes wide and searching mine the moment I stepped inside."You're sure?" I asked, my voice rougher than I intended."Two lines." She said, holding it up slightly for me to see, though I barely needed the confirmation given how pale and overwhelmed she looked sitting there. "It's positive, Antonio."I crossed the small space and knelt in front of her, taking her free hand in both of mine. "How do you feel?""Terrified." She admitted immediately, a small, shaky laugh escaping her. "And something else too. Something I don't fully know how to name yet.""I think I know what that something else is." I said quietly. "I'm feeling it too."We stayed like that for a long moment, just loo

Chapter 134

JEREMY POVThe post came up on my screen almost by accident.I'd been scrolling through nothing in particular, killing time while Silvio finished a call in the next room, when the name caught my eye before the actual content did. Antonio Moretti. A public announcement, of all things, something I hadn't expected a man like him to ever bother with given how carefully he usually guarded every detail of his life.I sat up straighter, reading it properly now.A private cruise. A celebration, the post called it, vaguely worded enough to avoid giving away the actual reason behind it, though it didn't take much imagination to guess given everything Silvio's people had already whispered about Amy's recent doctor visits. Dates, a venue for ticket collection, a price that would have meant nothing to a man like Antonio but represented an entire fortune to most people who might stumble across the announcement randomly.He wasn't selling actual tickets to strangers, not really. This was theater, so

Chapter 135

AMY POVThe ship was bigger than I expected.I stood at the edge of the dock, staring up at it, Antonio's hand warm around mine as Carlos directed the loading of bags behind us. White and gleaming under the afternoon sun, multiple decks stacked one above the other, the kind of vessel that probably cost more than most people earned in several lifetimes combined. I'd seen pictures of yachts like this before, scrolling through magazines as a much younger version of myself who never imagined actually stepping foot on one."You're staring." Antonio said, amusement coloring his voice."It's a lot." I admitted. "I keep forgetting how much money exists in your world until I'm standing in front of something like this.""Our world." He corrected gently, squeezing my hand. "Not just mine anymore."Something warm settled in my chest at that, the easy way he'd folded me into the language of his life without making it feel forced or performative. I let him lead me up the gangway, Madame Loretta alr

Chapter 136

RAVENNA POVSome part of me had known this would happen.Not the specifics, not the exact moment or the precise chaos that would eventually unfold, but the shape of it, the inevitability sitting quietly beneath every smile I'd forced over dinner. Men like Jeremy didn't simply disappear after being told no. They circled back, found new angles, waited for the moment everyone else had finally let their guard down enough to stop watching the horizon so carefully.I'd felt it building all evening, a tightness in my chest I couldn't quite explain to anyone without sounding paranoid, without inviting questions I wasn't ready to answer about why my instincts stayed so sharp even surrounded by candlelight and laughter. I'd watched the crew members move throughout dinner, studying their faces longer than I probably should have, searching for anything unfamiliar in the way they carried themselves, anything that didn't quite fit the easy rhythm of people who actually belonged on this ship.A few