While I Gave Birth, He Married My Sister
On the day of the earthquake, my sister Elena shoved me off the third floor, then burst into tears and said she had only been trying to save me. Everyone believed her.
The only person who stood on my side was Nicolo, the youngest mafia boss Sicily had seen in decades. He lifted me out of the rubble, then proposed to me in front of everyone and said that from that day on, anyone who touched me would answer to him.
Two months later, I was pregnant.
Nicolo bought an entire island and planted it with my favorite irises for our wedding.
My father spent a fortune on a one-of-a-kind gown made just for me. Everyone said I was the most envied woman in the family.
Then I went into labor, and both of them disappeared.
My father said the family had a deal on the line. Nicolo kissed my swollen belly, murmured that he would be back soon, and promised to bring gifts for me and the baby.
Right before I was wheeled into the delivery room, an anonymous video landed on my phone.
Nicolo was wearing a groom's suit.
Elena stood beside him with a hand resting on her pregnant stomach. She was wearing my wedding dress. Her arm was looped through my fiance's as if she had won him fair and square.
At the end of the clip, my father asked in a lowered voice, "If you and Valentina stay married only on paper, what happens to the child she gives birth to?"
Nicolo was quiet for two seconds before he answered. "Valentina grew up with everything. Elena spent her whole life carrying the stain of being illegitimate. Her child will not grow up the same way."
So all that tenderness had never been for me.
It had all been for Elena.
Fine. They could have each other.