When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the hospital room. I tried to move, but I couldn't feel my legs.

The hollow emptiness in my abdomen told me everything I needed to know. My baby was gone.

As soon as he saw me wake up, Lorenzo rushed over, looking heartbroken. "Renee, how are you feeling? I'm sorry I was late.

"But I've already taken care of the perpetrators. They paid the price for hurting my fiancée!"

As he spoke, he placed a gift box in my hands.

Inside lay hundreds of bloodstained crests from the Quintarelli family. They were trophies ripped from the bodies of the men he had killed.

I shut the box without saying a single word. Not because I was scared but because I was sick to my stomach.

I felt sick, not from the sight of blood but from the man standing in front of me.

I reached for his phone when Lorenzo stepped out to call the doctor. Hanging from it was a heart-shaped ruby charm. It was my gift to him.

I had assumed that he'd toss it in a drawer somewhere, but he actually carried it with him.

The infamous mafia boss of the West District was parading around with a heart-shaped charm on his phone like a lovesick fool for the whole world to see.

Back then, the thought had made my heart swell. Now, it only made it ache.

I unlocked his phone. The pinned chat at the top wasn't mine but Kelly's.

I tapped on the latest voice message, and a sweet child's voice floated through the speaker. "Daddy, when are you coming to see Mommy and me? I miss you so much."

It was Mia—his daughter with Kelly.

The word "Daddy" made my hands tremble as I touched my stomach, remembering the child I had lost.

Lorenzo once told me that he didn't like children. Growing up, he had to fight dozens of other kids on the black market just for a piece of bread.

However, when it came to Mia's voice messages, he responded to every single one with patience.

So it wasn't that he didn't like children. He just didn't like me.

Even as I was being wheeled into the operating room, even as the Quintarelli family ambushed me, even as he gave the order to have my Achilles tendons severed—he was still flirting with Kelly.

Just as I was about to put the phone down, a message popped on the screen. "Mr. Gambino, your honeymoon itinerary with Ms. Valente is ready. Please confirm."

I stared at Kelly's name.

My fists clenched as I thought of the already booked chapel, the wedding gown that didn't fit, and the ring with the wrong initials.

From the very beginning, Lorenzo had never been planning our wedding. He had been planning his and Kelly's.

I scrolled through the itinerary and saw the plans involving the beach, sunset, and hot air balloons. Those were every place I once dreamed of visiting with him.

Slowly, I typed a reply from his phone.

"Perfect. Proceed as planned."

They had fought this hard to be together. Thus, I would grant their wish.

I slipped the heart-shaped charm off Lorenzo's phone and set it aside before placing the device back where it was.

Then, I simply stared out the window, letting the silence settle around me.

It wasn't long before Lorenzo strode toward me, his expression grim, carrying the unmistakable presence of the mafia.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were pregnant?" He looked straight into my eyes as he questioned me.

Those beautiful blue eyes—I had once loved them deeply. When Lorenzo looked at me in the past, I felt like I was the only one in his world.

But how long had it been since he last looked at me like this? And now, he was only doing it again to confront me with a lie.

I turned my head away, refusing to meet his gaze. My voice was flat and void of emotion. "Our child is gone."

Lorenzo pulled me into his arms, and his body trembled as if on the verge of breaking.

He was the one who took our child from me with his own hands. So why did he look like he had lost everything?

He might have been a pretty good actor if he weren't a mafia boss.

"Renee, don't be too upset. We can still—"

I didn't have the patience to sit through his act any longer, so I cut him off. "Let's adopt."

"Huh?" For a second, Lorenzo just stood there, caught off guard.

Maybe it was because I had dropped the pretense by saying outright what he had been dancing around.

"Alright. Also, the wedding invitations have already been sent out. Mr. Salerno—the underboss to the biggest mafia group on the East Coast—is flying in just for the occasion. But with your health like this, maybe…"

I knew exactly what he would say and had already thought of a way to respond.

"Find someone to take my place. We're not giving anyone the chance to mock the Gambino family."

My drastic shift in attitude took Lorenzo aback.

But since he had already gotten what he wanted, he didn't press the matter any further.

"My body feels fine right now. I want to be discharged. The weather's nice. Let's go to the orphanage to check it out. We are adopting, aren't we?"

I observed Lorenzo closely as I spoke, silently speeding up his arrangements to bring Kelly and Mia into Gambino Group.

Lorenzo didn't hesitate. He smiled, nodded, and then walked out to make a call. Not once did he realize that the charm was missing from his phone.

This hospital belonged to Gambino Group, so the discharge process was quick.

Lorenzo lifted me into a wheelchair and placed a bouquet of lilies on my lap.

"A little something to celebrate your discharge," he said.

I hated lilies the most. But at that moment, I didn't even have the strength to shove them off my lap.

Instead, I clenched my fists and stared down at my useless legs.

The drive to the orphanage didn't take long. When the guards at the entrance saw Lorenzo's car, they immediately let us through. They even nodded in recognition at the driver.

It was apparent that Lorenzo came here often and had already grown familiar with them. After all, ordinary people wouldn't have dared to greet the mafia so casually.

When Lorenzo stepped out of the car, a young girl ran into his arms.

"Daddy! Are those lilies for Mommy? Mommy loves lilies!" She kept chattering excitedly.

Lorenzo easily picked her up, and a gentle smile formed on his lips.

Lorenzo was suddenly struck by the idea that I was still in the car. He turned around hastily as he explained, "Renee, don't take this the wrong way.

"I sponsor this orphanage, and the kids here are all orphans. That's just what they call me."

I didn't say anything right away. Instead, I smiled and said, "She resembles you. I'd think she was your daughter if no one told me otherwise. What's your name?"

"Mia," Lorenzo answered on behalf of Mia as she clung to him. She was eyeing me with open hostility.

"She's the one I want to adopt."

I nodded. "She's beautiful. From now on, I'll be her mother."

The moment the words left my mouth, Lorenzo's expression stiffened. But before he could say anything, Mia suddenly burst into tears.

"I have my own mommy! I don't want you to be mine! Daddy, I want my mommy!"

Seeing that Mia was sobbing uncontrollably, Lorenzo shot me a reproachful glance. It was as if he was blaming me for making his daughter cry.

"I'll calm her down," he said before carrying Mia into the classroom without a second glance.

In the end, it was the driver who helped me out of the car and set me down in a wheelchair.

Left alone, I wandered through the orphanage until a hushed conversation from around the corner caught my attention.

"I heard that Mr. Gambino is taking his daughter back. But why would he leave her in an orphanage in the first place?"

"You don't get it. He's got everything planned out. This is the only way he can ensure that Mia can get into the Gambino family.

"Just don't let anything slip in front of Ms. Jones, or you won't even know what hit you."

"Figures. The one he truly cares about is still Ms. Valente. That Renee? She's just some woman his late mother arranged for him.

"How could she ever compare to Kelly, the principessa of the Valente family?"

Their words slammed into me, each one heavier than the last, pressing down on me until I could barely breathe.

I turned my wheelchair as I was unwilling to face them. I intended to take another route, but a familiar voice drifted from a nearby classroom before I could move.

"Is he treating you well?" Lorenzo asked.

"No. You're also the mafia. You know how these mafia men are, don't you? He tried to hit me, so I ran back here with Mia.

"But he still doesn't know about her yet. He won't dare touch us once she's with Gambino Group."

Lorenzo gazed at Kelly with his eyes filled with nothing but tenderness.

"Don't be afraid. That little mafia gang is nothing to worry about. With Gambino Group backing you, no one will dare lay a finger on you two.

"Once we're married, and I have your family's support, I might even be able to take down those arrogant idiots in the South District. I'll take Mia home first. Just hold on a little longer."

Kelly leaned into him, her face glowing with happiness.

Mia ran up to her with a bouquet of lilies. Her voice was bright as she said, "Mommy, you're so pretty! Daddy really loves you, Mommy! I'll get a camera and take a picture of you two!"

She spun around and dashed out of the room—only to crash straight into me.

Panic flickered across Lorenzo's eyes for the briefest second.

"Renee… What are you doing here? This is Kelly, a volunteer at the orphanage. We were just discussing Mia's adoption."

Unlike him, Kelly remained perfectly composed. She picked Mia up effortlessly before waving at me.

"Ms. Jones, we finally meet. I'm Kelly Valente."