Seraphina POV:

From the adjoining room, where Alessandro had taken Aria to "recover," I heard her voice, a saccharine whisper meant only for him, but loud enough for me to hear.

"They're our children, Alex. Ours." She was sealing the lie, wrapping him tighter in her web.

I felt nothing. Just a profound, chilling emptiness.

A moment later, one of Donato's men appeared at my side. "The Don requests your presence in his study."

The study was a room of shadows and leather, smelling of old books and power. Donato sat behind a massive oak desk, the dying lion in his lair. He didn't waste time with pleasantries.

He slid a sheaf of papers across the polished wood. "He already signed them," the Don said, his voice a low gravel.

I looked at the documents. They were separation papers.

"I told him it was a dockworker's agreement for the new shipping routes," Donato explained, his eyes cold and pragmatic. "He was distracted. The news of twins..." He let the sentence hang in the air, a damning indictment of his son's foolishness.

"The family will provide a generous settlement," he continued. "A new identity. A new life. The price is your silence. Your complete and total disappearance."

It wasn't an offer. It was a transaction.

I picked up the pen. For the last time, I wrote the name that had been my cage: Seraphina De Luca. "You have my word," I said, my voice steady. "She will cease to exist."

Just as I finished, the door opened and Alessandro strode in, his face smug and triumphant. He had put his mistress to bed and was now ready to deal with business.

"Is everything handled, Father?" he asked, glancing at the papers without a flicker of interest. He assumed it was just another piece of the empire being managed.

Donato pushed the final signature page toward him. "Just your signature here, son."

Without reading a single word, blinded by lust and ambition, Alessandro signed the document that dissolved his marriage. He signed away his queen.

I looked at him, at this man I had served, this man so easily fooled, and felt a wave of contempt so pure it was almost cleansing.

"I have a headache," I said, rising from my chair. "I think I'll go home."

"I'll come with you," he said automatically, the dutiful husband.

But from the doorway, Aria's voice called out, weak and needy. "Alex? I don't feel well."

He hesitated for only a second.

"I'll be right there," he called to her, then turned to me. "I'll be home later."

I walked out of the De Luca estate and didn't look back. A feeling of absolute, chilling freedom washed over me.

Alessandro POV:

I walked into the penthouse on a wave of pure ecstasy. Twins. Two sons to carry the De Luca name. I had won.

I tossed the bags from the high-end baby boutique onto the sofa. "Sera," I called out, pulling out a pair of tiny, impossibly soft cashmere baby shoes. "You'll need to get used to a new way of life."

I expected a fight. Tears. Accusations. Instead, she was calm. Too calm.

"Where will she live, Alessandro?" she asked, her voice flat.

"I'll send her to a villa in Europe after the birth," I lied easily. "She'll be taken care of." The truth was, I had no intention of letting Aria go. The Como villa was already being prepared for her. For us.

But Seraphina just nodded, her eyes giving nothing away. I felt a flicker of unease, but the euphoria of the twins quickly pushed it aside.

I went to take a shower, washing away the scent of the party, the scent of Aria's cloying perfume. When I came out, I saw my tablet lit up on the kitchen counter. An encrypted email from Capo Giovanni.

I picked it up. It was locked. I typed in the password without thinking. My own birthday. Pathetic. Obvious.

The email opened. It was a private investigator's report.

My blood ran cold.

I scrolled through the pages, my hand shaking. Aria Diaz is not pregnant. The ultrasounds were forgeries, purchased from a disgraced doctor. The blood tests were faked. She was in debt, deep in with loan sharks. Her brother, Rico, was her co-conspirator. It was all a con. A desperate, pathetic con.

The phone almost slipped from my grasp. I had thrown away Seraphina for this. For a lie.

But the report wasn't finished. The investigator had also uncovered my communications about the Como villa. My plan to fake a "miscarriage" of the surrogate pregnancy to Seraphina, to install Aria as my permanent mistress. To betray them both.

I felt sick. The last vestige of any connection I felt to the man I was, the man who could do that, evaporated. I was a fool. A monster.

Seraphina emerged from the bedroom, her face a serene mask. "Will you cook for me, Alessandro?" she asked quietly. "A steak. Like you used to."

Relief washed over me. She was accepting it. She was coming around. This was her way of moving forward. "Of course," I said, my voice hoarse.

As I was pulling the steak from the fridge, my phone buzzed. A text from Aria. Urgent. I need you. Now.

"I have to go," I said, dropping the steak on the counter. "I'll be right back."

I rushed out of the apartment.

I never saw her again.

If I had stayed, if I had just turned around, I would have seen her scrape the raw, bloody steak off the counter and into the garbage disposal. I would have heard the angry growl of the blades chewing through the meat, the only goodbye she would ever give me. I would have seen her grab the one small suitcase she had packed and walk out of my life forever.

But I didn't. I chose the lie, one last time.