Five minutes past eight, Matteo still had not replied.

I called him. He answered on the seventh ring. Low organ music and hushed voices sounded in the background.

“Isa?”

“It’s eight.”

A brief silence followed.

“I know,” Matteo said. “Bianca is rehearsing in the chapel. She nearly fainted when she stood up. The priest and the family elders are here. I can’t leave yet.”

I tightened my grip on the cold coffee.

“You promised you’d come.”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then when will you be here?”

Fabric rustled on the other end before Bianca spoke softly.

“Matteo, is the comb pulling my hair?”

“Don’t move. I’ll fix it.”

His voice softened at once. A moment later, he returned to me.

“It’s the De Luca family’s heirloom wedding veil. We need to finish the full rehearsal tonight. I’ll come as soon as it’s over.”

“How long?”

“Half an hour. An hour at most.”

【Time remaining: 07:55:00.】

“Do you remember why I’m waiting?”

“You want me to confess my love again.”

“Not casually.”

“I understand.” His patience was fading. “But Bianca just woke from a coma. This is her first time entering the chapel as a De Luca bride. I can’t abandon her in front of the entire family.”

Someone announced that the rehearsal was continuing.

“Matteo,” Bianca called. “The priest is waiting.”

“Coming.”

When he spoke again, he was already ending the call.

“Isa, go home. I’ll pick you up when we’re done.”

“I’m staying.”

“It’s snowing. Don’t be stubborn.”

“Will you come?”

He paused.

“Yes.”

The call ended.

I sat beneath the clock tower and watched my screen go dark.

By nine, only campus security remained in the square. After ten, the nearby café switched off its lights.

Matteo never appeared.

At eleven, the De Luca family’s official account posted a rehearsal photo.

Bianca stood inside the private chapel in an ivory dress, an antique lace veil covering her hair. Its edge carried the family’s embroidered lily crest. Matteo stood behind her, arranging the veil across her shoulders.

Light from the stained-glass windows fell over them like a wedding portrait.

The caption read:

The family has saved a place for her.

My mother called as soon as I closed the post.

“Isabella, are you still at the university?”

“Yes.”

“Matteo isn’t coming. I told him tonight’s rehearsal matters more than repeating a confession from five years ago.”

I said nothing.

“Bianca and Matteo are getting married next week. Both families have agreed. If you keep delaying him, you’ll embarrass everyone.”

“So you can cancel his promise for him?”

Her voice hardened.

“Why must you compete with your sister? Bianca’s heart has already stopped once. Do you want to push her there again?”

“She’s marrying my fiancé.”

“Matteo is saving her.”

That sentence had become their excuse for everything. As long as they called it saving a life, I was expected to surrender whatever they took.

I ended the call.

【Time remaining: 05:00:00.】

The snow thickened, covering the bench and stone steps. When I stood, my legs were numb, and a sharp ache pulled through my abdomen.

I caught the railing beside the tower, but my vision still went black.

When I woke again, hospital lights burned above me.

A nurse adjusted my IV and handed me the test results.

“You’re eight weeks pregnant, and there are signs of a threatened miscarriage. Have you been resting at all?”

I stared at her before taking the report.

“Pregnant?”

“The baby is stable for now, but you can’t stay out in the cold or keep pushing yourself like this.”

After the nurse left, I stared at the report.

Eight weeks.

That was when Matteo still came home late, held me in bed, and talked about our future. He once said that if we had children, he would step back from family business and make it home for dinner.

I called him.

“Isa?”

Someone was discussing the chapel seating plan in the background.

“Matteo, I need to tell you something.”

“I can’t talk. There’s a problem with the wedding schedule.”

“I’m pregnant.”

Silence followed.

“Isa—”

Someone called his name from the chapel, and the line went dead.

I removed the IV and returned to the Caruso estate with the report.

My mother and Bianca sat near the fireplace, surrounded by chapel plans, seating charts, and bridal catalogs. My father was reviewing the guest list with a De Luca lawyer. Matteo stood behind Bianca while she chose the processional music.

The room fell silent when I entered.

I walked to Matteo and handed him the report.

“I’m eight weeks pregnant.”

Shock crossed his face.

Bianca’s catalog slipped from her hands.

“Isa… could the hospital be wrong?”

“They tested twice.”

My mother took the report.

“You had to get pregnant now?”

“The child didn’t appear today.”

Tears filled Bianca’s eyes.

“If she’s carrying your child, the wedding should go back to her.” She looked at Matteo. “I can’t leave a child without a father. If my task fails, let it fail.”

She pressed a hand to her chest, struggling to breathe.

Matteo caught her at once.

“Don’t say that.”

My mother rubbed Bianca’s back, then turned on me.

“She just started recovering. Why would you tell her this now?”

“Because it’s Matteo’s child.”

“How do we know you aren’t using a report to take back the wedding?”

My father checked the hospital seal.

“You’ll be examined again tomorrow at the Caruso clinic.”

“You don’t believe me either?”

“This affects two families. I need confirmation.”

I looked at Matteo.

He was still holding Bianca, but his eyes had dropped to my stomach.

“The baby is yours.”

“I believe you.”

Bianca’s fingers tightened around his arm.

Matteo looked back at me.

“I’ll take responsibility. You and the child will have my protection, and the child will carry my name.”

“But you’ll still marry her.”

“The wedding cannot be canceled.”

【Time remaining: 03:46:08.】

I gripped his sleeve.

“I don’t want money. Look at me and tell me you love me. Mean it.”

“I already did.”

“You added Bianca afterward.”

“Because she will die.”

“So will I. And so will the baby.”

I told him about the countdown and the alternative condition. One sincere declaration, without duty or conditions, would save us.

His doubt hardened.

“Now you’re copying Bianca’s task?”

“I’m telling the truth.”

“I watched her heart stop. You only told me today that you have a system and a few hours left. How am I supposed to believe that?”

I pushed the report toward him.

“Then believe the baby.”

“I’ll protect the child, but I won’t abandon someone whose heart has already stopped once because of a countdown I can’t prove.”

Bianca began to cry.

“Matteo, go with her. I can manage alone.”

She tried to stand and immediately swayed.

Matteo steadied her and turned to take her upstairs.

I still held his sleeve.

“One sentence won’t change your wedding.”

“Isa, let go.”

“Matteo, save our baby.”

He pulled his arm free. I stumbled into the marble edge of the fireplace, and pain tore through my abdomen hard enough to fold me forward.

Matteo moved toward me.

At the same moment, Bianca gasped and collapsed, her fingers catching his jacket. For one second, he stood between us.

Then he turned and caught her.

“Get Dr. Russo. Now.”

The guards rushed forward. My mother passed me without stopping, helping clear a path for Bianca while I remained bent beside the fireplace, one hand pressed over my stomach.

Matteo carried her toward the stairs without looking back.

Only after they disappeared did my mother return, grip my arm, and pull me from the room.

She never asked whether I could still stand.

Behind the closed door, she threw the report onto the table.

“If this pregnancy is real, end it tomorrow.”

My father stood by the door in silence.

“Why?”

“That child will keep Bianca afraid and could destroy the alliance. Matteo has chosen her. Keeping it will only make Matteo, Bianca, and the baby suffer.”

She had not counted me.

My father finally spoke.

“Isabella, let this go. The family will compensate you. You can have another child. Bianca cannot survive another failed task.”

“So I lose my fiancé and my baby.”

My mother’s voice softened.

“You’re losing a relationship and a child who hasn’t been born. Bianca would lose her life.”

I looked at the two people who were supposed to love me most.

“All right.”

“I understand.”

No one followed me when I left the Caruso estate.

My mother stayed behind with the medical report, while my father returned downstairs to finish reviewing the wedding guest list. Through the closed door, I could still hear the doctor examining Bianca and Matteo answering in a low, urgent voice.

The snow had already settled thickly.

I did not return to my apartment. I went back to the old clock tower at Northwestern and sat on the same bench where I had waited for Matteo only hours earlier.

The ache in my abdomen had not stopped.

【Time remaining: 02:17:46.】

During Bianca’s coma, my mother barely left the hospital, my father canceled every family meeting, and Matteo spent night after night outside the ICU.

I handled the Caruso family’s legitimate business during the day, brought them food and clothes at night, then returned alone to an empty apartment.

No one ever asked whether I was tired. They only said that if Bianca never woke, the family would fall apart.

I had wanted her to wake too. I had even defended her to Matteo, telling him she was not trying to ruin our wedding; she was afraid of dying.

Now that she had survived, they expected me to pay for it with my marriage and my child.

My phone vibrated.

Matteo had sent a message.

Bianca is stable now. I really can’t leave tonight.

Another followed minutes later.

After the wedding, we’ll talk properly. I’ll confess my love as many times as you want.

Then I understood why he had never believed me.

Bianca’s heart had already stopped once in front of him, so her fear was real. I had always remained beside him—quiet, healthy, and willing to wait.

He thought I had endless time. Once Bianca was safe, he could make it up to me with another wedding, another ring, another belated promise.

But I had no later.

【Time remaining: 01:03:21.】

I did not reply.

Snow gathered in my hair and across my shoulders. My body grew colder, while the pain in my abdomen slowly faded.

I rested a hand over the life inside me and remembered Matteo once saying he hoped our first child would look like me. He had promised to teach them to ride and never let the family decide their future.

Now he would not give them even one unconditional declaration of love.

Shortly before three in the morning, Bianca posted on Instagram.

She sat beside the fire at the De Luca estate, wrapped in a blanket bearing the family crest. Matteo sat beside her, warming her hands between his. The revised wedding guest list lay on the table.

Her caption read:

Home is where no one lets you face the cold alone.

My mother liked the post.

My father commented:

You are safe now.

Another hour passed while the snow continued to cover me.

I looked at those words and smiled.

They had finally protected the person they had chosen.

The final countdown began.

【00:00:05.】

I closed my eyes and pressed my hand over my abdomen.

I’m sorry.

I did not know whether the apology was for my child or for the woman who had trusted them.

【Three.】

【Two.】

【One.】

When the countdown reached zero, the pain disappeared.

The snow was still falling, but I was standing beside the bench now. My body sat beneath a layer of white, head lowered, both hands still protecting my stomach, as though waiting for someone who would never come.

The phone slipped from my frozen fingers and lit one last time.

Matteo had sent another message.

[Isa, stop this. Go home and wait for me.]

The screen went dark.