Three days before the blood union that was meant to bind the Colombo Family to the Falcone throne, I was struck by a speeding car. My spine shattered against the cold asphalt.

Lorenzo Falcone, the man I was supposed to marry, personally made sure the driver disappeared into a prison cell where no one could ever reach him.

But none of that mattered anymore.

Lying in the Family's private clinic, I wished I would never wake up. Anything was better than facing a future where I would never walk again.

Somewhere between the haze of pain and the pull of unconsciousness, I heard Lorenzo's voice outside my room.

Dr. Bruno spoke first, his tone heavy.

"We still have time to operate. But if we delay another few days, Serafina will be permanently crippled. If you truly want Ambra by your side, so be it. But why destroy Serafina's life?"

A long silence followed before Lorenzo let out a weary sigh.

"As long as Serafina recovers, she'll never agree to the arrangement."

His voice was calm, almost indifferent.

"But if she spends the rest of her life in a wheelchair, she'll have no choice except to stay with me."

"I promised Ambra I'd bring her into the Falcone Family."

"When the child is born, Serafina will raise it as her own. At least that way, our baby will never be mistreated."

My breath caught in my throat.

A single tear slid silently down my cheek.

So this was the truth.

The blood union I had spent years longing for had always been a lie.

The man I had loved with all my heart had never intended to make me his wife.

To him, I was nothing more than a convenient cage for another woman's child.

Fine.

If this was the future he had chosen for me...

Then I would make sure he got exactly what he wanted.

……

"Just follow the plan," Lorenzo said quietly. "Make sure the damage is permanent. She can never suspect a thing."

Dr. Bruno removed his glasses and rubbed them with a trembling hand, deliberately drawing out the silence.

"Are you absolutely certain?" he asked at last. "Serafina has already lost the use of one side of her body. If you take away her chance of ever bearing children as well... what will she have left? How is she supposed to survive in this Family after that?"

His voice dropped even lower.

"And what about the child you have with Ambra? She's already three. Anyone with eyes can see she's your daughter. If Serafina ever learns the truth, everything you've built will collapse."

Lorenzo didn't answer immediately.

He dipped a cloth into warm water and carefully wiped my dry lips, his movements impossibly gentle, as though tending to someone precious.

The tenderness made me sick.

Finally, he spoke.

"She'll never know."

His thumb slowly traced the engraved crest on his signet ring.

"As long as she can't walk, she'll spend the rest of her life inside the Falcone estate. She'll never leave those gates, and she'll never have the chance to uncover the truth."

He let out a quiet breath.

"I promised Ambra the wedding she deserves. I promised I'd watch our children grow up beside her."

"Even if she's another man's wife now, I'll make sure she never lacks for anything."

Dr. Bruno looked at me for a long moment before lowering his eyes.

"Serafina has loved you since she was a girl," he said softly. "You grew up together. She would have given you everything."

He shook his head.

"But this isn't my decision to make."

"If you've already chosen your path... I won't try to stop you."

Lorenzo's expression remained cold.

"Just make sure it's done properly."

"No visible scars. No complications."

"Operate while she's still unconscious."

"I don't want her suffering any more than necessary."

After a long hesitation, Dr. Bruno finally nodded and walked out.

The room fell silent.

Lorenzo pulled out his phone and sent a voice message to one of his soldiers.

"Did the driver disappear?"

A brief pause.

"Good."

"Make sure he sticks to the story."

"Give his family five hundred thousand and move them beyond our territory."

"Serafina can never learn this was ordered."

Another tear escaped the corner of my eye, soaking silently into the pillow beneath me.

Completely unaware that I could hear every word, Lorenzo continued bathing me with warm water.

His hands were steady.

Careful.

Almost impossibly gentle.

Yet no matter how warm the water felt against my skin, an icy chill spread through my bones.

The blood union I had waited five years for had never belonged to me.

It had always belonged to Ambra.

And the collision that shattered my body...

Had never been an accident.

Lorenzo had ordered it himself.

I was nothing more than an obstacle standing between him and the woman he truly loved.

Every promise.

Every embrace.

Every dream of a future together.

Every single one had been a lie.

I fought to open my eyes.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to tear away every mask he wore.

But before I could move, a cold sting spread through my veins.

The anesthesia.

The ceiling lights drifted farther and farther away as the nurses wheeled me toward the operating room.

Lorenzo walked beside the gurney.

Just before the doors closed, he leaned down and pressed a featherlight kiss to my forehead.

"Rest now, Serafina."

His voice was as gentle as it had always been.

"When you wake up..."

"It'll all be over."

The surgical lights blazed overhead.

Cold steel sliced into my body.

I barely felt the pain.

My heart had already been carved to pieces.

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the Family's private ward, hidden on an isolated floor where no names appeared on doors and no records existed on paper.

The numbness remained.

I still couldn't feel anything below my waist.

Lorenzo sat beside my bed, his face drawn with exhaustion. The moment he saw my eyes flutter open, relief flooded his expression.

He immediately took my hand and pressed it against his cheek.

"Serafina... you're awake."

His voice was soft, almost trembling.

"How do you feel? Does anything hurt? I'll call Dr. Bruno right away."

His touch was as gentle as it had always been.

Only now did I realize how empty his eyes truly were.

It was almost admirable.

A man raised for the Falcone throne learned to lie long before he learned to pull a trigger.

And Lorenzo had mastered both.

I smiled faintly and reached up to brush my fingertips over the stubble along his jaw.

"You haven't slept, have you?"

"I'm alright."

"You should get some rest."

He studied me for a moment before letting out a weary breath.

Finally, he nodded.

Within minutes, exhaustion pulled him into a deep sleep.

My gaze drifted to the phone resting on the bedside table.

Almost instinctively, I reached for it.

The wallpaper was still the photograph we had taken before the blood union, the one prepared for the alliance announcement.

Looking at it now felt almost laughable.

His messages were still open.

At the very top sat Ambra's name.

I tapped the conversation.

There were only a handful of messages.

Each one felt like another knife sinking deeper into my chest.

> Gia called for her daddy again today. She already knows how handsome you are. She's going to break a lot of hearts someday.

> She finished every bite of the cake you sent.

> She's been begging to go to the amusement park with you. I tried talking her out of it, but she wouldn't listen. Come if you have time.

Lorenzo had barely replied with words.

Instead, beneath every photo was a two-hour video call.

I remembered how many times he'd told me he didn't like children.

Now I finally understood.

It wasn't children he disliked.

It was the idea of having one with me.

I opened his photo gallery.

A hidden album.

The password was Gia's birthday.

More than five thousand photographs.

Three years.

Every birthday.

Every holiday.

Every family dinner.

Every ordinary moment that should have belonged to us...

He had spent beside Ambra instead.

I wasn't in a single one.

The next conversation was with the woman organizing the blood union.

From the very beginning, the bride's name had been Ambra.

The wedding gown had been tailored to her measurements.

The invitations sent to every major Family bore their names.

I had never been meant to stand beside Lorenzo at that altar.

Not even once.

A quiet laugh escaped my lips.

There was nothing left worth reading.

I closed the phone and messaged Delia instead.

Find me a hospital overseas.

Somewhere far away.

Somewhere quiet.

Somewhere beyond the reach of the Five Families.

Then erase my name from every Colombo ledger still tied to Falcone territory.

She didn't ask why.

She simply assumed I had finally seen Lorenzo for the man he truly was.

Her replies came almost instantly.

Every message carried unmistakable relief.

She sounded happier than she had in years.

As if she had been waiting for this day even longer than I had.

I put my phone aside and slowly drifted back to sleep.

When I woke again, Lorenzo was crying.

His shoulders trembled as he clutched a medical report in both hands.

"Serafina..."

His voice cracked.

"Dr. Bruno discovered something during your examination."

He swallowed hard, absentmindedly turning the Falcone signet ring around his thumb again and again.

"You..."

"You were born without a uterus."

"You'll never be able to have children."

I simply looked at him.

Without speaking.

Without blinking.

"It's alright," he rushed to say.

"I don't care."

"You're still going to be my wife."

"Nothing about that will ever change."

"When you're discharged, we'll bring a child into our Family."

"A child will help you heal."

"I promise."

"Everything will be alright."

The diagnosis belonged to me.

Yet he looked like the one whose world had fallen apart.

It was a flawless performance.

Almost.

Only the restless movement of his thumb against the signet ring betrayed him.

A habit he could never quite control whenever he lied.

I said nothing.

I simply watched him continue grieving over a future he himself had stolen from me.

Outside the ward, an enforcer shifted his weight in the hallway.

The sound echoed through the silence before disappearing again.

After what felt like forever, Lorenzo wiped away his tears.

He nodded once, as though he had finally reached some noble decision.

Then he wrapped his arms around me.

"I swear on the Family..."

His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'll protect you for the rest of my life."

"No matter what anyone says..."

"I'll never leave your side."

"And after we're bound..."

"I'll transfer every piece of territory..."

"Every dollar of cash flow..."

"Everything I own..."

"It'll all belong to you."

"I just want you to be safe."

His arms held me tightly.

His heartbeat echoed against my chest.

But ours never found the same rhythm.

Not anymore.

Lorenzo was silent for a long moment before finally speaking.

"The blood union has already been arranged. Since you're still recovering, we may have to..."

"Find someone to stand in for me so the Falcone Family doesn't lose face."

I finished the sentence for him.

For a brief second, surprise flickered across his face.

Rather than waiting for him to humiliate me, I chose to spare myself what little dignity I still had.

In our world, a bride who couldn't stand at the altar became a liability.

And liabilities were always dealt with quietly.

Lorenzo searched my face for a moment before giving a slow nod.

He had already gotten everything he wanted.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

His eyes drifted toward the screen.

"Serafina," he asked, frowning slightly, "what records did you cancel?"

I deleted the notification before he could read it.

"Nothing important," I replied evenly.

"Just an old document that had expired."

"I had it updated."

He accepted the explanation without another question.

Instead, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, his voice gentle with practiced concern.

"You're still recovering."

"If there's anything you need, tell me."

"I'll take care of it myself."

I looked up at him and smiled.

"Lorenzo... I want to leave the hospital."

His expression tightened immediately.

"No."

"You aren't well enough."

"I can't allow that."

I caught his sleeve and gave it a light tug, swaying his arm the way I never had before.

"You said we should bring a child into the Family."

"There are plenty of people at the estate to look after me."

"I just want to visit the children's home and have a look around."

"Please?"

In five years together...

It was the first time I had ever acted spoiled in front of him.

Lorenzo hesitated.

Then, slowly, he gave in.

On the drive, as the Falcone estate disappeared behind us, he reached into the back seat and handed me a beautifully wrapped box of pastries.

"I picked these up especially for you."

Only after taking the box did I notice the cheerful cartoon packaging.

It was designed for small children.

I quietly closed the lid and set it aside.

"My stomach doesn't feel very good."

I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes.

The lie had lasted five years.

It was finally time to end it.

I slowly turned my mother's old ring around my finger twice and let every trace of emotion disappear from my face.

The moment we entered the children's home, an enforcer quietly closed the door behind us.

I settled into my wheelchair.

A little girl suddenly ran toward us with a bright smile and threw herself around Lorenzo's legs.

"Daddy!"

she called happily.

Lorenzo froze.

For the briefest instant, panic flashed across his face.

Almost immediately, he forced himself to smile.

His thumb unconsciously rolled the face of his signet ring.

"Don't misunderstand," he explained quickly.

"The Family sponsors this place."

"I've visited a few times."

"She's just an orphan who started calling me that."

I smiled softly and reached out to stroke the little girl's cheek.

"She looks so much like you."

"If you hadn't explained it..."

"I would've thought she was your daughter."

"What's her name?"

"Gia."

The answer came too quickly.

Then he hurried to add,

"She's the child we're planning to bring into our bloodline."

Before he could say anything else, Gia suddenly burst into tears.

"Mommy..."

"I want Mommy..."

The color drained from Lorenzo's face.

He glanced at me nervously.

I simply smiled.

"It's alright."

"Go comfort her."

"She's adorable."

"She even resembles her mother."

Relief washed over his face.

Without another word, he scooped Gia into his arms and hurried toward the offices at the back.

The moment he disappeared from sight, I quietly wheeled myself in the opposite direction, pretending to look for the restroom.

Just as I rounded the corner, voices drifted through a half-open door.

"Why would the Falcone heir make his own daughter pretend to be an orphan?"

one woman whispered.

"Look at the clothes she's wearing."

"They're worth more than I make all year."

"Who would actually believe she's fatherless?"

"You don't understand," another woman replied.

"He arranged everything."

"It's the easiest way to bring the child into the Falcone bloodline without anyone asking questions."

"Just don't let the Colombo girl hear any of this."

"You know what happens to people who talk too much."

Another woman sighed.

"So his heart still belongs to that Ricci woman after all."

"They were together long before the alliance between the Families was ever discussed."

"I always suspected there was something between them."

"I guess I wasn't wrong."

"A man and a woman hidden under the same roof for years..."

"Who knows what they've really been doing?"

Their laughter echoed through the hallway.

Each sound landed on my chest like another stone.

Breathing suddenly became difficult.

I gripped the wheels of my chair and silently rolled closer to the half-open door.

Then I heard the voice I knew better than my own.

"Did she agree?"

It was Ambra.

Lorenzo answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Yeah."

"She's away overseas most of the time."

"There are plenty of things she can't keep track of."

"This couldn't have worked out better."

"She'll never find out about Gia."

"And she's already agreed to bring our daughter into the Falcone bloodline herself."