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My hands were shaking so badly I nearly dropped the pregnancy test onto the bathroom floor, because those two pink lines didn’t just mean I was pregnant. They meant I was carrying the child of Alessandro Vitali, the most feared mafia heir in Chicago, and if he discovered the truth, I had no idea whether he would protect me or destroy me. / Chapter 5 / 6

Chapter 5 - The Siege

“Get in the back bedroom, Em. Now!” Liam hissed, scrambling to his feet and pulling me up with him.

“No, Liam, they’ll—!”

“Go!” he shoved me gently toward the hallway, turning to face the front door as another deafening crash echoed through the apartment, splintering the wooden frame.

Before I could reach the bedroom, the front door was kicked off its hinges with a sickening crunch. Three towering men in black tactical gear poured into our tiny living room, their faces expressionless, their heavy boots trampling over the cheap welcome mat. But standing right behind them, stepping through the ruined doorway with quiet, terrifying elegance, was Alessandro Vitali himself.

He wore a dark wool overcoat, his collar turned up against the cold, his amber eyes scanning the shabby apartment with cold disdain before locking instantly onto me.

“Elizabeth,” Alessandro said, his deep voice cutting through the silence like a razor blade.

The use of my real name—not Emma, but Elizabeth—sent a shockwave straight to my heart. He had known who I was the entire time. All those hours talking in Room 1520, all those intimate confessions, and he had already unmasked my lies.

Liam stepped in front of me defensively, raising his hands. “Get out of our apartment! You have no right—!”

In a fraction of a second, before Liam could finish his sentence, one of the operatives moved with terrifying speed, grabbing Liam by the collar and shoving him against the kitchen wall with a heavy thud, a cold pistol pressing against his temple.

“Liam!” I screamed, moving forward to help him, but two strong hands caught my arms, holding me firmly in place.

I looked up into Alessandro’s face. He was standing right in front of me now, towering over my frame, his amber eyes dark with an unreadable storm of emotions. He reached out, his thumb gently tracing my cheekbone with a terrifying tenderness that contrasted sharply with the violence happening inches away.

“Did you really think you could run from me, chiquita?” Alessandro murmured, his voice dangerously soft. “You used a fake name, you slipped out before dawn, and you thought you could vanish into the slums of Chicago as if you never mattered to me.”

“I didn't want anything from you!” I choked out, tears spilling down my cheeks as I glared at him with every ounce of defiance I had left. “Just let Liam go! He has nothing to do with this!”

Alessandro slowly lowered his hand, turning his gaze toward Liam, who was glaring back with pure hatred. Then, Alessandro’s eyes dropped down, drifting deliberately from my face to my stomach, where my hands were instinctively pressed protectively over my womb.

A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room. The air grew so cold I could see our breath in the dim light.

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After four daughters, my husband finally got the son he had begged for, only to sl:ap me the moment he saw the baby’s blue eyes. “He’s not mine! You cheated!” he shouted. I pulled my newborn tightly against me and looked toward the doorway, where my three-star general father stood in complete silence. My husband sneered, “And who exactly are you supposed to be?” Dad calmly reached for an encrypted phone, while my husband had absolutely no idea what that call was about to unleash...

After four daughters, my husband finally got the son he had begged for,...

After the accident, the doctor said I needed urgent surgery, but my husband held another woman’s hand and muttered, “she’s always been fragile.”

After the accident, the doctor said I needed urgent surgery, but my husb...

When my husband grabbed my hair and broke my leg, I gave my 4-year-old daughter the secret signal. She ran to the phone and called the one number he didn't know about: ""Grandpa, Mom looks like she's going to die!""

When my husband grabbed my hair and broke my leg, I gave my 4-year-old d...

“Is it true, then?” Alessandro asked, his voice dropping to a harsh, trembling whisper as he looked back up at me. “My man at the medical clinic tipped me off three days ago when you picked up your lab results. You carry my child, Elizabeth?”

The truth hung in the balance, raw and undeniable. I couldn't lie anymore. The walls were closing in, and there was nowhere left to hide.

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