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The sonogram on Luca‘ s desk was the first thing I noticed when I came home to an empty house, with the note scribbled in Casey’s handwriting: “For our future.”
I didn’t need to read it twice to feel my stomach churn. It was like a punch to the gut. As I picked up the image, my hand trembled while I stared at the blur that Casey had labeled ‘our child.”
I was away for three days dealing with Syndicate matters–endless meetings, hard negotiations, and keeping things together. But this? This was what I came home to? I had bled for this family–his family. I thought that was enough.
The staff avoided my eyes like they knew. Everyone knew but me. They were all in on the lie and I was the last to find out, as always.
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I didn’t ask the butler, but Davenport confirmed it anyway when I cornered him.
“The Don and Miss Casey are spending the evening at the cabin, ma‘ am,” he had muttered, avoiding my gaze as though looking at me would burn him alive.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter as the anger quickly crawled under my skin like. poison, making my fingers itch at the gun on the passenger seat, gleaming under the flickering streetlights like an invitation to end this madness right now.
But I didn’t. Not yet. Not now.
I blinked back the tears that began to burn my eyes as I slammed the brakes when I reached the cabin and stepped out. All I could feel was the pain in my chest–the betrayal, like a fresh wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding.
I didn’t knock. I didn’t care. I kicked the door open and barged in.
Casey was the first thing I saw, sitting
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comfortably on the couch in a robe that used to belong to me. Her legs were curled up, her smug face frozen in shock as she turned to face me, only to be greeted by my gun aimed squarely at her head.
“Don’t move,” I snarled, stepping further into the room. I didn’t know if I could hold it together much longer. I wanted to scream, to thrash the place, to kill…
But Luca s voice rang out, “Amara!” He stood at the bar, holding a glass of wine, also clad in a robe and god knows what they had been doing hours before I arrived. Unbidden, the image of them tangled
together flashed in my head and a tear rolled down my cheek which I quickly wiped as my finger hovered at the trigger.
Luca didn’t seem surprised, rather, looked irritated at my presence as if I disturbed a damn honeymoon.
“What is this, Luca?” My voice cracked, the words coming out like a sob. I didn’t
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care. I couldn’t care. “You hide away here with her, playing house, while I-” I paused, holding back a sob, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“Amara, put the gun down,” he warned, taking a slow step forward. “You‘ re upset, but this isn‘ t how we handle things.”
“Don’t you dare tell me how to handle this!” I hissed, “Was this your plan all along? To humiliate me? To replace me?”
“Luca,” Casey trembled. I could see the fear in her eyes, but I wasn‘ t backing down. I wasn’t going to let her play the
victim here.
She moved then, trying to rush toward
Luca.
“Move one more inch, Casey,” I warned, my grip tightening on the gun. “I’ll give you exactly what you deserve.”
Her eyes went wide, panic flooding her face, and I didn’t hesitate when she
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didn’t listen and took a step.
I squeezed the trigger, the loud bang of the gun echoing through the room. The bullet missed her by inches, but it shattered the vase sitting on the table behind her with a deafening crash.
Casey screamed, her hands flying up in front of her face in a desperate attempt to protect herself, but the damage was done.
“Amara!” Luca shouted, and when I turned to him, he already had a gun aimed
at me.
I froze, not from fear of death, but in disbelief that the husband I had devoted my life to had his gun pointed at me, willing to kill me for his mistress.
“Put it down, now,” he ordered, like I was one of his men that he could order around. But no, I was his wife, the Donna of the Obsidian Syndicate, and yet, the barrel was staring back at me, waiting for a bullet to discharge.
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I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. All I could see was the gun in my hand, trembling, slipping in my grip. I couldn’t let it go.
My lips quivered as I spoke, “What happened to us, Luca?” I knew I sounded pleading and pathetic, but hell I care.
“How could you do this to me?” I whispered in disbelief. How did we come to this? We were doing fine, building an empire we had dreamed of, what happened?
“Don’t make me do this, Amara,” he threatened. “You shoot Casey, you kill my
child in her womb, and I will bury you without a second thought.”
The air in my lungs disappeared, I gritted my teeth and my hands shook, but I kept the gun trained on Casey.
- me.
It wasn’t the threat of death that crushed
It wasn’t the gun or the fear. It was the fact that he would choose her, that he was willing to kill me, just for her.
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Everyday, I gambled with death, facing criminals, and dodging bullets–this was my life, and I was prepared to take my chances. I feared nothing.
But this… the cheating, the betrayal, it pierced harder than a bullet in the flesh, it burned hotter than hell itself.
Tears streamed down my face as I stared at the man I had loved, the man who had once sworn loyalty to me. “So, you‘ re choosing her over me?”
His silence was my answer.
The gun slipped from my hand, landing with a dull thud on the floor, and it felt like the world had gone quiet all at once, and I stood there, broken, and hopeless.
Luca didn’t move. He didn’t rush to me, didn‘ t lower his weapon until I took a step back.
Casey exhaled shakily before she rushed to Luca’s side as he wrapped his arm around her, protectively.
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I looked down as I left the cabin, hiding the pain and humiliation. Luca followed me out, not to console, but to slap me in the face with his insults.
“You need to understand Amara, that this is an heir for the family–an heir that you‘ re incapable of producing.” he spat, coldly and indifferent.
And before I could even beg for an
explanation or an apology, he slammed the door shut, leaving me shattered in the chilly night.
