A distraction. The word sliced through me. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. The man I had fallen for, the father of my child, was nothing more than a lie. Every moment we shared, every whispered promise, was a cruel joke.
I stumbled back into the house, clutching my stomach as if it would keep me grounded. The baby. My baby. What had I brought them into?
Before I could even process the betrayal, there was a sharp knock on the door. Jenny and I exchanged a panicked glance. The knock came again, harder this time.
“Alicia Costa?” a gruff voice called out.
My heart raced. Something was wrong. I hesitated, but Jenny, braver than me in that moment, opened the door.
A group of men in dark suits stood there, their expressions cold and unforgiving. The leader, a burly man with a scar running down his cheek, stepped forward. “You messed with the wrong family. You should’ve stayed out of it.”
I felt my legs turn to jelly. “I don’t understand,” I stammered. “What do you want?”
“Antonio Russo,” the man sneered. “You thought you could carry his child and get away with it? Serena doesn’t take kindly to mistresses, especially ones who think they’re important.”