Nothing But This

Luca crouched down and took her freezing hands in his. "Don't talk nonsense."

"I don't deserve you." She kept her head lowered. Tears fell onto the back of his hand. "I'm dirty. I'm pregnant with another man's child. I can't give you children. I can't give you anything—"

"Then have the baby." Luca cut her off and reached up to wipe away her tears.

"As long as it comes from your body, it's my child."

Serena shook her head. "That's not fair to you."

"Serena." Luca cupped her face and forced her to look at him.

"I only want you. I don't care about anything else."

After Mattia Romano was born, Luca truly treated the baby as his own. He would feed Mattia, change his diapers, and pace the floor at midnight to soothe the baby to sleep. He did it all more skillfully than she did.

The first time the little one called him 'Papa', Luca froze for a long moment. Then, his eyes went red.

At that moment, Serena thought that even if the whole world betrayed her, at least she still had Luca.

That was until today.

Mattia suddenly spiked a high fever at preschool. The diagnosis came back as leukemia. They needed to find a bone marrow match as soon as possible.

Serena was not a match. She called Luca three times, but it was not picked up. Frantic, she asked his Underboss, Tommaso Marino, and learned he was entertaining clients at The Monarch.

She took a cab there, praying the entire way. "Pick up the phone, Luca. Mattia's sick. Please come back."

Upon arriving, she took the elevator to the third floor. She found the private room and had just touched the door handle when she heard the voices inside.

"Luca, you're ruthless, you know that?"

The voice from inside made her freeze.

"Back in college, your business was thriving and you had the old Don backing you up. Adriano wouldn't have dared touch you, but you still sent Serena to his bed, then accused him of attacking you so that you could blackmail the old man into kicking Adriano out of the family.

"Those photos of Serena in bed… You had those leaked too, didn't you? All so she'd turn against Adriano and hate him for the rest of her life. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant."

Serena's hand froze on the door handle. She could hear her own heartbeat pounding so hard her eardrums ached.

What did he mean? Luca sent her to Adriano's bed?

She did not believe it and wanted to push the door open. She wanted to hear Luca say it was not true, but she could not move. Her entire body felt nailed in place.

"Luca, your wedding with your fiancée is next month, right? You'd better hide it well. Don't let Serena find out."

"What does it matter if she finds out?"

That voice was Luca's. Serena heard the click of a lighter, then the sound of him exhaling smoke.

"Serena knows better than anyone how filthy she was during the time Adriano kept her locked up. Without me, she has nowhere to go. But Ginevra's different..."

When he said Ginevra's name, Luca's tone suddenly softened.

"She reminds me of Serena back at the orphanage—clean and dependent on me. I put in a lot of effort to win her over. I never missed a meal with her, showed up whenever she needed me, proposed with all the grand displays she wanted, and filled the street outside her apartment with flowers and candles.

"We've been together a year, and the most intimate thing we've done is kiss. She's clean. She's the perfect person to bear the Don's bloodline.

"Serena and I have been together so many years that she's become part of my life. I can't give her up. But because she's dirty now, I can't love her the way I used to.

"When she gave birth to Adriano's child, I had the doctor remove her uterus as revenge. But as compensation, I'll let Serena stay by my side as a mistress for the rest of her life. It's not a bad arrangement!"

Serena's nails dug into the gap around the door handle until they broke, but she could not feel the pain. Had her uterus removed? Stay by his side as a mistress?

She remembered that after giving birth, Luca had held her hand and said, "Serena, the doctor said your body was too weak. They did a repair surgery while they were at it. We won't have any more children, but having Mattia is enough."

She had believed him. She had believed everything. From the very beginning, she had been living inside a lie Luca wove with his own hands.

Serena stumbled away from the door. She did not know how she made it down the stairs.

On the last step down, she missed her footing and fell. Her knee slammed into the edge of the step. Pain shot through her and she gasped, but she did not dare stop.

She scrambled up and limped toward the exit, breaking into a run. She kept running until she left that street and ducked into a narrow alley. Only then did all her strength drain away and she slid down against the wall.

She covered her mouth, not daring to make a sound, but tears fell onto the back of her hand and onto the ground.

She thought about those days locked away. She thought about all the things Adriano had used on her. She thought about the photograph she had clutched every time she could not bear it anymore.

She had thought that photograph was her light, but Luca was the very one who had shoved her into the abyss.

Serena looked up at the sky. The world was so vast, and she had plenty of places to go besides staying at Luca's side. Since their pure love had turned rotten, there was no need for her to stay.