Page 76 of Tormented Oath

The realization hits hard. He's not just making a trade. He's dismantling everything he's built to protect our baby's future. To keep us safe.

To give us what we need, even if it costs him everything.

"Dammit, Stefano," I whisper, crumpling the paper in my fist. Because this is exactly what I was trying to prevent by running. This sacrifice. This destruction of everything he's worked for.

I press my hands flat against the desk to stop their shaking. Options. I need options.

The Fioris want power. Territory. Control.

Stefano wants me safe. The baby safe. Tony alive.

I want...

What do I want?

Freedom seems like such a simple answer now. Such a childish dream compared to the reality we're facing.

Because the truth is, I want more than that. I want Tony safe. I want the club girls protected. I want my child to have a future that isn't built on their father's ruined empire.

I want Stefano to stop looking at me like I broke something precious between us.

Any moment now, Stefano will make that trade to save my brother. To protect me, even though I've given him every reason not to.

And I'm sitting here, using all my training to what? Write lists? Feel sorry for myself?

My father would be ashamed. My mother would be laughing.

Because they taught me better than this. Taught me that when the game changes, you adapt. When the rules don't work, you make new ones.

When everything's falling apart, you find a way to put it back together.

Even if it means sacrificing pieces of yourself in the process.

Through the walls, I hear muted activity, guards changing shifts, phones buzzing, the machinery of Stefano's organization preparing for the exchange.

I force myself to really look at what Stefano's offering to sacrifice. The club is just the beginning.

For my safety.

For our child.

My hands shake as I pour a glass of water, trying to steady myself. This isn't the Stefano I thought I knew, the ruthless boss, the man they call Monster. This is someone else.

This is the boy who promised to follow me to the ends of the earth.

The man who said he loved me just yesterday.

This is a father willing to burn his empire to protect his child.

"Oh God," I whisper, the glass slipping from my fingers to shatter on the floor. Because I've been so wrong. So blind.

I wasn't the only one trying to protect people. Wasn't the only one making impossible choices.

While I was running, he was planning to sacrifice everything to keep us safe. While I was lying, he was preparing to give up his life's work for a child he just found out about.

While I was breaking his heart, he was finding ways to save us all.

Even if it meant destroying himself in the process.

---