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“Yup. And she was the spitting image of you. Perfect in every way.” He leans down and kisses me, which makes Antonio squeal and bounce in his father’s arms.

“All right, all right—enough from you, little one.”

Matteo pulls away and starts tossing our son into the air, making him laugh. They run around on the beach, and I sit on the sand, watching my tiny, perfect family.

I glance down at my still-flat belly and place my palm over my womb. “You are so loved already, baby girl. I can’t wait to meet you.”

Who would have imagined that marrying a mafia boss would lead me to the very life my soul had always craved? Life has a curious way of coming full circle—guiding us to where we were always meant to be. And just when you least expect it, it gives you exactly what you never knew you were searching for.

As the sun continues to rise, casting its warm glow across the shore, I wrap my arms around myself, still holding onto the bliss of this morning. A new life growing inside me, laughter ringing out from my boys on the sand, peace woven into every breathI take. For the first time in a long while, I feel like maybe—just maybe—we’ve outrun the shadows.

But peace, in our world, is always fleeting.

A sound breaks the quiet—the hurried crunch of footsteps on the gravel path leading from the house.

I turn around just as Valerio appears, breathless, his face pale with something that doesn’t belong here—urgency.

His eyes land on Matteo.

“Val?” Matteo says, suddenly alert. He sets Antonio down gently in the sand and strides over to meet him. My heart drops.

Valerio grabs Matteo’s arm and pulls him aside. His voice is low, but the wind carries enough of it to reach me.

“Someone’s found a woman—alive—locked inside a room in one of Giacomo’s old properties.”

He pauses, eyes flicking toward me for the briefest moment.

“She claims her name is Beatrice Davacalli.”

The world stills.

Matteo turns, slowly, his eyes locking with mine.

And just like that, the past—one we thought buried—begins to stir again.

Hope is no longer the only thing rising with the sun.

Something else is coming. Something we never expected.

Something that could change everything.

Forever.

THE END