Chapter1

Three years ago, I took a bullet for the mafia boss, Marco DeLuca.

The injury severely damaged my body, but it also made him determined to marry me.

For three years, I endured the absolute torture of IVF, practically chained to the fertility clinic by my in-laws who aggressively demanded an heir.

Yet, their obsession with my fertility masked a sick paradox.

I got pregnant twice. I even picked out names.

But I never got to see them born—all because of a talking myna bird kept in the Cliffside Estate.

Its name was Dante.

The first two times I got pregnant, Dante stared fiercely at my belly and squawked, "End it! End it!"

I thought it was just a joke.

But to my father-in-law, Vincenzo, and mother-in-law, Carmela, the bird's words triggered some brutal family protocol.

They immediately locked down the estate and dragged me to the medical wing to abort my babies.

I used to wonder why Marco didn't stop them.

He was the Boss, the ruthless head of the syndicate.

But while Marco ruled the streets with an iron fist, Vincenzo still controlled the family’s legacy trust and the Old Guard enforcers inside the estate.

Whenever I got pregnant, a sudden, violent "crisis" would conveniently erupt at the docks, or a fake federal raid would require the Boss's immediate presence.

Marco would be sent away to handle the bloodbath. He was completely sealed off by his parents' ironclad manipulation over our lives.

By the time he returned, I was always forced to swallow my trauma and pretend I had miscarried naturally.

Then came my third pregnancy. This time, I knew better than to trust anyone.

I masked my symptoms, sneaked out of the estate, and secretly visited an independent hospital.

The ultrasound report didn't just show that my babies were absolutely healthy—it showed I was having twins.

I guarded my babies with my own life, planning to escape the city before my in-laws ever found out.

But I vastly underestimated the DeLuca family's surveillance.

Right as I walked out of the clinic, Vincenzo’s security team ambushed me.

They forced me into a black SUV, and dragged me straight back to the Cliffside Estate as a prisoner.

The moment I was forcefully shoved into the hall,

Dante fluttered its wings and started screaming. "End it! End it!"

I scrambled to my feet, desperately pulling the crumpled ultrasound report from my pocket.

"You can't do this!" I screamed, waving the paper at them.

"They are your grandkids ! Please ."

To my absolute horror, my in-laws showed no surprise or joy at all. They just stared at me .

"You cannot keep these babies. You must go end it right now," Carmela urged impatiently, not even bothering to glance at the medical proof.

Why inject me with hormones for years, only to butcher my children the moment I conceived?

It was as if they weren't waiting for a baby, but a very specific, twisted criteria that my babies somehow failed to meet.

"The medical van is waiting outside. You are coming with us right now," Vincenzo added.

He signaled the security guards and grabbed my armsto go out .

Meanwhile, Dante kept shrieking . "End it! End it!"

I kicked wildly and screamed in protest.

"No! I don't agree! I've been through hell over these three years just to get pregnant!

Why are you forcing me to kill my own children?!"

I desperately wanted an answer.

Vincenzo stepped right up to me and scolding me harshly. "You are the daughter-in-law of this family! Cut the nonsense !"

My strength was no match for them .

I was pulled out of the hall and dragged to the front gate of the courtyard.

Seeing the open doors of the medical van waiting in the shadows, I completely let go of my dignity. I dropped flat on the cold ground to beg.

"Dad! Mom! I'm begging you, the kids are innocent!" I sobbed, tears blurring my vision. "Will you at least show the reports to Marco? Don't listen to a bird! Please, let me keep my babies!"

But my parents-in-law remained totally unmoved.

"Who told you it's just a bird?" she stated flatly, adjusting her silk shawl. "Your pregnancy didn't meet the family's requirements. So today, these babies must disappear ."

Thinking of my babies' doomed fate, I felt nothing but crushing despair.

I thought I had no choice but to accept my gruesome end and be shoved into the medical van.

But right then, a familiar car pulled up to the estate gates. The doors opened, and the people who stepped out were my mom and dad.

At that exact moment, a wave of relief washed over me. I truly believed that my babies and I were finally going to be saved.