She Carried His Child, So I Fled with His Twins Chapter 08

She Carried His Child, So I Fled with His Twins Chapter 08

This place may be filled with the sound of cannons, but here, I have my dignity and a freedom no one can

take from me.

I have put down roots in this wasteland. I have found the highest calling of a surgeon here.

As for that so-called Lupo estate, to me, it’s just a gilded tomb I will never set foot in again.

Seeing the resolution in my eyes, Luca panicked completely.

He shot to his feet, gripping the fence so tightly that the sharp barbs tore into his palms, drawing blood

he didn’t even seem to notice.

“Stella, you’re still holding a grudge against me because of Bianca, aren’t you? I know I was blind then,

but I see clearly now!”

“Bianca’s body has given out. The doctors say her organs are failing. She won’t last the week!”

“If you just come back, you’ll be the only Donna in the Lupo family! I’ll send that child away immediately, I swear he’ll never appear before you again!”

“Didn’t you swear an oath before the old priest? That you’d be with me for life? Have you forgotten?!”

My gaze was as cold as a scalpel, mercilessly dissecting his last shred of fantasy.

“An oath? You were the one who broke it first, Luca.”

“Since you couldn’t control yourself and chose to cross that line, don’t expect me to wait for you like

some saint.”

“I don’t go back for things I’ve left behind, and I certainly won’t return to clean up your mess. It’s over.”

Luca opened his mouth to say more, but I cut him off.

“I need you to leave, now. This is a field hospital. Unauthorized personnel are not allowed.”

I turned to head back to the surgical tent.

Just then, his phone rang. It was his man back in the city.

He answered with a trembling hand, his face instantly turning as white as a sheet.

“What did you say? Bianca died in the emergency room?”

“…I understand. I’ll arrange a flight back immediately.”

The moment he hung up, a piercing sonic boom tore through the sky above.

It was a heavy mortar shell, fired by the rebels.

My battlefield instincts kicked in. I yelled at the guard beside me, “Get him behind the sandbags!”

BOOM-

A deafening explosion ripped through the air a few dozen meters away.

The ground shook violently, and dirt and fiery shrapnel rained down on us.

Luca had grown up in luxury, always shielded by his men in tidy “shootouts.” He had never tasted real

combat.

He collapsed to the ground, his face ashen, his body trembling like an autumn leaf.

“Stella… are we going to be blown to pieces?”

For me, an attack of this magnitude was just another Tuesday.

I steadied my heavy belly with one hand, calmly brushed the dust off my clothes, and, with the help of a guard, stood firm.

“Shut up. Get to the bomb shelter and stay there!” I ordered coldly, watching as the guards dragged the

terrified Luca into the bunker.

Then, I turned to the equally battle-hardened medics of the camp. “Grab your kits and follow me!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, flanked by two nurses, I walked steadily against the tide of fleeing people, toward the area where the seriously wounded lay.

Watching my pregnant silhouette move calmly through the fire and blood, Luca’s eyes filled with a profound shock and a belated, bone-deep sense of awe.

After the air raid, I paid the driver of a supply truck extra to give the liability a ride out.

The driver took the wad of cash, hurried Luca onto the truck, and set off for the nearest military airstrip.

Luca sat in the bumpy truck bed, clutching the phone that had just announced Bianca’s death.

He stared out the mud-splattered window, his lips trembling violently, as if he wanted to scream something at me, to beg me to stay, but in the end, not a single sound escaped his throat.

I didn’t look back.

I just waved my gloved hand, as if brushing a speck of dirt from my shoulder.

It was all over.

The score between us was settled. There wasn’t even enough left for hatred.

After sending Luca away, my life quickly returned to its normal rhythm.

A few of the younger nurses gathered around, gossiping, asking if the man was an ex-husband who had

chased me across the world.

I just smiled faintly as I efficiently cleaned my surgical forceps.

“No. Just a passerby.”

Two years later.

As the chief representative of the “Wartime Angels” medical organization, I was invited back to the country to attend a global humanitarian summit and deliver a keynote speech.

I brought my twins with me, setting foot on this familiar land for the first time since I’d left.

I was now one of the names whispered about in international medical circles, a top-tier combat surgeon.

At my side was Kassian, my husband.

He was the Don of the Valeriano family, the deepest, most feared power in the country.

His family had long ago moved past the old street rules, now controlling finance, technology, and

military contracts. Even the five old families had to tread carefully around them.

We met in the midst of that firefight. His plane had been shot down, and I was the one who pulled him

from the wreckage.

He was ruthless, a man who dealt in life and death, but he saved all his passion, tenderness, and a fierce,

obsessive devotion for me.

He treated my twins as his own, spoiling them rotten.

Outside the heavily guarded private airport terminal, I caught an unexpected glimpse of Luca.

He was holding the hand of a timid little boy. I recognized him as Bianca’s son, Angelo. But Luca himself looked like a hollow shell, his spine gone, lost in a crowd of low-level gang members.

He was so far gone I barely recognized him.

Just two years had been enough to completely crush the former Underboss.

A series of internal power struggles and territorial losses had reduced the Lupo family to a second-rate outfit. His back was no longer straight, his temples were streaked with gray, and his eyes were cloudy and empty.

When he saw me walking out of the terminal on the arm of the tall, imposing Kassian, he instinctively took a step forward.

But then he noticed the dozen bodyguards behind Kassian, their sharp suits hiding tactical gear, a level of security the Lupo family couldn’t have afforded even at its peak.

He shrank back into the shadows, a wave of inadequacy washing over him.

Kassian sensed something.

The hand on my waist tightened possessively. He leaned in, his voice a low whisper only I could hear.

“Darling, who is that stray looking at you? Should I have him taken care of?”

I looked up at Kassian and gave him a smile that put him completely at ease.

“Don’t worry about him. Just a stranger who lost his way.”

“I have you now, and the children. No one else matters.”

Luca, standing not far away, seemed to hear what I said, or perhaps he just read the complete indifference in my eyes.

He froze, as if the last breath had been sucked from his chest.

Just as the guards opened the door of the armored car for us, my phone vibrated.

It was a text from Luca.

It was the last backup number he had, buried deep in my block list, and it was his final message.

Two words: “I’m sorry.”

I stared at the characters, my heartbeat as steady as a rock, unable to stir even the slightest ripple of

emotion.

I didn’t reply.

I pressed the delete button without a change in expression and permanently erased the number.

Through the tinted, bulletproof window of the car, the sunlight pierced the clouds, bright and scorching.

I gripped Kassian’s broad, warm hand tightly and glanced back at the two little ones in the backseat, chattering and arguing over who got ice cream first.

A genuine, radiant smile spread across my face.

The Stella who cried through the night for a worthless man died in that city long ago.

Now, I had the whole world before me, the deepest love, and a freedom that was truly my own.

That darkness was over, forever. The shadows of the past had been ground to dust.

For the rest of my life, I would walk in the light.