From Mafia Wife to Empire Queen Chapter 09

From Mafia Wife to Empire Queen Chapter 09

My pregnancy days passed peacefully and happily.

Salvatore moved his entire office setup to our private mansion just to stay close and care for me around the clock.

He took professional prenatal and maternity care classes personally, massaging my sore legs every night without fail.

“Is the pressure alright? Does it hurt at all?”

He looked up at me with clear tenderness and concern in his eyes.

I shook my head with a smile, playfully messing up his neat hair.

“It’s perfect. You’ve gotten surprisingly good at this.”

He chuckled softly, pressing a light kiss to my ankle.

One month before my due date, I went to the private hospital for a routine prenatal checkup.

Stepping out of the ultrasound suite, I heard loud shouting and arguing echoing from the end of the hospital corridor.

“You ruined my life, you worthless leech!”

“Give back the money you stole from me!”

The voices sounded hauntingly familiar.

I followed the sound curiously, spotting two beggars fighting violently over a single plain bread roll.

One man had only one leg left, leaning shakily on a wooden crutch, his face covered in thick scars.

The woman fighting beside him bore a long, jagged knife scar across her cheek.

It was Luca and Emma.

I’d heard Luca had been released from prison early due to severe illness, forced into medical parole.

Emma had no marketable skills after finishing her prison sentence, leaving her with no choice but to live homeless on the streets.

I never imagined the pair would end up reduced to fighting over scraps of food to survive.

Hospital security rushed over quickly, chasing them away from the building grounds.

Luca stumbled and fell to the pavement, his only bread roll rolling straight to my feet.

He looked up slowly, following the expensive designer shoes up to my face.

The second he recognized me and saw my heavily pregnant belly, he froze completely in stunned disbelief.

“Ve… Vera?”

He stared at my healthy glow and rounded stomach, then glanced down at his own broken, crippled body.

He broke down into hysterics instantly.

“No! This can’t be happening!”

“You couldn’t have children before! That baby you’re carrying is someone else’s illegitimate brat too!”

He screamed madly, trying to crawl across the ground toward me.

Salvatore’s bodyguards stepped forward at once, pinning him firmly to the ground.

Salvatore walked out of the examination room just then, his face turning cold the moment he saw the scene.

He rushed straight to my side, pulling me safely into his protective embrace.

“Are you alright? Did he frighten you?”

I shook my head calmly.

“I’m fine. Just ran into an old acquaintance.”

Salvatore shot a look of pure disgust at the helpless Luca on the ground.

“Trash like him doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near you.”

He waved a hand at his guards.

“Drag him away. Don’t let him spoil my wife’s peace.”

The guards dragged Luca away without mercy.

He struggled violently the entire time, his eyes locked desperately on my belly, tears streaming down his scarred face.

“Vera! You lied to me!”

“That should have been my child! All of this was supposed to be mine!”

His desperate cries faded into the distance as he was dragged out of the hospital.

I turned back to Salvatore with a gentle smile.

“Let’s go home.”

He laced his fingers tightly through mine.

“Anything you wish, my love.”

One month later, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the private hospital.

He was the spitting image of Salvatore, with his same sharp, handsome features.

Salvatore held our son in his arms, his eyes glistening with happy tears.

He knelt down beside my hospital bed, pressing a reverent kiss to my forehead.

“You’ve given me the greatest gift in the world, my wife. Thank you for our perfect family.”

I smiled weakly, reaching up to brush the tears from his cheek.

“Silly man, don’t cry.”

On the day we were discharged from the hospital, soft snowflakes drifted down over New York City.

Salvatore wrapped me tightly in a cashmere blanket, lifting me gently into the luxury car with extreme care.

The vehicle drove smoothly toward our family mansion.

We stopped at a red light at a busy crossroads.

I glanced idly out the window.

Beneath an overpass, a lone beggar huddled under a thin blanket, shivering violently in the freezing snow.

Above him, a giant outdoor screen broadcast breaking news: Salvatore Ferraro and his wife Vera had welcomed their first newborn son.

The footage showed Salvatore holding our baby, smiling warmly for the cameras.

The beggar lifted his head slowly, staring blankly up at the screen.

Snowflakes settled on his face, melting into cold tears.

He suddenly began slamming his head repeatedly against the concrete pillar of the overpass.

“That was mine! All of this was supposed to be mine!”

“Vera… Vera…”

He screamed his heart out in raw despair.

Blood streamed down his forehead until he collapsed motionless into the snow.

I turned my gaze away calmly, rolling up the car window to block out the cold and the noise.

“Looking at something outside?”

Salvatore squeezed my hand gently.

I turned to smile at him, then glanced down at our peacefully sleeping son in the bassinet beside us.

A soft, content smile curved my lips.

“Nothing at all. I was just thinking how beautiful this winter snow is.”

The pain and sorrows of my past were finally left far behind.

My true life, filled with love, happiness, and family, was only just beginning.