My Deranged Mafia Marriage Chapter 02

My Deranged Mafia Marriage Chapter 02

The next morning, when I left with the thermos, Lorenzo was still asleep.

The marriage was dead. But I still had to go to the hospital.

Lorenzo’s mother had been in end-stage renal failure for nearly a year. I stayed by her bedside every night, feeding her spoonful by spoonful.

One last duty. Twelve years of devotion deserved at least the completion of this task.

When I pushed open the door, his mother was bragging about me to another patient’s family.

“I’m so lucky to have a daughter like Sonia. She’s better than any blood daughter could be.”

She beamed when she saw me and told me to sit down.

I poured out the soup I had simmered all night and handed it to her.

“Here, Mama, drink it while it’s hot. Lorenzo had a fever last night; I have to go back and check on him.”

As she was drinking, the phone on the nightstand suddenly vibrated.

A video call. The name on the screen: “Vanessa.”

“Honey, can you get that?” Carmela asked, her hands full. “It might be one of Lorenzo’s cousins.”

Without hesitation, I pressed accept.

The face on the screen made my blood run cold.

It was her. The woman Lorenzo had been entangled with six months ago. Vanessa.

She was holding a small boy in her arms, about three years old.

“Grandma!” he said to the camera, holding up a toy car. “Look what Daddy bought me!”

Vanessa smiled, her laugh a bit too sweet. “Ma, Lorenzo got drunk and had a fever last night. I’m letting him sleep in. That crazy woman didn’t give him a hard time for coming home late, did she?”

The room fell dead silent.

Carmela’s hand jerked violently, spilling the scalding soup all over the blankets.

“S—Sonia! Let me explain!”

She lunged for the phone, burning herself in the process.

I took a step back. My gaze was locked on that little boy—that face was the spitting image of Lorenzo, down to the exact arch of his eyebrows.

“A cousin? You told me she was his cousin?”

Caught in the lie, Carmela sighed and dropped the act.

She took my hand, her voice tender yet agonizing.

“Sonia, don’t be too hard on him. Vanessa has been very patient; for four years, she never asked for a thing.”

Four years?

My mind went blank.

Four years… it wasn’t a one-time drunken mistake six months ago.

Carmela patted my hand.

“Sonia, I love you. You know I love you. But you have to consider Lorenzo. You won’t let him touch you. He’s a man, a healthy man. Do you expect him to live like a monk?”

“Vanessa said the child can call you ‘Mommy.’ You are still his wife. Nothing changes. She won’t stand in your way. It’s better for everyone, isn’t it?”

My legs gave out, and I collapsed into the chair.

I didn’t hear the rest.

Four years.

Every time Lorenzo went out on “business,” he would stay on the phone with me all night. He said he knew I couldn’t sleep without him because I was afraid of the dark.

Once, his phone died while he was out. He braved enemy fire from a rival family just to find a power bank—all so he could keep telling me he was safe.

And during those times—

Was Vanessa lying right next to him? Was the boy sleeping in the next room?

He coddled me like a child while his other family breathed in the dark.

I stood up.

I didn’t say goodbye to Carmela.

If there was no room for me in this family’s happy ending, that was fine.

I would create my own.