The moment the flames shot into the sky, a pair of strong hands yanked me out through the other side of the car window.
It was Salvatore's personal bodyguard.
I was covered in blood, my consciousness fading. I was shoved into an armored car parked in the shadows.

Through the tinted one-way glass, I watched Domenico arrive and rush toward the burning wreckage like a madman. He knelt before the inferno, clutching that plate in his hand. His expression was agonized and lost.
I thought I would feel heartbroken, that I would be reluctant to leave. However, as I touched my still aching abdomen and felt the faint flutter of two tiny lives, all I felt was emptiness.
Salvatore sat beside me and handed me a tissue. He sighed. "Let's go, child."
I looked away. I would not spare that man I had loved for ten years another glance.
"Signora Calvetti died in that fire."
The car started and disappeared silently into the Cecilo night.

…
Domenico returned to the hospital in shambles. The doctor walked out trembling, holding a freshly printed report. "Don Calvetti, Signorina Russo only sustained minor injuries. Nothing serious."
The tension in Domenico's body seemed to ease slightly. However, the doctor's next words plunged him into an icy abyss. "According to the DNA comparison of the remains we received, it was indeed Signora Calvetti.
"Additionally, we detected... embryonic tissue from twins in the remains. Two months along."

The world seemed to explode around him. Domenico swayed and crashed heavily against the wall with a dull thud.
"What did you say?" His voice trembled with disbelief. "She... She was carrying my children? Twins?"
"Yes, Don Calvetti." The doctor handed him the report.
Domenico took the report with shaking hands. Each word on it struck his heart like a sledgehammer.
Two months… It was from that one drunken night.
He remembered my final pleas. He remembered me crying out, "Our children!" He remembered how he had turned away without hesitation. He had killed his own wife and unborn children with his own hands.
The hospital room door suddenly opened.
Alice rushed out in an oversized hospital gown and threw herself into his arms, her face full of grievance. "Darling, I'm in so much pain. Lucia definitely did this on purpose! She wanted to kill me..."
Suddenly, a sharp slap landed hard across Alice's delicate face.
The crack echoed through the hallway. Everything fell deathly silent.
Alice clutched her face and stared in disbelief at the man who had always indulged her every whim. Tears instantly streamed down her cheeks. "You... You hit me?"
"Shut up!" Domenico forced the words through gritted teeth, his voice cutting deep.
"She was carrying my children. My twins!" He shoved Alice away and pointed at her nose, roaring. "To check on you, I left her and my children in a car that was about to explode! I killed my own children!"
Alice was terrified by his rage. She shrank back, trembling all over.
"I... I didn't know... She must have worked with the doctor to put on a show to get your attention..."
Domenico grabbed her by the throat, his grip so tight she could barely breathe. "If you hadn't insisted on driving her car, if you hadn't called me at that exact moment... If it weren't for you, Lucia and my children wouldn't be dead!"
His grip tightened. Alice's face turned purple. She clawed desperately at his arm. Not a single bodyguard nearby dared to intervene.
Just as Alice was about to lose consciousness, Domenico released her. He saw the familiar diamond ring on Alice's ring finger.
The wedding ring I had designed myself. The one he had given to Alice. Seeing it on this woman's hand now felt like a cruel, blinding mockery.
Domenico roughly grabbed her hand and yanked the ring off.
The force was so brutal that it tore off a layer of skin from Alice's finger. Blood dripped down.
"Get out." Domenico clutched the bloodstained ring, his gaze hollow. "Don't let me see you again."