The doctor nods, his expression professionally neutral even though he must be able to feel the tension crackling through the office. "Of course. Miss Ciresa, if you'll come with me?"
I stand on legs that feel like they might give out at any moment, my hands trembling so badly I have to clasp them together to hide it. Luca doesn't look at me as I pass his chair. Romeo stares at the wall with an expression carved from stone. And my father watches me with eyes that hold no warmth, noforgiveness. I didn’t expect any, but it still makes my stomach twist painfully.
I follow Dr. Murdock down the hallway. The bathroom is cold. Dr. Murdock sets his bag down and pulls out three different pregnancy tests, each one in its sterile packaging. "I'll need you to take all three," he says gently, and there's genuine kindness in his voice that makes my throat tighten with unshed tears. "Your father wants to be absolutely certain."
Of course he does. Because if there's even a chance this is a false alarm, even the slightest possibility that I'm not actually pregnant, then maybe there's a way out of this nightmare that doesn't involve destroying multiple lives.
But I know the truth before I even open the first package. I know my symptoms, and I saw the test I already took. I'm pregnant with Luca's child. The tests are just a formality. A confirmation of what I already know.
Dr. Murdock steps outside to give me privacy, and I'm left alone in the cold bathroom with three plastic sticks that will determine the trajectory of the rest of my life. My hands shake as I open the first package.
The waiting is the worst part. I sit on the closed toilet lid and stare at the tests resting on the counter, watching for the lines that will either save me or condemn me. Except I already know which one it will be.
But still, when I see the results in all three small windows, I feel like the air has been knocked out of me all over again.
I'm carrying Luca's child. This is real. A child who will have Luca's eyes or my smile, some combination of both of us that doesn't exist yet but will. A child who was conceived in love, at least on my part, but who will be born into a situation so catastrophically broken that I don't know how we'll ever put the pieces back together.
I press my hand against my still-flat stomach and try to feel something—connection, or maternal instinct, or the kind of overwhelming love that's supposed to come with pregnancy. But all I feel is terror and guilt and a crushing sense of responsibility for the life I've created and the lives I've destroyed in the process.
There's a soft knock on the door. "Miss Ciresa? Are you ready?"
I gather the three tests with shaking hands and open the door. Dr. Murdock takes one look at my face and knows the answer before I show him the tests. "All positive," I whisper, my voice barely audible.
He examines each test carefully, his expression grave, then nods once. "I'll need to inform your father. Would you like a moment before we go back?"
I want to say yes. Want to ask for hours, days, maybe years before I have to face what comes next. But I know there's no point in delaying the inevitable.
"No. Let's get this over with."
The walk back to my father's office feels like a march to the gallows. My legs move mechanically, one foot in front of the other, while my mind spirals through every possible outcome and finds nothing but devastation in each one. Dr. Murdock walks beside me, carrying the tests like evidence at a trial, and I suppose that's exactly what they are.
Evidence of my betrayal, my deception. My catastrophic failure to be the daughter my father raised me to be.
When we enter the office, three pairs of eyes turn toward us with varying degrees of dread. Luca's face is carefully blank, but I can see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands are clenched into fists on his thighs. Romeo looks like he's aged a decade in the past hour, exhaustion and anger warring across his features. And my father?—
My father looks at Dr. Murdock with an expression that makes my blood run cold. "Well?" The single word carries the weight of absolute authority, a man who's used to having his questions answered immediately and completely.
Dr. Murdock sets the three tests on Dante's desk, lined up in a neat row like soldiers awaiting inspection. "All three tests are positive, Don Ciresa. Your daughter is pregnant."
The silence that follows is absolute. No one moves, no one breathes, no one dares to break the terrible stillness that's descended over the room. My father picks up one of the tests, examining it with the same clinical detachment he might use to review a business contract. Then he sets it down carefully, precisely, and leans back in his chair. The seconds tick by. Finally, he speaks.
"Dr. Murdock, thank you for your assistance. You may go. And I trust I don't need to remind you that everything you've seen and heard tonight is confidential."
"Of course, Don Ciresa. You have my word." Dr. Murdock gathers his bag and leaves quickly, clearly relieved to escape the suffocating tension in the office.
My father steeples his fingers and looks at each of us in turn—Romeo, Luca, me. "Sit down, Giulia."
I sink into the chair beside Luca, my legs finally giving out. I can feel the heat radiating from his body even though we're not touching, can sense the fury and betrayal rolling off him in waves. He still won't look at me.
"The engagement to Alessandro is off," my father says, his voice flat and final. "Effective immediately. I'll handle the conversation with his father personally.”
Relief floods through me so suddenly and completely that I feel dizzy with it. I won't have to marry Alessandro, won't have to spend the rest of my life with a man who I can barely tolerate. But the relief is short-lived, because my father isn't finished.
"You will marry Luca instead." The words are delivered with the same cold flatness he might use to order someone's execution. "The wedding will take place within the next two weeks, before you start showing obviously. The story will be that you've been secretly seeing each other for months, and the pregnancy accelerated your timeline. It's not ideal, but it's believable enough that most people will accept it without too many questions."
My heart stops. Just—stops. Because this isn't what I wanted. This isn't how any of this was supposed to happen.
I wanted Luca to choose me, to love me the way I love him. Not this.
