I reach for the test with hands that will not stop trembling, picking it up carefully like it might explode, and turn it over to see the results window.
Two lines.
Two unmistakable, undeniable lines.
Pregnant.
The test slips from my fingers and clatters into the sink. I grip the edge of the counter to keep from falling, my knees suddenly liquid, my vision swimming.
Pregnant.
I am pregnant.
With Dante's baby or Gabriel's baby or Luca's baby. With a tiny cluster of cells that is growing right now, right this second, inside my body. A life that depends on me completely. A child who did not ask to be brought into this mess but exists anyway.
Oh God.
Oh God, I am pregnant.
The implications crash over me in waves. This is not just about choosing between Erin and the boys anymore. This is about choosing for this baby too. This life that has no voice, no say, no ability to protect itself.
This baby deserves to know its father.
Deserves to grow up with Dante's fierce protectiveness, Gabriel's steady strength, and Luca's infectious joy.
Deserves a chance to exist in a world where all three of them are alive to love it.
And suddenly the decision becomes crystal clear with a certainty that settles into my bones.
I cannot plant that bomb.
Will not kill my child's father—fathers?—to save Erin, no matter how much I love her.
Will not rob this baby of the chance to know them.
Will not destroy the family we have built.
Erin is strong. Erin is smart. Erin will understand. She has to understand.
And if she does not—if something happens to her because I chose myself and this baby—I will have to find a way to live with that guilt.
But I cannot live in a world without Dante, Gabriel, and Luca.
I will not.
I grab the test from the sink, rinse my hands, unlock the door, and burst out of the bathroom. The clerk barely looks up as I race past him, the bell chiming overhead as I push through the doors back into the cold October night.
I start running.
My lungs are burning within the first five minutes, my legs screaming in protest, but I do not slow down. I run past the park, past the bodega, past Vittorio's with its warm lights and the smell of garlic bread wafting from the kitchen.
I have to tell them. Have to show them the test, have to explain everything, have to figure out together how to save Erin without sacrificing ourselves. Have to?—
The house appears in the distance, every light blazing like someone has turned on every switch in panic. My heart sinks even as my legs pump faster, carrying me up the front steps, through the door I apparently did not lock properly behind me?—
Gabriel and Luca are in the foyer, both looking frantic. Gabriel's hair is sticking up like he has been running his hands through it, and Luca is pacing, his shoes clicking against the marble floor with agitated rhythm.
They freeze when they see me.
