I gave everything I had, loved that little girl like she was the most precious thing in the world.
If it weren't for the car accident on New Year's Day, when Dante took Carina to the fireworks show at the harbor, and the ER doctor who happened to be a college friend of mine, who quietly pointed out that my type O blood and Dante's type A blood could never produce a child with Carina's type B, I might never have known. The moment I left the hospital, without telling a soul, I arranged the blood verification through Dr. Marchetti as fast as I could. No one else. Not the Consigliere. Not my most trusted Capo. No one.
In the days I spent waiting for the results, the new term started at the estate.
A new governess arrived.
And suddenly I became the woman who couldn't measure up to Serafina Conti in my own daughter's eyes.
Meanwhile, Dante, who had never lifted a finger for Carina's lessons, volunteered to sit in on her tutoring sessions every single day. The two of them left the main house dressed to the nines each morning and often didn't come back until well after dark. The excuse was always the same: the kid was having too much fun and didn't want to stop her lessons.