After The Don Left Me To Die I Chose Freedom Chapter 03
I was barely holding on.
Snow packed up to my chest, the weight of it turning every breath into swallowing a blade.
The pain in my lower abdomen grew more and more savage. A wide swath of white snow had been stained red with blood.
I pressed my frozen hands over my belly and cried until I nearly blacked out.
“Don’t be scared. Mommy’s going to get Daddy to come save us…”
The phone had almost no battery left.
I kept sending Luca video calls.
After dozens of attempts, he finally picked up.
“Luca!”
The moment I called his name, the snow above me trembled and began to fall.
I immediately lowered my voice, choking on my own sobs as I begged him.
“Don’t hang up. Please don’t hang up.”
“I’m not lying to you. I’m dying. I’ve lost so much blood…”
He looked at me, his brow furrowing.
“Emma, what are you trying to pull now?”
“You’re still pregnant. Making yourself look like this for sympathy—do you really think that’s going to work?”
Warm tears froze against my skin. My entire body was shaking.
“Luca, I’m not—”
I turned the phone to show him the blood-soaked snow behind me.
“Look. I’m bleeding. I’m really not faking it. My stomach is in agony. The baby keeps dropping lower.”
“Even if you don’t believe me, you can’t gamble with the baby’s life. It’s your child too!”
He said nothing.
I kept begging, my voice splintering.
“Luca, will you come save me? Please?”
“I won’t fight for anything anymore. Grace wants Mom and Dad—I’ll give them to her. She wants the Hale family’s position—I won’t compete.”
“If she wants you…”
My voice seized so hard it felt like someone was ripping my heart in two.
“I’ll step aside.”
“I’m only asking you to save the baby. Right now.”
When I finished, his pupils contracted sharply. Panic crept into his voice.
“Don’t say that.”
“Emma… don’t be scared. I’m coming right now.”
In that moment, my tears broke loose like a flood.
He finally believed me.
But just then, Grace’s voice drifted in from beside him.
“Oh my God… Luca, why is she bleeding so much?”
“When I was little, I once saw the cook butchering game. I think the blood was about that color.”
She quickly covered her mouth and rushed to add: “I’m not saying you’re faking it, Emma.”
“I just think the color and the amount are so scary. I’m so frightened…”
The hesitation in Luca’s eyes hardened to ice.
He looked at me, his gaze full of disappointment.
“Emma, you really let me down. Do you hate seeing Grace happy that much?”
The hope that had just flickered to life was doused with ice water.
Hatred churned inside my chest.
“Luca, you are the Don of the Moretti family!”
“You’ve saved countless people. Why won’t you save me? Can’t you just once—just this once—not believe Grace?”
“If I’m lying, you can let me die.”
“But what if I’m not? Luca, what if the baby and I really do die?”
The snow above me shook loose from my shouting, but I was past caring.
In that moment, it felt like something was being torn from my body by force.
I cried until my whole frame shook.
Something in his expression softened, but the instant he met Grace’s pitiful gaze, his voice went cold again.
“Emma, settle down. Stop using death to threaten me.”
“You’re not in a good state right now. I’m worried you’ll hurt Grace. Once you’ve calmed down, I’ll come get you.”
Then he hung up the video call. Again.
I sat there, frozen, unable to say a single word.
When I tried to call him back, the phone was dead.
I listened to the wind howling around me and surrendered to despair.
I didn’t know how much time passed before a deafening roar echoed from the mountainside.
I had no strength to run. All I could do was use whatever I had left to shield my belly.
“Baby, I’m sorry…”
The sky-darkening wave of snow buried me completely.
Then, the next second, I heard footsteps.
Grace’s gentle voice floated through the storm.
“We’re here, Emma.”