Seven Years of Lies, a False Heir in My Belly

On the day my betrothal-pact was to be sealed, the boy I'd grown up loving broke it before God and every family in the room.

In front of them all, Marco Rosso took Vittoria Volpe by the hand and said it loud enough to carry to the back of the hall: this was the woman he meant to take, pact or no pact.

My father collapsed where he stood. The old weakness in his heart seized him, and by the time the soldiers got him out of the District and to the hospital, there was nothing left for any doctor to save.