Chapter 5 - Marin Revealed She Was Carrying Twins—And Rafe Realized Someone Had Been Waiting Twenty-One Years for This Exact MomentRafe didn't speak.
Neither did Luca.
Nico stared at Marin.
“You're pregnant?”
Marin nodded.
Rafe's expression changed completely.
“How far?”
“Almost ten weeks.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know how.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
She looked down.
“Of everything.”
Rafe approached slowly.
“Are they mine?”
Marin looked up.
“Yes.”
Something broke inside him.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Something softer.
He reached for her hand.
“Twins?”
Marin nodded.
“I had an ultrasound yesterday.”
Rafe looked at her stomach.
Two lives.
Two more children.
Another set of twins.
The history suddenly felt cruelly circular.
Luca smiled faintly.
“Apparently twins are what this family does.”
Marin laughed despite herself.
Rafe knelt in front of her.
He placed a hand near her abdomen but stopped before touching.
“May I?”
Marin nodded.
His palm rested gently against her stomach.
Nothing moved.
The babies were far too young.
Yet his eyes filled.
“I don't know how to do this.”
Marin whispered:
“Neither do I.”
Rafe looked at her.
“Then we'll learn.”
It was the first promise he made without power behind it.
No guards.
No weapons.
No empire.
Just a man promising a frightened woman that she wouldn't face motherhood alone.
But the happiness didn't last.
That night Marin collapsed.
Doctors discovered stress-related complications.
The pregnancy was stable.
But she needed rest.
Rafe refused to leave the hospital.
Meanwhile, Nico uncovered a new threat.
Someone had accessed the maternity records.
Not just Marin's.
The babies'.
Someone knew.
Marcus knew.
And he sent a message.
Give me the twins, and I return your mother's ledger.
Marin stared at the message.
“No.”
Rafe tore the paper in half.
“No one touches my children.”
But Marcus had leverage.
The ledger.
The one thing capable of destroying the entire Castellano empire.
Rafe faced a decision.
Save the empire.
Or save the family.
He chose family.
They created a plan.
They would pretend to surrender Marin.
Instead, Luca would access the trust.
Nico would intercept Marcus's financial network.
And Rafe would draw Marcus into a controlled meeting.
The plan failed immediately.
Marcus had anticipated them.
He kidnapped Marin from the hospital.
Rafe arrived too late.
Her room was empty.
Only one note remained.
COME ALONE.
He did.
The old church by the river was abandoned.
Marcus waited at the altar.
Marin sat nearby.
She wasn't tied up.
That worried Rafe more.
Marcus looked at him.
“Sit.”
Rafe didn't.
“Let her go.”
“Why?”
“She's carrying my children.”
Marcus smiled.
“That is precisely why she is valuable.”
Marin shouted:
“Rafe, don't listen.”
Marcus raised a hand.
“I don't want to hurt her.”
Rafe said:
“You already did.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You think I am your enemy.”
“You are.”
“No.”
He pointed at Marin.
“Her enemy is the same person who killed Lucia.”
Rafe's expression hardened.
“Who?”
Marcus handed him a file.
Inside was a photograph.
Nell Sullivan.
Standing beside Gabriel Castellano.
Marin stared.
“No.”
Marcus said:
“Nell took money from Gabriel.”
“To help us.”
“To separate you.”
Marin's eyes filled with tears.
Marcus continued.
“Gabriel ordered Lucia's disappearance.”
Rafe looked at the papers.
“No.”
“There is more.”
A second document.
DNA results.
Marcus said:
“Your father wasn't Gabriel.”
Marin froze.
Rafe's face turned white.
“What?”
Marcus looked at him.
“You and Luca aren't both Castellanos.”
Silence.
“Gabriel was the father of Luca.”
He pointed at Marin.
“Your biological father was someone else.”
Marin could barely breathe.
“Who?”
Marcus smiled.
“The man who has been controlling this empire from the beginning.”
A shadow appeared in the doorway.
A man walked in.
Marin recognized him.
Daniel Sullivan.
Her supposed father.
May you like
The man she had believed dead.
Alive.
Related Stories
