His Pregnant Wife Saw Him Holding Another Woman on Christmas Eve, and by Sunrise the Most Feared Man in Chicago Was Begging Everyone to Find Her 2

For the next hour, Roman didn't leave a single stone unturned.

He laid out the documents Marcus had brought to the room: port logistics contracts, bank transfers, and recorded wiretaps.

"Celeste’s father, Arthur Armand, found an irregularity in our international shipping manifests from three years ago," Roman explained, his voice low, filled with self-loathing. "It was something my late father had set up before I took over the company. It wasn't mine, but the federal prosecutors wouldn't care. Arthur was going to hand the documents to the U.S. Attorney on Christmas morning unless I signed over forty percent of our legitimate distribution networks to his dummy corporation."

"And Celeste?" I asked, my voice cold.

"Celeste was Arthur's broker," Roman said. "She demanded that I meet her in person to finalize the signatures. She threatened that if I sent attorneys, the files would be emailed to the Department of Justice before midnight. I thought... God forgive me, Savannah, I thought I was protecting you. I thought if I went to prison, you and the baby would be left vulnerable to the people who want to destroy my family."

"You lied to me," I whispered. "You dismissed me. You told me I was crazy and emotional."

"Because I was a coward," Roman admitted, tears running freely down his hollow cheeks. "I didn't want you to see the filth I live in. I wanted to be the untouchable provider, the man who handled everything while keeping you in a pure, beautiful world. But by keeping you in the dark, I put you in more danger than any enemy ever could."

"And on the terrace?" I asked, looking him dead in the eye. "When you held her hips?"

Roman’s jaw tightened. "She stepped up to me and said that if I wanted the signed affidavits from her father, I had to give her something personal. She said she’d keep quiet if I left you and made her my public partner. I put my hands on her hips to shove her back. I told her that if she ever mentioned your name again, I would burn her family’s empire to ash before sunrise. I signed the release, grabbed the proof, and walked out."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box. Inside lay my wedding band and engagement ring.

"When I got home and found this under the tree," Roman whispered, his voice cracking into full sobs, "I realized that in my effort to protect my empire, I had lost the only thing that gave my life meaning. I don't care about the company, Savannah. I don't care about Chicago. I don't care about the money. I severed all ties with the Armands yesterday. I handed the shipping logs to my own attorneys to turn state's evidence on the old regime. I am walking away from the shadows."

I looked at him. For five years, Roman Vascari had been a stone monolith—unshakable, feared, dominant. Now, he was a broken man kneeling on the linoleum floor of a hospital room, resting his forehead against the edge of the mattress, weeping like a child.

"I don't expect you to forgive me," he whispered. "I don't even know if I can forgive myself. But please... let me take care of you and Grace. Even if it's from a distance. Even if you never let me hold you again."

Grace stirred on my chest, letting out a soft, tiny sneeze.

I looked down at our daughter, then at the man who had torn through a blizzard with bare hands to drag us out of a snowdrift. The pain of that night would not disappear in an instant. Trust, once shattered, takes time, effort, and agonizing patience to rebuild.

"Stand up, Roman," I said softly.

He lifted his head, his eyes red and swollen.

"You are never lying to me again," I said, my voice firm, setting the new boundary of our lives. "You will never hide behind 'protecting' me. If we are partners, we face the dark together. Or we don't face it at all."

Roman scrambled to his feet, nodding feverishly. "Anything. Whatever you want, Savannah. I swear on my daughter’s life."

"And put that ring away," I added.

His face fell.