No Longer Bound

When my mother went into kidney failure and needed a transplant, it was Pauline Maynard—on the brink of death herself—who gave my mom a second chance at life.

Just before Pauline passed, she gripped my hand tightly and whispered her final words.

"Summer, Ricky is my only son. He's rebellious… and fragile. Please, take care of him. Just three years, please?"

I gave her my word.

Then I moved into their home and gave Ricky everything he needed—love, comfort, a sense of safety. For three years, I stayed true to that promise.

By the third year, Ricky had transformed. No longer the wayward boy he once was, he rose to become the Mafia Don Ricky Lenza. And I was carrying his child.

As I busied myself with wedding plans, I overheard something I was never meant to hear—his voice, low and mocking, as he wrapped another woman in his arms.

"Summer? She's just pretending to love me for the sake of my mother's inheritance and a stupid deal. A gold digger like her dreams of marrying me? What a joke."

A sharp pain pierced my chest, like thorns stabbing deep beneath the skin.

On the way to a prenatal checkup, we were hit in a crash. My baby didn't make it. And my mother, sitting in the passenger seat, shielded me with her life.

When I woke up, I stared blankly at the date on my phone.

Three days left. That would've marked the end of the three-year promise.

I realized then—I'd paid my debt to Pauline in full. It was time for me to go.

After my accident, Ricky Lenza's sister, Audrey Lenza, rushed to the hospital in a panic.

She took one look at my numb and eerily calm face, then gently held my hand, her voice soft with sorrow.

"Summer, don't be sad. You and Ricky can still have children in the future. Right now, what matters is your recovery. You should be healthy and radiant when you walk down the aisle."

"There won't be a wedding." I turned my face away, wiped the corner of my eye without letting her see, and opened a news article on my phone. I handed it to her.

It was a full page—headline after headline—announcing Ricky's new relationship with Lindsay Penrose.

Over the past six months, Ricky's name had become a fixture in the tabloids, each time linked to another affair. As the Mafia Don of the Lenza family, he made headlines no matter what he did.

And yet, I pretended not to care, continuing to play the perfect future Donna.

But when the woman he loved deliberately caused the accident that took my mother and child from me, something inside me broke for good.

Audrey stared at the screen, stunned. "How could he… be this cruel?"

She gritted her teeth. "I'll go talk to him. Just don't leave, please?"

I lowered my gaze, said nothing.

Still, she didn't give up. "Summer, you know this. After our mom passed, Ricky saw you as the only person he could lean on. He can't live without you. Can you give him one more chance?"

I shook my head slowly, swallowing the sob building in my throat.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Audrey, the three-year promise is up. My mom is gone. My baby is gone. Let me go."

Audrey froze. After a long sigh, she gave up trying to persuade me.

"It's Ricky who wronged you. I'll make sure you get the answer you deserve. Three days from now, you'll be free. As for your mother and the baby…"

At that moment, a nurse brought over the tiny bundle.

Even in my battered state when they rushed me to the hospital, I'd fought to keep my baby alive. But what I received was only a lifeless body—my seven-month-old child who had stopped breathing the moment the crash happened. He hadn't even had the chance to open his eyes.

My mother had died from massive blood loss, her aorta torn in the collision while trying to shield me.

I turned my face away, trying hard to contain the storm inside me.

"Bury the baby here. I just want to take my mother's ashes with me."

Audrey nodded, her face drawn in grief. "I'm sorry, Summer. Our family failed you. Go. You've done more than enough for Ricky. Start your life over."

With that, she lifted the baby's body in her arms and slowly walked away.

The tears I had been holding back slipped free the moment she disappeared from view.

Her silhouette reminded me of Pauline—so kind, so gentle. Before Pauline passed, she'd written a will covering the rest of my mother's medical expenses, settling everything on my behalf.

Back then, I had agreed to help Ricky simply to repay Pauline's kindness.

He had been cold, rejecting anyone who came near, pushing people away with indifference and suspicion. But the more time I spent with him, the more I glimpsed the vulnerable soul hiding beneath the armor.

He wasn't the unfeeling man others saw. Sometimes, he'd talk in his sleep—murmuring for his mom and dad not to leave, whispering that he missed them…

That was when I finally understood.

When he was a child, Ricky's parents were consumed by their careers. They'd often lock him up at home alone. A small boy, left in the dark. He had grown up with no sense of safety. That's why he feared closeness and saw everyone as a threat.

And maybe that's why I slowly stopped seeing it as repayment. I began to pity him… then, without even realizing it, I began to love him.

I wanted to heal that anxious, fragile heart.

I'd hold him when he cried in his sleep, softly humming his mother's favorite lullabies. We'd rewatch the cartoons from his childhood, play with the toys he never got to enjoy. I wanted him to face those lonely years with courage—to stop shrinking back from the world.

And at night, when he'd unconsciously cling to my sleeve in his sleep, afraid I'd disappear, I'd slip my arm under his head and let him rest there until morning.

Maybe it was my warmth that reached him. He began to grow up. Bit by bit, Ricky changed—strong enough, finally, to take on the role of a mafia leader.

A year ago, he proposed to me. Asked me to marry him. We planned to wed in a year.

I said yes, happily, without hesitation.

I really believed we'd make it. Until six months ago, when he didn't come home for the first time.

Worried, I searched everywhere, eventually tracking him down at a bar.

He had his arm around a woman. He threw Pauline's hidden will and our contract in my face.

Eyes bloodshot, he shouted at me.

"Summer, who the hell are you to care who I sleep with? We're not even married yet. You think you're my wife already?

"You're just the caretaker my mother hired before she died. Keep pushing, and I'll pull the plug on your mom's treatment."

I stood frozen. When I got home, I stared blankly at the photos of us, of the happy memories I thought were real.

That night, in my daze, I fell down the stairs.

And that's when I found out I was pregnant.

I thought… if I just kept loving him like before, giving him a home, being patient and warm, he'd understand. He'd forgive. He'd see that I loved him.

But after everything I gave… I lost my mother, my child, and my love.