“I’m taking my wife home,” he snarled, his grip like iron on my arm. “This little drama of yours
is over.”
I shook his hand off and stood up.
A month of training had made me calmer, colder than before.
“What drama?”
“Faking your death! Disappearing! Making me think you were really gone!” Vito’s voice trembled. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through this past month?”
Then his expression shifted, his sharp instincts kicking in as he scanned the opulent office.
“How did you get in here? You must know that ordinary people can’t get anywhere near this building. I almost got myself killed by the security outside just to get in.”
He suddenly looked exhausted.
He waved a dismissive hand.
“I don’t care what scheme you pulled to get in here. You’re coming home with me. Now.”
His eyes dropped to my flat stomach. “Where’s my son?”
“He should be a month old by now, right? Alessia, you goddamn fool for running away. You made me miss the birth of our first son.”
“Alright, I was wrong. I was completely wrong. Bring my son out. We’re going back. to the family headquarters immediately.”
He turned, ready to drag me away by force, his tyrannical need for control on full display.
2/5
+25 Bonus
“Our son?” My laugh was a cold, sharp shard of ice. “What son are you talking about?
Seeing me stand my ground, Vito turned back, his face a mask of confusion.
“Why aren’t you coming? Stop acting like a child. I’ve already made a new decision. Our son will be my designated heir, and you will have a permanent place in the family’s inner circle.”
“I already said I was wrong. What more do you want from me?”
Seeing him act so entitled, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
But my laughter was laced with tears.
After surviving that ordeal, my soul had been reforged. Any tender feelings I had for him had long since turned to ash.
“You still don’t get it, do you, Vito?” I met his gaze. “You delusional bastard.”
“We don’t have a child.”
“What?”
“I said, we don’t have a child. He’s dead, Vito. You killed him.‘
The color drained from Vito’s face.
“Your labor suppressant, your sister’s viper, your cold–hearted cruelty,” I said, each word a deliberate blow. “You killed him with your own hands.”
“There’s nothing left between us. Nothing.”
Vito shook his head, refusing to believe it.
“No! You’re lying! You’re just trying to punish me!”
He shot up from his chair and grabbed my shoulders again.
“Alessia, stop messing around. I’ll give you anything you want. From now on, I’ll even give you the affection you’ve always craved.”
3/5
Chapter
+25 Bonus
“You are my wife. Now tell me where you’ve hidden my son, and we’re going back to New York. Now.”
He was still so pathetically, hatefully convinced of his own narrative. No matter what I said, he refused to believe a word from his wife, just like he had countless times
before.
A hysterical scream tore from my throat, the sound of a wounded animal.
“Can’t you hear me?! Our child is dead!”
“And we are over. Faking my death was the only way I could escape you. I never want to see you again.”
I forced myself to calm down, taking a deep, steadying breath.
“Let go of me, Vito. This is your final warning.”
With that, I grabbed a folder from the desk and turned to leave.
Vito was stunned by the profound change in my demeanor.
I had always been his docile, obedient wife, never once defying him, let alone resisting him with such force.
As I neared the door, he lunged like a madman, blocking my path again. “You’re my wife! You belong to me! Without me, you’re nothing!”
“You have nothing! How were you planning to raise our son? You can’t even afford a bottle of milk. How long did you think you could last?”
It was so absurd. He thought so highly of himself, a supposedly powerful mafia boss.
But he had no idea that the only reason the Falcone family survived the last economic storm was because my father had secretly provided them with financial support to protect my happiness.
He would soon find out who I really was.
