I thought it would be enough for me to live for half a lifetime. My hand brushed over the money wrapped in a handkerchief inside my bag and I couldn’t help but smile. Finally, I could start living for myself.
I took my few belongings and hurried to the house in the east. I spent the day changing the locks and setting up my bed. Even when I lay down that night, I kept touching the property deed and the money.
The house was now in my name. It really gave me a feeling of safety I had never known before. I thought leaving Fabio would hurt and make me miserable. After all, I had loved him during our three years of marriage.
But to my surprise, I slept soundly that night.
Our marriage had been arranged by our families. Fabio’s father and my grandfather were both police officers who had fought side by side against the mafia. Because of that bond, our families decided on the marriage.
But the marriage was meant for Serena, not me. She had been the precious ‘daughter’ of the Altomare Family for eighteen years. Instead, I was the real daughter of the Altomare Family. I had been mistakenly switched at birth by a careless midwife.
If that hadn’t happened, Fabio and I would never have met. When I was sixteen, the Altomare Family finally found me. I cried as I explained that I was their real daughter and that the midwife’s mistake had caused everything.
My adoptive parents had died young, so I grew up in an orphanage. When I saw the Altomare Family arrive in their car, I thought my days of worrying about school fees were finally over.
The orphanage I grew up in was very poor. Not every child had the chance to go to school.
But after I returned to my real family, I didn’t get any apology or comfort from my parents. Instead, I only got coldness. At that time, I told myself, ‘It’s fine. As long as I can study, nothing else matters.’
They said that since Serena’s parents had passed away, they couldn’t send her away. They would keep her at home and treat her like their own daughter. Meanwhile, I lived in a damp, dark attic of a small Spanish-style house. Mr. and Mrs. Altomare said that there weren’t enough rooms.
In that house, I didn’t look like a daughter of the family at all. It was more like a maid’s child. It wasn’t until my parents told me to get married that I found out the truth. They told me that the match was arranged by my grandfather.