Five years earlier, enemies had attacked him. I took three of the strikes meant for him. One to my chest, one to my thigh and one that went through my uterus. It took the baby I carried at one month.
The doctor said I might never bear a child again. I did not cry when I read the test results, but Matteo’s eyes had gone red with grief. He knelt before me, weeping, slapping his face until it was swollen.
"Victoria, it's my fault. I couldn't protect you!" he cried.
He held me tightly, blood from his forehead dripping onto my face. Even as he shook from pain, he refused to let my hand go.
"Victoria, I don't want the child. I don't want anything. I only want you!" he shouted.
"We will never be apart in this life. I will never let you down, even if I die!"
Each word had sounded certain. But that careless certainty broke the last piece of my dignity. I sneered, pulled out a photograph and shoved it into his face.
"Don't bother. I've already fixed your 'accident.' I had gone to the kindergarten. It was a nice place, but the security was weak."
Matteo’s bastard had tears running down his face. He had knelt there with a gun to his head. I watched the veins stand out on my husband’s forehead. In ten years together, he had never shown anger toward me. Now, because of another woman and a child, his eyes held the intent to kill.
Matteo pressed me against the wall, pulled the knife from his shoulder and turned the blade so the tip pointed at my neck.
"How could you attack my child!" he shouted.
"Victoria, have I treated you so well that you've forgotten who you are?" he added.
"Without me protecting you, you'd be dead long ago!"
"But now you’ve become too arrogant. You cannot protect your own child, so you attack other children. You are fucking monster! How can you be capable of such a thing?"
Although every word cut me, I kept my face calm and smiled.
"Didn’t you always say if we had to end things, one of us would have to die?" I asked.
"Since no one dared to do it, I’ll ask you myself!"
I shouted, "Kill me now! If I'm not dead, you won't have a good life!"
However, the blood-stained knife failed to reach my neck. Instead, Matteo met my stubborn eyes, while his smile softened.
"Victoria, I’ve told you that we don’t need to fight to the death because of this," he said.
After that, he told me, "You decide what to do with the child. I will not ask whether he lives or dies."