"Yes. This outsider was born lowly. From the old neighborhood. Naturally, I can't be compared to the Don's daughter-in-law. So you did the right thing, Omero. This outsider wouldn't dare hold it against you."
A violent cough tore through me, and blood splattered from my lips. Omero saw it, and for once, he asked nothing more.
He rubbed slow circles on my back, his voice softening. "You've always been the most sensible one, Penny. I was overthinking it. Rest now. Your husband will stay right here. I'm not going anywhere."
I didn't know how long I slept before the noise from the courtyard dragged me awake.
The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Ruby sprawled in the center of the yard, a rod cracking down across her body again and again.
Her clothes were soaked through with blood. Each breath she drew looked like it might be her last.
Chloe Volpe sat nearby in a wrought-iron chair, watching with cold, disinterested eyes. Her fingers traced the edge of her rosary with slow, almost loving precision.
When Omero saw me stir, he didn't bother explaining. He simply pressed my shoulders back down. "The Don's daughter-in-law is disciplining a servant. Don't interfere, Penny."
I had braced myself for some grave offense. But the crime, it turned out, was nothing more than this: after delivering the annulment petition to Don Valente, Ruby had taken it upon herself to summon a physician for me.
The Old Don and his wife already carried guilt over Frederico breaking off his blood-bound union with me. When they learned what had happened, they'd rebuked Chloe harshly.
Called her vicious. Said she'd shown callous disregard for another woman's life.
Chloe couldn't touch me, not with the Don and his wife shielding me. So she'd turned her fury on Ruby instead.
I watched Ruby's broken body twitch with each blow, barely clinging to life, and the tears wouldn't stop.
I seized Omero's sleeve and begged. "Omero, please save Ruby. Every fault is mine, all of it."
"She was only worried about me."
Omero's expression pinched with reluctance. "Penny, she's just a servant. Let the Don's daughter-in-law vent her anger and it'll blow over."
I stared at that handsome face of his, so perfectly composed, so perfectly human, and could not fathom the rottenness it concealed.
Because we were born lowly, our lives simply didn't matter?
Mine didn't. Ruby's didn't. And neither had the hundred-some families of Millhaven.