"Those herbal supplements he handed you every single day, the ones he made sure you took on schedule to 'nourish your blood'? They were contraceptives. He destroyed your chance at motherhood with his own hands. Tell me, isn't that hilarious?"
Selene's eyes were locked on my face, studying every micro-expression, waiting for me to shatter. Waiting for the tears, the screaming, the collapse.
But I just looked at her, and my voice came out steady. "Noted."
I turned to keep walking, even as agony tore through me like a riptide beneath still water. But before I could take a single step, a brutal force slammed into my back.
I had no time to react. My feet slipped out from under me and I fell hard from the raised step beside the hospital bed, crashing to the floor. A violent, twisting pain ripped through my abdomen.
The agony consumed me. I lay on the freezing tile, powerless, watching the bright red stain spread beneath me as my vision flickered and went black.
I lost our baby.
When I walked out of the operating room, I was numb. Cold to the bone. My heart was ash.
I placed the dissolution papers I'd prepared long ago on the bedside table. Without a backward glance, I walked out of the family's private hospital, the place that had been my prison for five years, and took a cab to the airport.
One moment before boarding, my phone buzzed a final time. One last message from Samuel, still laced with that untouchable arrogance:
"I never imagined you'd have the nerve to disrespect Selene like that. Not an ounce of dignity befitting a Godfather's wife. Keep this up, and you'll regret it."
"Drop the attitude and apologize. Now."
I stared at that cold line of text on the screen and felt nothing but bitter amusement. My fingertips pressed down hard, snapping the SIM card clean in half. I tossed the pieces into an airport trash can, along with five years of delusion and devotion.
Meanwhile, back at The Castle in Sicily, the private jewelry vault shimmered with the glow of gemstones and the rich aroma of wine. Samuel was helping Selene appraise a shipment of rare uncut stones, his fingers curled around a glass of red, about to pour for her, when his private phone erupted in a shrill, urgent ring.