Chapter 2
I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and looked out at the gray, overcast sky.
Autumn in Stonehaven was as bleak and cold as ever.
The phone rang-it was Vincenzo.
“Did you go complaining to my father again? Sienna and I finally had a moment alone, and you had to ruin everything—again!
“I’m warning you: if you stick your nose in my business one more time, I’ll cancel every single one of your credit cards!”
In the past, I would have apologized instinctively, bowed my head, even if it wasn’t my fault.
But now, I simply replied in a flat tone, “Do whatever you want.”
There was a pause on the other end.
Vincenzo was stunned by my indifference, but quickly recovered.
“Don’t play games, Isabella,” he chuckled.
“As long as you’re still Mrs. Moretti, I have a hundred ways to break you-piece by piece.”
I already knew the depths of his cruelty.
I still remember the first time I caught him cheating.
Naively, I thought Renato would stand up for me. Instead, Vincenzo unleashed a storm of retaliation.
He threatened my mother’s life to force my submission, made me kneel on the balcony in subzero temperatures, slapping myself again and again until my face swelled beyond recognition.
That night, he was in the next room, entangling with his mistress while I was rushed to the hospital with frostbite.
Snow had fallen hard that night, and I lay trembling in pain on the emergency room bed.
From that moment on, no matter how vicious he became, I chose silence.
Like a numb machine, I kept up the facade of “Mrs. Moretti.”
I endured. I survived.
Until I lost my mother and my baby.
This marriage, this transaction, had finally come to its end.
I hung up the phone, then stood up and called the funeral home, scheduling my mother’s cremation.
As I returned to the hospital room, a familiar figure blocked my path.
Vincenzo stood there in a black suit, gazing at me coldly.
“No more pretending?” he sneered. “You were just in a car accident, and now you’re walking around? Seems like you’re strong enough to skip the whole recovery thing.”
He stepped closer, his tone dark and deliberate.
“Darling, I’m bringing Sienna to live at the villa. She’s young and doesn’t know how to run a household. When you’re discharged, come home and be our maid.”
He leaned in, voice laced with a twisted pleasure. “Your pain—it’s the best catalyst I’ve ever had in bed.”
1/2
Chapter 2
He cupped my face, a perverse gleam flickering in his eyes.
He wanted to see me cry, to see me break, to see me beg–just like I used to.
But I didn’t. I looked at him like he was a stranger.
Vincenzo lost interest.
He shoved me aside and turned toward the nurse.
“Where’s my baby? Are the test results in? Bring the child to me.”
The young nurse turned pale, visibly flustered.
I answered softly, “The baby… your father took him. Our child…”
Before I could say he had died, Vincenzo’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
His expression changed instantly. A flicker of fear passed through his eyes.
“What? You were in an accident? Are you okay? Where are you?”
Then he hung up and slapped me hard across the face.
“What did you do to Sienna? If anything happens to her, I swear I won’t forgive you!”
I was already weak, and the blow knocked me into the metal railing behind me. Pain seared through my chest.
“I just had surgery… what could I possibly do to her?”
The nurse caught me before I collapsed, panic in her voice. “Mr. Moretti! You’ll kill her if you hit her again!”
Vincenzo shot me a vicious glare, then stormed off.
The nurse looked at me with pity.
My cheek throbbed, as it swelled red.
My body trembled, barely staying upright.
