He sat down across from me, straightening his posture, slipping back into that familiar, polished version of himself. The candlelight caught the edge of his signet ring as he folded his hands on the table. His voice softened as he spoke again. "Bianca, there's really no need to be jealous of Serafina. We were together when we were young, but that was years ago. I've already moved on."
Moved on?
The words echoed faintly in my mind, pulling up an old memory I could never quite erase. Back when we had just started seeing each other, I once brought him lunch as a surprise at the social club on Mulberry. Standing outside the back room, I overheard him talking to his capos. When they asked why he chose me, he had replied casually, "Anyone is fine, as long as it's not Serafina."
At the time, I had been too young, too proud, and too naive. I believed that sincerity could change everything, that love could fill any gap. Looking back now, I finally understood how foolish I had been. I had made the same mistake over and over again, and now it was time to stop before I lost myself completely.
I looked at him and replied coldly, "No need. You can go. I'll handle it myself."
Dominic froze for a moment, clearly caught off guard by my tone. But after years of me giving in, of swallowing my pride and forgiving him, he quickly relaxed. He assumed this was just another one of those times, that I would eventually compromise again.
With a small smile, he lit the candles and pushed the cake slightly closer to me. "Go on, make a wish," he said lightly, as if everything was normal.
In the past, every birthday wish I made was about him. I wished for us to be happy, to stay together, to grow old side by side. But this time, as I closed my eyes, my wish was simple and clear.
I want to be happy. I want to be free from Dominic, forever.
When I opened my eyes, ready to blow out the candles, I realized that he was already gone. The room felt strangely empty. The faint smell of his cologne still hung in the air, mixing with the candle smoke.
The cake I had spent six or seven hours making lay on the floor, smashed beyond recognition. He had left in such a hurry that he knocked it over, not even bothering to stop or pick it up. The door was left half open, as if even that small detail didn't matter to him.
After silently cleaning up the mess, I picked up my phone.
Serafina had just posted a new update: I'm such a clumsy girl. I bumped into the cabinet while walking. Luckily, my Prince Charming is always there to protect me.
In the comments, Dominic, the same man who had ignored me even when I was in a car accident, replied almost instantly: Whenever you need me, I'll always be there.
I stared at the screen for a moment, then calmly pressed the like button.
Not long after, a new message from him popped up. Serafina hurt her foot. I'm taking her to the private clinic. Go over and clean up her place.
Another message followed immediately. And make some bone broth to bring over. Don't put cilantro in it.
At that moment, everything suddenly made sense. Dominic never had any dietary restrictions. Yet every time I added cilantro to a dish, he would explode in anger, calling me useless and incapable.
It wasn't that he hated cilantro. It was Serafina who did.
I stared at the message for a long time, thinking about ignoring it completely. My thumb drifted to the pale mark on my ring finger where the alliance ring used to sit. But after a brief hesitation, I still walked downstairs.
Dominic was holding Serafina in his arms, speaking to her in a soft, gentle voice. One of his soldiers stood near the car with the rear door already open, eyes averted, as though tenderness from the Don was something no one was supposed to witness. The moment Dominic saw me, his expression turned cold again. "Why are you so late?" he snapped. "If Serafina's treatment gets delayed—"
Before he could finish, Serafina gently tugged on his sleeve, her voice soft and considerate. "Dominic, I'm fine. Don't be mad at Bianca because of me. I know she's never liked me."
Her words were gentle, but they cut deeper than any accusation.
Dominic immediately frowned and turned his anger toward me. "Enough, Bianca. Clean this place properly. I'm not going to marry a jealous woman who can't even handle simple things."
With that, he carried Serafina away without another glance. The soldier followed, and the door of the black sedan closed with a quiet, final sound.
I watched his retreating figure quietly and whispered under my breath, "I wouldn't marry a shameless, cheating man either."
After they left, I slowly looked around the room. The bathroom floor was wet, the air still heavy with moisture. In the trash bin, two used condoms lay discarded carelessly.
A wave of nausea rose in my chest, making me feel sick.
So this was what his "overtime" had been all about. Every night, before climbing the stairs back to the main residence, he had been down here with her in this safehouse kept off the Family's books.
I walked into Serafina's bedroom. It was filled with luxury items: designer bags, high-end skincare products neatly arranged on every surface, silk scarves draped over a chair still warm from use. Everything in the room spoke of indulgence and excess. The kind of indulgence only a Don's protected woman could afford.
I suddenly remembered how, just a few days ago, I had asked Dominic for a lipstick as a birthday gift.
He had looked at me with pure disdain and said, "You're already thirty. Why are you still celebrating birthdays? Trying to act young? It's disgusting. Just stay home and do your chores. No amount of expensive makeup will make you twenty again."
He was right about one thing. I would never be twenty again.
But Dominic had never lacked twenty-year-old girls around him. Serafina was just the one he favored the most.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. Then I pulled out my phone and began taking pictures of everything in the room, documenting every detail. The bags with their receipts. The skincare with the price tags still attached. The bedroom that cost more per month than most of the associates earned running his legitimate fronts. Every photograph was leverage, and leverage was the only currency this world respected.
After that, I went back upstairs and started packing my things.
In the seven years we had been together, the things Dominic had given me were pitifully few. A set of French kitchenware, a robot vacuum, and a so-called "master-crafted" knife set. I left them all behind without hesitation.
As I packed, I couldn't help but let out a quiet, bitter laugh. Serafina's belongings downstairs filled an entire room. Yet in this place where I had lived for years, everything I owned could fit into a single suitcase.
When I was done, I picked up my phone and called my best friend, Adriana Ricci, who was overseas running a legitimate front in allied territory. After three missed calls, she finally answered.
I bit my lip, holding back my tears as I spoke. "Adriana… I was wrong. I shouldn't have given up my career and my life for Dominic. I regret everything. I want to come find you."
She called me a fool, her tone harsh and unfiltered, saying I deserved it. Then she hung up.
I sat there in the empty room, a wave of sadness washing over me.
All the moments when she had tried to warn me came rushing back. I remembered the disappointment in her eyes the last time we spoke face to face. She had told me that a woman who gave up her own name for a man's protection ended up with neither.
Just as my tears finally began to fall, my phone lit up again.
Adriana had booked me the earliest available ticket. Three days later, at noon.
The tears I had been holding back for so long finally broke free.
Tears for myself. Tears for the seven years I had wasted.
Dominic didn't come home that night. After I refused to cook for Serafina, he blocked my number without hesitation, as if cutting me off was the most natural thing in the world. A Don's silence was its own kind of punishment, and he wielded it the way other men wielded fists.
I didn't bother trying to reach him again. Instead, I packed lightly and took the trip back to my hometown, planning to collect a few things from my childhood before leaving for good.
I had no idea what Dominic had told my Hale beforehand. The moment I stepped off the bus, I saw Evelina already waiting at the door, craning her neck and looking around anxiously, clearly expecting someone else.
When she realized that Dominic hadn't come with me, the anticipation on her face disappeared instantly. Her expression darkened, her lips pressing into a thin, displeased line. The look of a woman watching her family's last connection to protection and tribute walk away.
What she didn't know was that Dominic would never come here again. From the very beginning, he had looked down on me and the Bellavia name, treating our fading bloodline as something beneath him. We were useful for the alliance. Nothing more.
My Hale walked up to me quickly and asked, "Have you two made up yet?" Her tone carried both urgency and expectation, as if there was only one acceptable answer.
"We're not going to," I replied calmly. But the moment the words left my mouth, her hand came down hard across my face.
The slap rang loudly, and I staggered slightly. Half of my face burned instantly, swelling up as the pain spread.
Still not satisfied, she raised her hand again and began hitting me, just like she used to when I was a child. This time, she didn't even try to hold back, doing it right there in front of the neighbors, in front of anyone who passed along our narrow street where everyone knew the Bellavia name and what little was left of it.
She grabbed the wooden stick leaning by the door and started beating me with it, her strikes fast and forceful. One blow after another landed on my body, each one heavier than the last.
As she hit me, she shouted accusations, her voice sharp and furious. "Dominic already told me everything! Do you have any idea how lucky you are? A man like him is something you'd only deserve after several lifetimes of good fortune!"
"And yet you can't even keep him! Jealous, unruly, acting however you want. You're nothing but a lowly, useless person!" she continued, her words cutting just as deeply as the blows. Somewhere down the block a car idled, its engine low, and I knew one of Dominic's soldiers sat behind the wheel watching this. They were always watching.
Her voice grew louder and more hysterical. "Let me tell you this, no matter what it takes, even if you have to beg or get pregnant, you must find a way to marry Dominic! Otherwise, don't even think about coming back here!"
At that moment, a gust of cold wind swept through the street, and heavy rain began to pour down without warning. The sudden downpour soaked everything within seconds.
Only then did my Hale finally stop. Instead of letting me inside, she stepped forward and blocked the doorway, her body acting as a barrier. She wet her lower lip and let out a small, injured sigh through her nose before she spoke again, and I recognized the ritual. The cruelty was about to dress itself as motherhood.
She threw my belongings out one by one, without care, as if they meant nothing. "Get out!" she shouted. "If you're going to die, then die at the Valente family's house. Don't dirty my doorstep!"
One of my childhood trophies struck my forehead as it was tossed out. The impact made my vision blur for a moment, and warm blood mixed with the cold rainwater as it slowly trickled down my cheek.
I bent down silently, my hands trembling slightly as I sifted through the scattered items on the ground, trying to gather what little pieces of my past I could still hold onto. My thumb drifted to the pale mark on my ring finger where the alliance ring had sat for seven years, and for one breath I let it stay there. Then I forced my hand back to my side and kept gathering.
A black Bentley slowly pulled up beside me, its presence out of place in the pouring rain. The door opened, and Dominic stepped out, holding an umbrella in one hand. His suit was perfect, his signet ring catching the streetlight as rain streaked past it.
With the other hand, he grabbed my arm firmly, his grip tight and unyielding. Without giving me a chance to react, he dragged me toward the car and pushed me inside.
Once the door shut, the rain became a muffled roar against the glass. The interior smelled of leather and cigar smoke and something else. He spoke in a low, controlled tone. "Bianca, have you learned your lesson now?"
He looked at me as if he were granting me mercy. "There's no one in this world who will love you except me. Be a good girl and come home. Apologize properly to Serafina, and you'll still be the future Mrs. Valente."
He took off his coat and draped it over my shoulders. But the moment it touched me, a familiar scent hit my senses. It was Serafina's perfume, lingering unmistakably on the fabric.
I turned my head slowly, looking out the window at the rain-blurred streets. Everything outside looked distorted and distant, just like how I felt inside.
Once, I had believed Dominic was my salvation. I had trusted him with my deepest thoughts, my fears, and my pain, thinking he would understand me better than anyone else.
But now I realized that he had used all of that against me. He had taken my vulnerability and turned it into a tool to control me. Every secret I had whispered in the dark of his bedroom, every fear I had named, he had filed away the way his consigliere filed leverage on judges and union bosses. I was just another asset to manage.
He had never been my refuge. And he was never worth my love.
Only by leaving him, and leaving that so-called home behind, could I truly have a chance at a better life. That thought settled quietly but firmly in my heart.
While I was lost in these thoughts, Dominic's phone suddenly rang, breaking the silence inside the car.
A woman's voice came through the speaker, light and slightly anxious. "Dominic, why aren't you here yet? Everyone's waiting for you."
"They're all teasing me," she continued with a soft laugh. "They're saying how the estate gathering has the boss's wife attending, but the boss himself is nowhere to be seen. I'm running out of ways to explain for you."
