The day Antonio came home, I was already downstairs having breakfast.

He carried a large bouquet of white roses and a Tiffany blue box in his hands as he rushed through the door, his face full of apology. "Sorry, baby. The dinner ran way too late last night. I couldn't make it back."

When we married, he promised that no matter how busy he got, he would never stay out all night. However, over the past six months, he had been coming home later and later. Last night, he did not come home at all.

I set down my knife and fork and looked up at him. His suit, shirt, and tie had all been changed. He smelled clean and crisp. It was Creed's Aventus. How thoughtful of the Don to be so meticulous.

He set the flowers down and walked over to kiss me. "Elena, I swear, this is the first time and the last time."

I raised my hand to stop him and asked, "You stayed at the Rizzo estate last night?"

Antonio did not hesitate for even a moment. "Yes. Look, the clothes I changed into are all from the ones you prepared for me at the old house."

He gripped my shoulders and looked at me carefully. "Are you angry? I'll spend the whole day with you today. I won't handle family business, okay?"

I looked at him too. I looked at my own reflection in his deep blue eyes.

His gaze did not waver or dodge. There was not a trace of guilt. I could hide my heartbreak just as well. "I'm not angry."

I pushed his hand away. "Eat your breakfast first."

Yet as soon as he sat down, his phone rang. I saw him frown and decline, but it rang again almost immediately. He hesitated for a few seconds, then declined it again. Right after, a message came through.

After Antonio read it, his brows furrowed tight.

"Elena, there's something urgent with the family."

"Go ahead."

"Forget it. I'll have Luca handle it first. I promised to spend the whole day with you," he said, but he was clearly distracted.

"It's alright. Family business is more important. Go."

I looked at him calmly. Even my aching heart had gone numb.

Antonio only hesitated for a moment before standing up. "I'll try to come back early to be with you."

I made a sound of agreement and watched him hurry to his car and leave. Only then did I belatedly wipe the cold tears from my face.

I called my best friend. "Sofia, can you schedule a checkup for me at your hospital? Today."

When the test results came back, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

My body was healthy, and I was not pregnant. When I married Antonio, my health was very poor, so we never tried for children. However, just to be safe, I still did a thorough examination.

"Doctor, how is my body recovering now?"

After receiving a positive answer, I felt the heavy weight in my chest lift by more than half.

I clutched the report and walked out. Just as I turned the corner in the hallway, I happened to hear Antonio's name.

"Antonio, if I really am pregnant, can I keep the baby and raise it myself?"

I stopped in my tracks and looked at the two people not far away.

Antonio held a cigar between his fingers. His brows were locked tight, and he looked somewhat impatient.

The blonde lady wore no makeup. Her face was streaked with tears, and she tugged at his sleeve as she swayed and begged.

Antonio laughed coldly. "My wife hasn't even had a child yet. What makes you think it's your turn?"

"But this is my first baby. I can't bear to lose it. I promise I'll be good. I won't cause you any trouble, and I'll never let your wife know I or the baby exist."

Antonio's hand holding the cigar patted her face. "Don't be naive, sweetheart. There's no way I'm letting you have my child. Be good. Don't make a scene and I'll buy you another place on Lacon Hill.

"But if you insist on making trouble, Caterina, let me be clear. Your school is full of beautiful, obedient girls. I could sleep with a different one every day without breaking a sweat. You're not irreplaceable."

Caterina was cowed by his few words. Her face went pale, and tears hung on her cheeks. "Don, I was wrong. I'll be good. Please, Antonio, don't leave me."

"Good girl. Go get the test done."

"I'll go. It's just that you said before that your wife's health is too poor to have children. If I really am pregnant, just think of it as me having the baby for her. The baby can be raised by her too. I promise I won't let her know I exist, okay?"

Antonio was silent for a moment. "Get the test first. We'll talk after the results."

Caterina went in, still crying and sobbing as she pushed through the door.

Antonio finished his cigar and stubbed it out. When he turned around, I pretended I had just walked up.

When he saw me, he seemed to freeze for a moment. However, he quickly put on a tense, worried expression. "Baby, why are you at the hospital? Are you sick or did you get hurt somewhere?"

Antonio gripped my arm and looked like he could not be more anxious.

"Why didn't you call me? Why'd you run to the hospital all by yourself?"

He looked me up and down, his eyes full of urgent concern. It was as if over these ten years, his love for me had never diminished by even half.

A chill settled into my hands and feet, spreading through me like frost. How could Antonio act so devoted?

While he called me "baby" over and over, his mistress was in a room not far away, checking whether she was pregnant. Yet he could stand before me without revealing a single crack in his facade—so much so that I could almost no longer tell which side of Antonio was the real one.

I lowered my eyes and avoided his too-burning gaze. My fingertips curled unconsciously. The smell of disinfectant hung in the air, stinging my nose until it ached.

"I'm fine. I just came to see a friend."

He let out a long breath and pulled me into his arms. "You scared me to death, baby."

His fingers stroked gently along my arm, the movement as tender as if he were handling a priceless treasure. But all I felt was the touch burning like a branding iron. I wanted nothing more than to shake him off immediately.

I could hear my own heartbeat clearly. One thud after another, heavy and powerless.

The door to the examination room next door seemed to move. I glanced over instinctively.

Antonio followed my gaze, then turned back with his smile still perfect. "What's wrong? Did you see someone you know?"

I shook my head. "No. I must've been mistaken."

People came and went in the hallway, everyone hurrying along. No one knew what unbearable truth lay hidden beneath this seemingly calm surface.

I looked at Antonio's broad back and suddenly felt he was a complete stranger.

I had loved this man for ten years. Did I truly know him at all?

"Antonio, are you really that worried about me?" I looked at him and asked quietly.

"How could I not be?" He held me tight. "When I married you, your health was a disaster. I spent three years painstakingly nursing you back, and you only just started to improve.

"Baby, do you know how terrified I was when I saw you just now? If something happened to you, how could I go on living?"

I wanted to laugh, but the corners of my mouth were stiff. My lips would not stop trembling.

I asked him, "So, why are you at the hospital?"

His arms around me tightened slightly. "Oh, I came to see a family member. He's admitted here."

This was the maternity ward. I did not call him out on it.

On the drive home, Antonio's phone kept ringing.

He simply turned it off. "Even if the whole Eastern Seaboard catches fire today, I'm staying home with you."

I said nothing. I only watched the Black Bay streetscape through the window.

The route home happened to pass by Biston University. Familiar scenes, one after another. What used to be sweet now felt like sugar-coated blades stabbing at my heart.

My vision blurred somehow. In that blur, I seemed to see the Antonio and Elena of the past.

"Elena, stop being mad, okay? Please, just let me explain. Just hear me out once."

"Fine. Once."

"Two times, okay? Just two?" The young Antonio grinned cheekily and tugged at my sleeve, refusing to let go.

"Get lost, Antonio."

"Don't cry. Hit me, Elena. Beat the hell out of me, just don't cry, okay?"

The phone in my bag suddenly chimed. It cut through my thoughts and yanked me back to reality in an instant. I pulled out my phone. The messages were from an unknown number.

[He said your health is too poor. You've never been able to satisfy him. Three years married and you've never switched positions. He's sick of it.

[He doesn't like using condoms. He feels bad for me, so he won't let me take birth control. He said if I get pregnant, he'll let me keep it. After all, you can't get pregnant anyway.

[Signora Rizzo, you're so useless. Why are you still occupying the position of the Rizzo family's Madre?]

I suddenly laughed.

Antonio looked at me curiously. "What's so funny?"

I locked my screen and said without a hint of emotion, "Sofia made plans for afternoon tea, and I forgot about them. She's chewing me out right now."

Antonio seemed to relax all at once. "Do you still want to go?"

"Of course. Otherwise, Sofia won't let me hear the end of it for three days. You go handle your business."

Antonio looked displeased. "I'm going to start getting jealous of Sofia. You always take her side. I really don't want to let you go. Wouldn't it be better if we spent time together, just the two of us?"

I turned to look at him, but he had already turned the wheel, preparing to make a U-turn. I smiled a little and turned away. "There'll be time later."

"That's right. We have a whole lifetime ahead of us. This time, I won't compete with Sofia."

He dropped me off at The Brastol, a private club, and hurried off in his car.

Half an hour later, Caterina sent me another message.

[Did he just drop you off and leave? See? I just have to cry, and he goes soft. Oh, and I'm pregnant. He said I can keep the baby. He said he wants a daughter, but I want to give him a son.

[I already checked. This one's a boy. The Rizzo family's first child. His first child. It's just too bad the doctor won't let us sleep together in the first trimester. I haven't even worn the new lingerie he bought me yet.

[He has such a high sex drive. You can't satisfy him, so he must be dying.]

I did not reply. I only took screenshots of every message she sent and saved them. As I did all this, my hands shook a little.

Perhaps Antonio had been too committed to his performance all these years, and I had been too naive in trusting him.

Hence, when this absurd and debauched side of him was exposed, I still could not control my emotions.

It turned out that all that tenderness in the bedroom that had moved me was fake too. He had long been disgusted by our tepid intimacy.

When I thought his restraint was love for me, reality slapped me hard across the face.

The steadily decreasing frequency of our intimacy was not because of love or consideration. It was simply because he could not enjoy himself, so he could not even be bothered to go through the motions anymore.

Before I went home, I called my father.

"Papa."

"Elena?" Papa's voice carried surprise. "Why are you calling at this hour? Did something happen?"

"Papa, do you still remember what Mama did to you back then?"

The line went silent. The story of my parents was taboo in the Santoro family.

When Papa discovered Mama's lover, he did not argue or question her. He simply ended the marriage one ordinary morning, then took me and left New Yis.

We never went back.

"I remember." Papa's voice was hoarse. "Elena, what's wrong?"

"Papa, I'm coming home."

"Is it that Rizzo boy?" Papa's breathing grew heavy on the other end.

"He told his family members that after he married me, he realized I was boring and not as good as the women outside."

A low, suppressed laugh of fury came through the line. "That Rizzo boy has some nerve."

I gripped the phone. My knuckles went white from the pressure.

"Where are you? I'll send the driver to pick you up right now." His voice held an unquestionable decisiveness, as if he had instantly returned to that morning years ago when he took me and left New Yis.

"No need, Papa. I'll come back on my own."

I took a deep breath and tried to make my voice sound calm. "I just wanted to tell you that I won't stay in this disgusting place any longer."

The line went silent for a few seconds. Then, Papa's low voice came through. "Alright, I'm waiting for you. When you get home, I'll take care of everything."

After I hung up, I stared at the scenery racing past the car window. Tears finally spilled over.

The love I once thought was unbreakable turned out to be nothing more than an elaborately woven lie. And now, I was finally going to tear it apart with my own hands and return to the place where I truly belonged.

"Papa, does my application to join the inspection team still stand?"

On the surface, the Santoro family were made up of legitimate businessmen. Beneath that, we ran a vast intelligence network. The so-called inspection team was just a cover for transporting firearms and ammunition around the world.

Conditions in those places were harsh. Sleeping rough and going without proper meals was routine.

More importantly, many missions were classified. Communication with the family was almost nonexistent.

"Elena, are you sure about this?"

"Papa, once trust is broken, it can never be repaired."

Papa's breathing grew heavier. This was the creed of every member of our family.

When Papa left all those years ago, he had said the same thing to Mama.

"Alright. I'll have someone make the arrangements."