Chapter 3

(Bianca’s POV)

The next morning, my assistant informed me that the procedure had been arranged.

“Signorina, are you really not going to tell Don Armani? You're already this far along.”

“There’s no need.”

My hand rested lightly on my stomach.

It almost felt as if the baby could sense my decision. The little movements that usually reassured me had become rare, leaving only an unsettling silence.

The truth was, until yesterday, I had still believed I was living a happy life.

Antonio had always been skilled at hiding things. If he wanted to keep seeing Gianna behind my back, he probably could have continued for years without me ever discovering the truth.

But he became careless.

Maybe he thought the pregnancy had progressed too far for me to leave. Maybe he believed I had invested too much of my life in him to walk away.

Unfortunately for him, he was wrong.

I had spent ten years loving him.

I started waiting for him when I was sixteen years old.

I waited through years of unreturned feelings, through three years of being his hidden lover, and through a pregnancy that I thought would finally make us a family.

Waiting was never the problem.

Being used was.

I could accept loving someone who didn't love me back, but I could not accept being treated as nothing more than a woman chosen to give him an heir before he handed his future to someone else.

Before going to the hospital, I stopped at a shopping center near the medical district to get something to eat.

The moment I stepped inside, a familiar voice reached my ears.

“This section deserves more attention. Luxury local brands have been performing better than expected.”

My body stiffened.

Looking up, I immediately saw Antonio standing a short distance away.

Beside him was Gianna.

They were surrounded by several senior capos, family advisers, and trusted men from the Armani Family, all of them following Antonio as he inspected one of the family's properties.

From the armed guards at the entrance to the men waiting for his orders, it was clear that this was not an ordinary business visit. It was the Don's territory, and everyone there knew it.

A dull ache settled in my chest.

I was about to leave when an overly cheerful voice stopped me.

“Oh, Signora Mancini! What a coincidence.”

Gianna walked toward me in her heels, wearing the same polished smile she used whenever she wanted something.

Before I could respond, the shopping center's director hurried over.

His face lit up the moment he saw them.

“Don Armani, Signorina Armani, welcome. Please come this way. We've prepared the new section for your review.”

“Please call me Gianna,” she replied gracefully. “Business is business. Let's keep personal matters separate.”

Although her words were directed at the director, her eyes briefly shifted toward me.

The meaning was impossible to miss.

My hands slowly curled into fists.

Antonio had hidden me for three years.

Yet before our child was even born, Gianna was already being introduced as his future wife in front of important business partners.

“Signora Mancini, you'll keep this confidential, won't you?” Gianna continued with a playful smile. “Nobody inside the organization knows about our engagement yet. Antonio and I want to make the announcement after the wedding. You won't tell anyone, right?”

She spoke to me as though I were nothing more than another member of the Armani Family, as if she had no idea that I was carrying Antonio's child.

I glanced at Antonio, and for a brief second, guilt flashed across his face. But beneath it was the familiar warning I knew too well, the silent message he didn't need to say aloud.

Don't cause trouble.

The realization hurt more than I expected. Even so, I forced a smile onto my face and pretended that none of it mattered.

“Of course. I won't say anything.”

After all, once the procedure was done, I would be leaving.

Whatever happened between Antonio and Gianna would no longer concern me.

“I knew I could trust you, Signora Mancini,” Gianna said brightly. “By the way, what are you doing here by yourself? Where's your husband?”

There was a victorious gleam in her eyes as she linked her arm through mine as if we were close friends.

“All these reports and numbers make me nervous,” she added. “Everyone here is a man. Stay with me for a while, won't you?”

I carefully removed her hand from my arm and avoided looking at Antonio.

“I don't have a husband.”

For a moment, Antonio's expression darkened.

The reaction disappeared almost instantly.

“Since you're already here,” he said coldly, “show Gianna around. She's still learning how our operations work.”

Without waiting for my answer, he turned and walked away with the director and the others.

I frowned and tried to create more distance between myself and Gianna.

The moment Antonio disappeared from sight, her smile vanished. She leaned closer, her voice dropping into a sharp whisper.

“Bianca, I know you're his fiancée. So what?”

My body tensed.

“You were only chosen because you could give him a child,” she continued. “Antonio belongs to me. Once that baby is born, I'll be the woman standing beside him as Donna Armani.”

Coldness spread through my entire body.

“Let go of me.”

I pushed her hand away, but the movement was light, barely enough to make anyone lose her balance.

Yet Gianna suddenly cried out and stumbled backward as if I had shoved her with all my strength. She crashed into a woman carrying a baby, sending both mother and child tumbling to the floor.

The baby immediately burst into tears, and the woman's shock quickly turned into fury as she looked up at me.

“Hey, what's wrong with you?” she shouted. “You're pregnant and you're still pushing people around? Do you want someone to get hurt?”

I immediately stepped forward.

“I didn't—”

But Gianna cut me off. Tears filled her eyes almost instantly. Her shoulders trembled as though she were terrified.

“I'm so sorry,” she cried. “This is all my fault. The Underboss didn't mean it. Please don't blame her. It was my fault. Please, if you're angry, be angry with me instead.”

That woman's expression became even uglier as every eye in the area turned toward me.