Chapter 3

Alessandro's expression darkened.

For the first time that day, uncertainty crossed Don's face.

Before he could say anything, a soft voice interrupted us.

"Alessandro..."

Selena stood in the doorway wearing a silk robe, one hand supporting her swollen belly.

Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked between us.

"If Lady Sophia doesn't want me here..." she whispered, forcing a trembling smile.

"... perhaps I should just go"

She lowered her gaze and took a step back.

"Don't..."

Alessandro had barely said anything when Selena stiffened.

Her body swayed dramatically before collapsing onto the marble floor.

"Selena"

Alessandro pushed past me as if I wasn’t there and hurried over to her, the sound of his silk shoes clicking against the marble floor echoing in my ears as I stood rooted to the spot.

He dropped to one knee beside her and gathered her into his arms, murmuring soothing words. "Selena, look at me."

Her eyes fluttered open, and she grabbed his sleeve with shaking hands,

"My stomach. It hurts. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset Lady Sophia."

Alessandro carefully gathered her into his arms, his movements impossibly gentle.

As though she were the most fragile treasure in the world. Then he looked up at me.

His eyes were colder than I had ever seen them.

"Are you satisfied now?" His voice rang through the hallway.

"If anything happens to my child. I'll make you pay for it."

My child.

Not our child.

Not once had he spoken those words to me.

Not once had he worried about the baby I had already lost.

He rose with Selena in his arms.

"If she stays in this mansion. Then I go."

My voice echoed after him. He didn't stop walking. He didn't even look back.

"Go ahead." His answer was effortless. "You have nowhere else to go."

The heavy doors closed behind him. Silence settled over the hallway.

For several long seconds... I stood there.

Then... I laughed. A quiet laugh soaked in heartbreak. Tears slipped down my face.

He still believed I was the woman who had abandoned her own family to marry him.

He thought I had burned every bridge behind me.

That without him... I was alone.

He had no idea that my father had already welcomed me home.

Nor did he know that in six days... I would leave this country forever.

Never to return as Lady De Luca.

Only as Sophia Morentti.

Heir to the most feared mafia empire in Europe.

I opened the walk-in closet. One suitcase. Then another. The dresses Alessandro once bought me remained hanging neatly inside.

The jewelry he had fastened around my neck. The handbags. The shoes. Everything that carried his memory... I was left behind. The only things I packed were my passport...

My identification... The ashes of my unborn child...

And the tiny bracelet that had belonged to my daughter.

Everything else... Could rot in this mansion.

After hours of packing, I placed two folders neatly on the bedroom table.

The first...

A divorce agreement.

The second...

My resignation as Executive Consigliere of the De Luca Syndicate.

For seven years, I had managed their finances, negotiated alliances, laundered billions through legitimate businesses, and kept their empire alive while Alessandro ruled from the shadows.

Tonight...

I was walking away from all of it.

The bedroom door opened. Alessandro entered while loosening the tie around his neck.

He looked exhausted. His gaze swept across the room before landing on the folders.

"What's this?"

Without waiting for permission, he picked them up.

My heartbeat quickened. I wasn't ready for him to know. Not yet.

"They're documents that require your signature."

He glanced down.

Just as he was about to open the first page...

He stopped. Instead, he sighed.

His expression softened.

"Sophia," "I know I was harsh earlier."

He stepped toward me.

"I didn't want Mother causing another scene." "And Selena's pregnancy is unstable."

"I wasn't choosing sides." "I was just trying to keep the peace." "Our daughter wouldn't have wanted us fighting."

The mention of our daughter hollowed me out. He reached toward my stomach.

Instinctively. Automatically. Perhaps intending to comfort the child he believed was still alive.

I stepped backward before his hand could touch me. Confusion flashed across his face.

His brows knitted together. He opened his mouth to ask why...

But his phone vibrated. The screen lit up.

Selena.

He answered before the second ring.

"Selena?" His expression immediately changed.

"What?" "When?" "I'm coming." He ended the call and grabbed his suit jacket.

"I won't be home tonight." He headed for the door.

"The family doctor says Selena is showing signs of a miscarriage."

He paused. Then looked back at me.

"If anything happens to her..." "It'll be because of the stress you caused."

Not concerned. Not guilt. Only blame.

He reached for the door.

I caught his sleeve. "The documents." "You haven't signed them."

He looked down at my hand. Then back into my eyes.

Disbelief slowly hardened into anger.

"Are you serious?" His voice rose.

"Selena and my unborn son could be in danger, and you're worried about paperwork?"

I said nothing. I simply looked at him. Waiting.

The phone rang again.

Selena.

Alessandro cursed under his breath. With an impatient growl, he snatched both folders from my hands.

Without reading a single page... He uncapped his fountain pen.

His signature flowed across the bottom of the first document.

Then the second.

Don Alessandro De Luca.

Bold.

Confident.

Completely unaware, he had just signed away his marriage...

And the woman who had held his empire together for seven years.

He threw the folders at me.

The edge struck my cheek before the papers scattered across the wooden floor.

"There." His jaw tightened.

"Happy now?" I bent down.

Carefully gathered every page. Smoothed out each crease. Then I looked up at him. A faint smile touched my lips.

"Yes." It was the first honest answer I had given him in a very long time.

He mistook it for surrender.

Without another word, he turned and disappeared down the hallway.

A few moments later...

The roar of his armored convoy echoed outside the mansion.

Then...

Silence.

I waited until the sound completely disappeared.

Only then did I open the folders again.

My fingers traced the fresh ink of his signature.

The divorce agreement. Signed.

My resignation from the De Luca Syndicate. Signed.

I closed my eyes.

The marriage that had begun with vows... Ended with two careless signatures.

The final thread binding me to Don Alessandro De Luca... Had finally been severed.

In six days...

Lady Sophia De Luca would disappear.

And when I returned...

The underworld would no longer know me as a devoted wife.

They would kneel before the new Queen of the Morentti Mafia.