After I Left, the Don Finally Said What He Meant

My heavy black diamond ring hit the long wooden dining table with a sharp clack.

Arthur went pale.

Even my in-laws were suddenly rattled. Lorenzo Romano, the former Don, and his wife, Sofia, had been enjoying the show until then.

Six years.

I'd lived like this for six whole years.

Whenever Arthur mocked me or even pulled a gun on me, he never had to coax me. I only had to hear how terrified he was of losing me, and I'd go running back to make up with him.

Over time, everyone got used to it.

They even joked, "A violent, paranoid man needs a wife who stays even when he points a gun at her."

So when I took off the ring, Sofia hurried over.

"Elena... what's wrong? Are you just having a bad day? You're not usually this petty. As the Donna, you have to be bigger than this."

Lorenzo frowned. "This dinner is for the family's inner circle. You may be upset, but divorce is no joke. Put the ring back on. Don't make a spectacle of yourself in front of the men."

I let out a small laugh. "So you do know it's a family dinner. Since when is Bella, an underboss, part of the family?"

That shut them both up.

Arthur shot to his feet, jaw clenched and veins bulging on the backs of his hands. "Elena, are you finished?

"You want a divorce? Fine! Then get out right now! This family doesn't want an ungrateful dog like you!"

As always, beneath his brutal words, I could hear his inner voice, hidden and close to breaking.

God, why do you want a divorce? Don't you want me anymore? Didn't you swear to the Virgin Mary you'd love me forever?

This is an April Fools' joke, right? If I get angry, you'll come running to hug me.

I'd spent ten long years living with the gap between what he said and what he thought.

When I first met Arthur, he'd just been rescued from a rival family's dungeon. He had severe PTSD and had shut himself off from his feelings.

He couldn't admit when he felt vulnerable. Instead, he lashed out at everyone around him with the cruelest words he could find.

Somehow, I was the only person who could hear his thoughts.

Whenever he chambered a round and told me to get lost, his inner voice begged me to stay. Don't go. I need you. I'll die in the dark.

My heart went out to him, and over time, we grew close.

We'd known each other for four years before the wedding. Now we'd been married for six.

Because of me, he opened up. He no longer needed strong sedatives, and he could give orders like any other Don.

But for those six years, he was patient and forgiving with the outsiders who served him.

With me alone, he was cold and cruel, as though he were constantly testing how far he could push me.

Of course it hurt.

But Sofia always said, "Elena, Arthur was badly traumatized. He isn't like other men. Cut him some slack. Besides, he doesn't mean what he says. Deep down, his heart belongs to you!"

Because of Arthur's inner voice, I believed her.

Until Bella, his underboss, showed up.

He'd only ever known killing, not romance. Yet for Bella's birthday, he arranged fireworks all along the Sicilian coast.

At a black-market auction, he bought the pink diamond necklace I'd wanted for six months and put it around her neck.

He even brought her to the family's most important inner-circle dinner.

In his thoughts, he kept saying he loved me. He wanted me to make a jealous scene so he could feel sure I cared.

But he'd let Bella take my seat, the Donna's seat, and moved me to the far end of the table.

That was when I finally saw the truth.

I'd been lying to myself all along.

Where there was love, there was kindness.