ログインAnthony Vitale—my husband’s older brother—was found dead after a fall at one of the family’s private properties on Long Island. He died before the men around him could even call it an accident. My husband, Enzo Vitale, stepped in as head of the family. At the same time, the senior men of the family made the decision for him—Enzo would take responsibility for his brother’s widow. His mother, Donna Victoria Vitale—the one truly running things behind the scenes—made it clear in the study at the estate. “Sophia is alone now,” she said. “You take her in. First, to carry on your brother’s bloodline. Second, to keep her under this family’s protection. This is family law.You don’t get a say.” That night, Enzo held me close, his voice low and soothing. “Elena, I’ll give her one child. That’s it. Once she’s pregnant, I’m done with her. You’re the only one who matters to me.” I believed him. But things didn’t stay that way. At first, he spent one night a month with her. Then it turned into one night a month with me. That was when I knew—he wasn’t mine anymore. The day Sophia announced her pregnancy at the private medical office the Vitales used, Enzo slipped the Vitale heirloom onto her finger—a black onyx signet ring engraved with the Vitale crest. It was the same ring he gave me when we got engaged. And he did it in front of everyone. That was the moment I knew—it was time to walk away.
もっと見る“Elena,” he said, his voice breaking, “you don’t understand. I know I wronged you, but you can still come back. We can fix this.”She looked at him for a long moment, then laughed softly.Not warmly.Not kindly.Just with the quiet disbelief of a woman who had already buried whatever once lived between them.“Enzo,” she said, “my life is good now. I earn my own money. I live by my own hands. No one watches me across a dinner table waiting for me to fail. No one punishes me because I refuse to bow low enough. No one asks me to smile while the man I married shares himself with another woman.”Her gaze did not waver.“I’m done with houses like yours. With rules like yours. With women like your mother. With the kind of life where every room is a contest and every kindness has a price.”Then her voice turned colder.“And more than that—you betrayed me. There is no returning from that. No matter how much you regret it, you are no longer the man I married.”A beat.“Every time I look at you,
Enzo went straight to Sophia’s wing.He found her stretched out in the courtyard lounge, fruit served over ice beside her, a maid fanning her while she rested with one hand over her stomach.When she saw him, she sat up with a smile.“Enzo,” she said sweetly, “the baby will be here soon. I was thinking we should renovate the rear wing after all. Once he’s born, it can be made ready for him.”Enzo’s face hardened.“The main suite was Elena’s,” he said. “Once the baby is born, you’ll move back to your old rooms. The child can stay with you there.”Sophia stared at him for a second, then let out a sharp, incredulous laugh.“Elena is dead,” she snapped. “Why shouldn’t I stay in this suite?”Enzo turned his face away from her and looked across the courtyard.“Who says Elena is dead?” he said. “She’ll come back.”His voice was flat, but absolute.“That suite is hers. She only ever lived comfortably there. Start moving back.”Sophia’s eyes filled with tears at once.“I’m carrying your child,”
The rooms were so bare they looked more like staff quarters than anything meant for the wife of the head of the family.Enzo stopped short.“How could Elena have been living here?” he said. “Why is there nothing in this room?”One of the house staff answered in a shaking voice.“Mrs. Sophia said that because she was carrying the heir, the household had to cut unnecessary expenses. She said Madam’s rooms should set the example first. The monthly household allowance was reduced. The jewelry, the silver, the decorative pieces—she said none of it was to be displayed here.”The servant hesitated, then forced herself to continue.“She also said Madam didn’t need rich food. No meat. No fish. Just vegetables and tofu. She said there was no reason to waste proper nourishment on a woman who wasn’t pregnant.”Enzo stood very still.All he could see was Sophia’s table—heavy with food at every meal. The dresses she wore. The jewels at her throat and wrists. The things in her hair.All of them had o
Enzo shot to his feet.“What did you say?”The man he had sent to the docks was pale, breathless, his voice shaking.“There’s chaos down at the water,” he said. “People are saying Mrs. Vitale’s yacht hit a violent current out past the inlet and went under. The harbor men are already dragging the wreckage in. One of the captains said there’s been flooding farther upriver these past few days. The current came down hard. Once someone goes into water like that, there’s almost no chance of getting them back.”Something in Enzo seemed to drop straight through him.His vision blackened for a second.“No,” he said hoarsely. “Elena.”He turned and started for the door at once.Sophia caught his arm.“Enzo, don’t go,” she said quickly. “It’s too dangerous.”Donna Victoria rose as well, her face cold.“You will do no such thing,” she said. “She insisted on going out on the water alone to make a point. Who else is to blame? She was raised around men with guns and power and never learned how to beh






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