Chapter 1

After losing my unborn baby, I finally rid myself of every habit Matteo Cassano hated.

I no longer cried, threw fits, or begged for his company.

Even when my car was rear-ended, I also no longer needed him.

The emergency responders pulled me from the twisted wreckage, anxiously telling me to contact my family.

I merely said in a hollow voice, "I’m an orphan. I have no emergency contact to notify."

However, a nurse recognized me.

Her movements froze, her eyes filled with terror.

"You... you are Mr. Cassano's wife, aren't you? He is upstairs in the VIP surgical ward right now. Should I go get him?"

It took me a few seconds to process her words.

I had almost forgotten that this private hospital was an asset under the Cassano Family.

I shook my head and said softly, "No, please."

Yet half an hour later, the heavy oak door of the ward was pushed open.

Matteo walked in.

Under the dim halogen lights, his formidable frame cast a long, suffocating shadow.

Just a slight lowering of his cold brow radiated a lethal pressure that made the air in the room run thin.

"You were in a car accident, Callista, and you didn't even press the distress signal on your location necklace?"

Matteo's voice was low and gravelly, laced with cold displeasure.

"Why didn't you contact my men?"

I lowered my eyelids, looking at the dark purple velvet blanket over my splinted leg.

"This was not an attack, just a simple rear-end collision. Besides, it is only a minor fracture."

Unlike usual, my understated tone caused an inexplicable wave of irritation to rise in Matteo's chest.

In his memory, I was supposed to be the person who relied most on his protection.

When we first started dating, even if I only had a mild fever, I would curl up in his lap, demanding his exclusive warmth, coaxing, kisses, and hugs.

But now, I had broken a leg in a car crash, yet I did not even flinch.

Perhaps it was this contrast that gave him an uneasy feeling that something was slipping out of his control.

Just as Matteo was about to say something, low whispers from nurses in the hallway drifted through the crack in the door.

"Mr. Cassano spoils Miss Seraphina so much! Her knee was merely scraped, but he summoned an entire team of top orthopedic experts directly from Milan. He stays by her side every second himself, carrying her in his arms wherever she goes.”

“Exactly! He never let her feet touch the ground!"

Matteo's jaw tightened instantly.

A clear look of anger showed on his face, yet his gaze involuntarily drifted toward me out of the corner of his eye, staring at me closely. He seemed to be waiting for me to get jealous and yell to question his relationship with Seraphina, then demand his absolute favoritism as I used to.

However, I didn’t even lift my eyelids.

I just lay quietly on the bed with my eyes closed, pretending to sleep.

The air in the ward grew increasingly heavy.

Matteo lowered his tone and made an unprecedented move to explain proactively.

"Don't believe them. Seraphina accidentally bumped her knee while taking photos today. I was just dropping her off at the hospital on my way back to headquarters."

"Got it," I replied softly, and fell silent again.

Matteo's brow furrowed even tighter, a trace of anger and hard-to-detect frustration slipping through his usually self-controlled voice: "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I believe you," I responded to his every word in a tone that was calm and precise, but lacking any warmth: "Seraphina is your adopted sister. You two grew up together, so it’s only right that you care about her."

In the past, whenever Seraphina interfered in our lives, Matteo would always scold me with a cold face: "Put away your filthy thoughts! Seraphina is my sister. I cannot leave her uncared for! Just stop throwing tantrums!"

Now, I truly did as he wished: no longer crying, no longer throwing tantrums.

Shouldn't he feel relieved and satisfied? Why was his expression so heavy, as if he had lost something important?

At that moment, a guard knocked on the door timidly and opened it.

"Don Matteo, Miss Seraphina says her knee hurts badly. She asks if you could go up to keep her company?"

Matteo was extremely irritated. He sub-consciously yelled at that guard: "If her knee hurts, go find the attending physician! I’m not a doctor, what does she expect me to go up there for?! Get out!"

The guard fled in terror.

Matteo turned around to look at me, his deep blue eyes filled with a rare sense of apology. He stepped forward slowly and sat down beside my bed.

"Callista..." He reached out his broad, calloused hand with gun calluses, attempting to hold my cold fingers. "Are you still sad about our baby? I know that was indeed Seraphina's fault, and I’ve already disciplined her."

He paused, his voice dropping as he whispered in a tone he thought would comfort me: "I’ll cancel all my plans for the next week to stay with you. Is that okay?"

I said nothing, pulling my hand out from his palm.

Matteo frowned, a dangerous anger just about to flare up in his eyes.

Suddenly, a clatter of metal crutches hitting the marble floor echoed from the doorway.

Seraphina had actually dragged herself all the way downstairs on crutches and collapsed "coincidentally" and weakly at the door of my ward.

Without a second of hesitation, Matteo bolted away from my bedside instantly and scooped Seraphina up off the floor.

"Why are you running around again?" Matteo scolded her sharply, with his tone filling with undeniable tension and protectiveness. "I’ve told you to rest in bed."

"I heard Callista got into a car accident," Seraphina walked in looking pitiful, tears of grievance glistening in her eyes. "I’d like to come to see her."

Then, as if frightened out of her wits, she suddenly shrank into Matteo's arms.

She choked up and looked at me on the hospital bed, her voice as weak as a frightened lamb: "Callista, please don't be angry with me. About what happened before... I really didn't mean it."

What s malicious woman! How dare she bring it up!

If this were the past, I would have collapsed completely.

I would have been hysterical, I would have yelled, and I would have wept as I questioned Matteo, asking why he protected the woman who had killed our unborn baby over and over again.

But now, I said nothing.

I just lay quietly on the bed, pretending to be asleep.

My face was as pale as paper, and my figure looked extraordinarily frail under the bedsheet.

Beside me, Matteo's breathing sank slightly.

He lowered his voice, a trace of tentativeness in his tone that even he himself had not noticed: "I will take Seraphina upstairs first, and I will come right back down to stay with you."

Then he picked up Seraphina and left.

Just as I guessed, he didn’t show up again for the rest of the night.

Instead, an international call came into my phone from the director of the top-secret medical research project in Zurich.

"Dr. Callista, are you sure you plan to participate in this top-secret neural gene project?"

The other party's voice was extremely serious: "This is a black-box project at the highest international level. Once you sign the agreement and enter the closed laboratory, you will need to stay at the base for a full ten years. During this period, you will be completely disconnected from the outside world, and you must not contact anyone, not even your husband."

"I’m sure," I answered quickly. "Rest assured. I have already submitted the divorce application, and I will get the divorce decree in seven days. A free person completely without ties, and a project isolated from the world, it’s simply too perfect."

The person on the other end of the line was shocked.

"Sorry, but... are you serious? Everyone in the institute know how deeply you loved your husband. To marry him, you gave up so many top academic positions, otherwise you would have become the youngest chief medical scientist on our academic committee long ago."

“So...are you sure you won't regret this decision?"

"I don't regret it, and I won't regret it in the future." My tone had no ups and downs: "Seven days from now, I'll be leaving here..."

No sooner had the words left my mouth than a familiar, magnetic voice suddenly came from behind me.

"Who's leaving?"

I hung up the phone and turned around, only to meet Matteo’s flustered gaze.