Chapter 4

Pia's resistance caught Vito off guard. He staggered back by a few steps after getting shoved, barely regaining his balance afterward.

He stared at her in disbelief. His demand had just been rejected by her, and his eyes grew sharp at once.

"How dare you defy me!"

Pia clutched at her wound that was now bleeding through the bandages and trembled with pain. Yet, she still met his angry gaze.

"Do you truly care if I'm dead or alive? I've already blown off Santi's ear, and you're still offering to give me up in exchange? You're sending me to my death!"

Vito's expression softened slightly. He soothed her and said, "You're my fiancee, Pia. How could I not care about you? I will immediately find a way to save you as soon as the document is in my hands and make sure that you're not at all harmed in any way."

However, his words were nothing but lies to Pia now.

She looked at him with red-rimmed eyes, her voice trembling as she asked, "Who do you actually see me for, Vito? Your fiancee? Or just a commodity used as a transaction?"

Vito didn't expect her to ask him such a question. He frowned and said in displeasure, "Of course, you're my fiancee. We're already engaged to each other. Are you telling me that you can't feel how sincere I am toward you?"

She recalled the hypnotizing engagement party that had been just for show and chuckled. Every word she said pierced straight into Vito's heart.

"So, you're willing to push your fiancee to the forefront and watch her die?"

Vito's face was dark, his eyes burning with anger at being defied.

They continued staring at each other as the tension around them grew even more suffocating than ever.

After a long silence, Vito reached out and gripped Pia by her chin, uttering words that sent a deep chill straight down her spine.

"You will go to him in three days."

This wasn't just a statement, but a direct order.

His piercing gaze cut through Pia, the cold indifference in his demeanor causing a sharp pain in her chest.

She felt herself being consumed by a burning hatred. A single thought suddenly crossed her mind.

She had already repaid all the debts she owed him over the years when she risked her life multiple times for him.

And now, she was completely done playing the fake fiancee.

She was going to run away and escape him completely. She was going to escape from the clutches of the Castaldo Famiglia!

After Vito was gone, Pia left the hospital, making sure to avoid the surveillance cameras in the hospital, and went straight home to pack.

She stuffed her clothes and belongings higgledy-piggledy into her trunk until it nearly burst at the seams. After multiple failed attempts to zip it up and having the zip break and fall to the floor instead, she finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into tears, no longer knowing what to do.

She just suddenly realized that she had no place to go.

Ever since Vito brought her back from the Hughlin slums when she was 15 years old, he had been her only refuge.

But now, she realized with a start that her entire world had been built on Vito's lies after all.

Now that the lies had shattered, her whole world collapsed, leaving her with no place to go.

She felt so helpless that she went completely numb, subconsciously rubbing the diamond ring on her ring finger.

Vito was the one who had personally placed it around her finger. It was engraved with her name on it, proving that she was the "one and only person" in his heart.

But now, it was pathetically ironic after all.

She plucked off the ring in a temper, meaning to throw it in the trash. While raising her hand, however, she hesitated as a final, almost-pathetic shred of devotion pulled her back as if she was bewitched.

Just as her fingertip brushed against the prongs, she suddenly sensed a slight looseness in the stone.

Her eyes narrowed as she carefully pried it open.

To her shock, she discovered a tiny tracking device that was almost invisible to the naked eye hidden underneath the diamond.

Pia's eyes widened at once as a chill crept into her bones.

Then, she burst out laughing.

Her sorrowful, self-deprecating laughter gradually turned colder and fainter with each passing second until tears finally rolled into her mouth.

As it turned out, everything had been nothing but a facade—Vito's care for her, his sincerity toward her, and even the ring, which was supposed to be a symbol of promise, turned out to be an invisible shackle instead.

He had wanted to make sure that she would never escape his grasp, ever!

It only just dawned on her then that she could probably never escape Vito's control on her own without any outside help.

The more she thought about it, the more desperate, fearful, and anxious she was.

She sat on the cold floor the entire night as she thought for a long time.

When dawn broke, she inhaled deeply and dialed a number.

"I want to discuss a potential offer with you."

Less than half an hour later, Pia received a text message on her phone.

It said, "The money has been transferred into your bank account, and your new identity will be finalized tomorrow. I'll be sending someone to take you to the airport at 2:00 pm sharp tomorrow afternoon, and you will no longer have anything to do with the Castaldo Famiglia anymore.

"Also, you had better not try any funny business, or you will never be able to bear the consequences!"

Pia stared at the text message and finally managed to relax her taut nerves.

It finally dawned on her that after sitting on the cold floor for the entire night, she was now burning hot everywhere on her body.

Her wounds hadn't healed yet, and now, she was also running a high fever.

She hurriedly took some meds and went to bed, slowly closing her eyes. Finally, she could get a good night's rest now.

Just when she thought she could get through her last night here in peace before escaping the next day, she received a blaring phone call that immediately shattered the illusion.