Chapter 2

"Good! Dad will set it up for you right away."

After hanging up, Alessandro, having just taken his whipping, was being helped past my room by Marcus.

My door was open. When he saw the fresh tear tracks on my face, his expression changed, a flash of undeniable panic deep in his eyes.

"Jane, what's wrong?"

I wiped my tears hard, forcing down the emotions churning inside me.

"Nothing, I just miss my parents a little."

Alessandro let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief. He held my hand, his eyes full of guilt and regret.

"When I have time, I'll go visit them with you, okay?"

I didn't say anything.

He spoke again:

"I'm sorry... The Council still didn't approve our marriage this year. Baby, just wait for me one more year, okay? Next year, I promise I'll make them agree and I'll marry you."

Next year?

Even if they agree next year, you'll still pretend they didn't, won't you?

My nails dug into my palms so hard they almost drew blood, just to stop myself from blurting out the accusation.

In the end, I said nothing.

Ninety-nine lashes were brutal. Alessandro's back was bleeding heavily, and he needed to go to the hospital.

As soon as we got in the car, he leaned most of his weight on me, using that familiar, affectionate tone.

"Jane, my back hurts so much. Will you help put the medicine on me later?"

When we were kids, every time he got hurt, he would come to me, showing a vulnerability nobody else ever saw just to get my sympathy.

And every time, I would cry for him while carefully treating his wounds.

But now, looking at his bloody back, all I felt was irony.

Did he show this side of himself to Mia, too?

Marcus, who was driving, saw this in the rearview mirror and joked,

"Don Alessandro, you'd better hurry up and marry Jane. Nobody waits around forever. If Jane dumps you one day, the boys won't get to drink at the wedding of the century."

I knew Marcus couldn't bear to see our childhood romance fail and was trying to warn him through a joke.

But Alessandro didn't take it seriously. His voice was full of absolute confidence.

"Impossible. Jane only loves me. She will definitely wait until I get the Council's approval to marry me."

Hearing that, I twitched my lips.

No, Alessandro, you're wrong.

I have my own pride.

I won't love a man who still holds another woman in his heart.

And I won't marry someone who isn't entirely devoted to me.

At the hospital, the doctor checked him and admitted him.

In the ward, right after I finished applying his medicine and was about to stand up, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his arms.

"Baby, the wound is treated. Let me kiss you, please? You don't know how much I thought about you while taking the family punishment. As long as you're here, I don't feel any pain..."

The man's hot breath drew closer.

Just as I was trying to find an excuse to pull away, the door banged open.

It was Mia.

The moment she saw the bandages all over Alessandro's back, her eyes turned red. She pointed at me and screamed at him hysterically.

"Your marriage application has been rejected for four years in a row! It proves you two aren't meant to be! Why can't you just give up on marrying her? Do you know how much it hurts me every time I see you get hurt?!"

Tears welled up in Mia's eyes as she practically begged.

"Just be with someone else, please! Even if it's not me, I just don't want to see you get hurt anymore."

Alessandro's face darkened instantly, his voice as cold as ice.

"Mia, you are just my secretary right now. Who gave you the right to dictate my private life?"

"Besides, I've told you before: I only love Jane, and she is the only woman I will ever marry in this lifetime."

"Forget four years—even if it takes six, or ten, as long as I don't have the Council's permission, I will keep submitting the application until Jane and I are married!"

Mia's face went pale. She stumbled back a few steps, her voice trembling.

"Fine. I guess my worrying about you was just me making a fool of myself!"

With that, she ran out crying.

Alessandro looked down at me in his arms, his face softening with tenderness.

"Jane, don't listen to her. I only love you. I'd never give up on marrying you like she said."

I took the chance to break free from his embrace.

I looked down at my wrist.

There was a clear ring of bruising.

Alessandro probably didn't even realize that while he was saying those icy words to Mia, his grip on my hand was unconsciously tightening.

In the past, he used to treat me like glass. He would never let me suffer even the slightest red mark.

My eyes burned, but I tried to keep my voice steady.

"When did Mia become your secretary?"

Alessandro stiffened, but quickly put on an incredibly annoyed tone.

"Last month. Marcus and the guys picked her. I wasn't paying attention to the hiring process, and I didn't expect them to choose her. I can't just transfer her away without a reason, it would make the others question my authority as the Don."

Hearing this pathetic lie, I just gave a tight smile.

Alessandro was always incredibly strict about his personnel, let alone his personal secretary—a role that required being by his side almost twenty-four hours a day.

Without his nod, Marcus would never have dared to hire her.

Noticing my silence, Alessandro quickly promised.

"But don't worry, the second she makes a mistake, I'll transfer her out and make her disappear completely. From high school till now, I'm really sick of her."

Listening to his lies, one after another, my heart felt like it was soaking in ice water.

How hilarious.

Saying he only loves me and wants to marry me, yet vetoing our marriage approval time after time.

Saying he's sick of Mia, yet doing everything he can to keep her by his side.