Chapter 4

A week before I was supposed to leave, news came from the hospital that my mother’s condition had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. She needed an emergency medical charter flight to bring in a team of specialists for a highly specialized surgery. The total cost came to about six hundred thousand dollars.

I immediately opened my banking app to wire the money. However, when I entered my password, I was notified that I had insufficient funds. The trust account that was supposed to have five and a half million dollars in it was down to mere pennies.

I rushed to the bank, and the teller pulled up my transaction history. Five million dollars had been transferred out in two separate installments, and the recipient was a trust fund under Livia’s name. Attached to the transfer voucher was a promissory note bearing my signature, dated three months ago.

Three months ago, Matteo had brought me a “joint investment in port logistics” agreement to sign, claiming he needed my credit endorsement. At the time, I was so blinded by his sweet talk about our wedding preparations that I signed it without even looking. He had falsified the purpose of the funds, turning an investment agreement into a personal loan authorization.

I let out a harsh, angry laugh and dialed his number. The moment he picked up, the sound of popping champagne corks echoed in the background.

“Did you take my money?” I demanded.

Matteo sounded like he was in high spirits. “Yeah, I did.”

“What did you use it for?”

“Compensation number sixty,” he replied, as if it were nothing. “I bought Livia a riverside apartment, along with some jewelry and a car. I was a bit short on cash, so I borrowed some from your account. We’re getting married soon anyway.”

Furious, I gripped my phone tighter. “Where are you?”

He paused for a moment, his tone softening slightly. “Serena, don’t be like this. Livia is very open-minded, and she’s agreed to give us her blessing. She’s had no one to rely on since she left me, so I had to make sure she was taken care of. Besides, we’re getting married eventually. Your money will be ours anyway. You can always make more money once it’s gone. Don’t be so petty over such a small amount.”

Her blessing? How pathetic. I was getting married, yet I apparently needed another woman’s ‘open-minded blessing’ to do it.

I forced the words through my teeth as I said, “Give me the address.”

Matteo gave me the location, and I immediately hailed a cab.

Extravagant crystal chandeliers lit up the sales gallery. Matteo had ordered a massive cake, and party poppers had been set off, leaving the floor covered in silver confetti. Livia was standing right in front of the property model, cradling a velvet box containing the keys to her new home. Two lawyers stood beside her, with property transfer documents and deed confirmations laid out on the table.

The crowd around them was clapping. “Congratulations, Miss Livia, on finally having a home of your own.”

A home of her own. A home bought entirely with my money.

I marched right up to them and kicked the cake over. Frosting, crumbs, and red wine splattered all over the floor.

I grabbed Matteo by his collar, screaming, “Give it back! Matteo, give me back my money!”

Matteo’s face instantly darkened. “Serena, do you have any idea what occasion this is? Do you really have to be this publicly embarrassing and classless?”

I laughed bitterly. “My mother is lying in a hospital bed waiting for money for her surgery, but you’ve taken my money to buy an apartment for her! And you’re asking me why I’m being classless?”

Livia stepped forward from the side, reaching out to grab my arm. “Serena, please don’t do this. Matteo is a man. You cannot hurt his ego.”

“Get off me!” I snapped, shoving her hand away.

Livia took the opportunity to fall gracefully to the floor and let out a sharp cry of pain. Seeing that, Matteo ripped his tie off in a rage, grabbed my arm, and yanked me backward.

My back slammed hard against a glass display case. The glass shattered on impact and sliced a deep, long gash into my arm. Blood began to drip down my fingertips, pooling onto the marble floor. Yet, Matteo’s only concern was scooping Livia up into his arms.

He roared at me, “It’s just five million dollars! Is it really worth all this drama? Serena, I was actually planning to propose to you tomorrow. But seeing your attitude right now, it can wait a couple more days.”

I ignored his threats and repeated, “Give. Me. My. Money.”

He sneered. “Money, money, money. That’s all you care about. Fine, I’ll have my assistant draft a cashier’s check drawn from the Moretti family’s account for you right now.”

Half an hour later, his assistant handed me a cashier’s check drawn from the Moretti family account. I rushed straight back to the bank, had the teller verify it on the spot, and transferred the funds directly to the hospital.

The surgery lasted for seven agonizing hours. When my mother finally woke up from the anesthesia, she squeezed my hand and offered me a weak smile. I stayed by her side in the hospital for seven whole days, feeding her water, wiping her down, and watching the sycamore leaves outside the window turn yellow.

Every day, when my father would bring food from home, he would pat my back gently and say, “Your mother is out of the woods now. You need to go. Old Port won’t wait on you forever.”

By the morning of the eighth day, my mother was well enough to sit up and eat some bread. My father pulled me out into the hallway and handed me a plane ticket to San Rosa.

“The Don’s assistant called. Palma’s men are still cleaning up the aftermath. If you don’t show up soon, that faction at Old Port is going to retaliate.”

I gripped the ticket tightly, looking through the window at my mother, who was waving at me from her hospital bed. She mouthed the words, “Go on.” I leaned down to kiss my father’s forehead, grabbed my suitcase, and walked out of the hospital into the early morning light.

On the way to the airport, I stared at the fresh scar running down my arm, and the tears finally spilled over in the back of the cab. During my five years with Matteo, I had swallowed so much resentment. I had always told myself to hold on a little longer and wait for him to finally prioritize me, see my worth, and fulfill his promise to marry me.

However, from this moment on, I didn’t have to put up with it anymore.