Chapter 2

The room Carmela wanted cleared out was the first-floor nursery suite.

The staff had just started moving Lia's sterilizer when I blocked the doorway.

"Put it back."

Dante came down the stairs and told everyone to stop at once.

"This is Bianca and Lia's room. Nobody touches it."

For a moment, the tightness in my chest eased a little.

But Carmela slapped the room key down on the table.

"Upstairs is too far from the exits. This is the only room where the guards can cover both the garage and the door. Do you want the Valenti heir to die on our doorstep?"

Victoria stayed silent, leaning against the wall as she pretended to leave.

"Never mind. I'll find somewhere else to stay. At least that way, the baby won't be in danger if the killer comes back."

Carmela's eyes filled with tears at once.

"Someone just tried to kill her, and you want to throw her out? Bianca, you're a mother too. How can you be so heartless?"

A lump formed in my throat. I'd nearly been permanently disabled after that fall in the bathroom, and my C-section incision still ached every day. Yet somehow, Victoria was the one everyone felt sorry for.

Dante was quiet for a moment. Then he pulled me aside.

"Just two nights. I'll keep watch myself. No one will touch your things or Lia's."

He sounded like he was begging.

And yet, I was the one who had to give in.

As the staff carried Victoria's luggage into the hall, she turned back to me. "Thank you. I know you just had a baby and you don't like having outsiders in the house."

With one thank-you, she'd made herself look gracious and me look petty.

That night, Victoria's leg began to swell, and the doctor ordered her to keep an ice pack on it overnight.

She gave Dante the ice pack with a faint smile.

"You used to get the ice packs ready for me after every race."

Dante took it without hesitation and wrapped it in a towel, his movements practiced and familiar.

The next day, when I went to get breast milk for Lia, I found that the entire month's supply I'd stored in the freezer had been moved to the fridge. All of it had thawed.

Rosa picked up a bag and looked it over. She quietly told me it couldn't be refrozen. Lia couldn't drink nearly that much in a day, so the rest would have to be poured out.

I held on to the fridge door as a sudden pain shot through my incision.

I'd spent that whole month shaking with pain every time I pumped. Lia was born early and was so fragile that I hadn't let myself waste a single drop.

Dante quickly bought the best formula money could buy.

"I looked at the dates and thought it was from the last couple of days." He took my hand. "You can always pump more. I'll take care of everything else."

Anger knotted my stomach.

"Why didn't you even ask me?"

He opened his mouth, but he had no answer.

"So Victoria needed ice for her leg, and you thought it was fine to take out a month's worth of my breast milk without asking me?"

"No," Dante said at once. "I just didn't think it would go bad. I'll have someone buy another freezer."

He could always find the fastest way to fix things.

Another freezer couldn't give me back a month of aching breasts, a tight, burning incision, and sleepless nights spent pumping.

I pulled my hand away and texted my lawyer.

"Have the Commission approve my divorce petition as soon as possible. As of today, Dante no longer votes on behalf of the De Luca family."

My hands were still shaking when I sent it.

In the end, there had to be a line between what was his and what was mine.