Chapter 4

The next day, Elias found me sprawled in the mud after I fell while moving a flowerpot.

Vivian, who'd been standing over me while I worked, burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

"Flora has refused to do any work lately. I got angry and sent her to help in the kitchen as punishment, but she said she's the biological mother of the Voss family's heir and that even I, the Donna, have no right to order her around!"

Elias saw my pale face and the mud covering me, and he froze for a second.

He knew how hard kitchen work was, and he could see I'd been suffering.

But in the end, he merely looked away and gently patted Vivian's back.

He would never criticize Vivian for my sake, not when she was the Donna of the Voss family and I was only a maid.

"Flora is Felix and Caterina's birth mother. It wouldn't hurt to be a little more patient with her."

He wasn't taking my side. He just wanted to smooth things over.

"Flora, the Donna is kind. She's been patient with you because of what you've given this family, but that's no excuse to disrespect her!"

Elias's stern expression faltered when he saw my blank face.

No matter how harsh his words were, I couldn't feel disappointed anymore.

He'd ground every feeling out of me over the years.

I stayed where I was in the mud and lowered my head in submission.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault."

Elias was quiet for a long time. Finally, he spoke in a low voice.

"As punishment for talking back to the Donna, you'll move into the old shed at the far corner of the estate today. You are not to go near the main house unless you're summoned."

Under Vivian's triumphant gaze, I slowly said yes.

The shed was the estate's storeroom, run-down and full of junk nobody wanted. Now it held one more unwanted thing: me.

It took me a whole day of cleaning to make the little shed barely livable.

That night, lying on the broken plank bed, I studied the tiny cuts covering my hands in the moonlight.

When I was younger, my hands were as soft as any Voss daughter's.

Back then, Elias loved me and never let me do any work.

Now my hands were worn and scarred, just like my heart.

I'd put up with it for two years, for my mother and for the good days we used to have.

But they were never satisfied.

They stole my children, stripped me of my dignity, and built their sham happiness on my blood and tears.

Maybe I should have stopped enduring it a long time ago.

Three days later, Elias pushed open the door of the shed.

He frowned at the bare room, a flicker of conflict crossing his face.

"I'm going to the next city over tomorrow. I'll be gone about a week."

I didn't answer. He held out a bowl.

"I had the kitchen make you something to help you get your strength back. I know you hate bitter things, so I had them add plenty of honey."

I took the bowl, but I didn't drink it.

"Thank you for your gift, Don."

Elias reached out as if to touch me, but his hand stopped an inch or two from my face.

"You're still weak. While I'm gone, don't provoke Vivian again. Be good."

Then he turned and left, as if he didn't dare meet my eyes again.

I didn't drink it. It was too sweet.

I used to think I'd love sweet things forever, the same way I thought I'd love Elias forever.

Three days after Elias left, Vivian summoned me to the front hall.

It was over a rumor everyone on the estate had heard.

They said I'd been having an affair with one of the male servants for quite some time.

Vivian looked at me with contempt.

"How desperate are you for a man, Flora? You'd even crawl into a servant's bed?"

I answered calmly.

"It's just a rumor."

Vivian slammed her hand on the table.

"So many people say they've seen you sneaking off with someone, and you still deny it? Aren't you afraid Elias will punish you?"

I smiled.

"He won't."

Vivian's face twisted for a second, then she grabbed me by the throat.

"You think just because you gave him two children, he'll go soft on you?

"Don't be stupid. While you spent your nights on this estate praying for him, I was the one fighting and bleeding at his side.

"You're nothing but a useful vessel."

I tilted my head back under the pressure of her grip.

"You're an outsider, so you wouldn't know. There's a story that has been passed down through generations in the Voss family.

"Elias's grandfather also had a Donna who fought at his side. But he also had a lover who gave him two children.

"He passed one of those children off as the Donna's, just as Elias did with my son.

"But in the end, the two sons' fight over the succession caused the worst civil war in the family's history, and the old Don and Donna's relationship fell apart as well."

Vivian's grip loosened reflexively, and I smiled at her in contempt.

"They used to be famous for being the perfect couple too. But what did that matter once their sons started fighting to become the next Don?

"Besides, you'll never be able to have children of your own. Every child Elias has carries my blood.

"Who knows? Maybe one day he'll decide he should be a little nicer to his children's real mother."

Vivian slapped me hard and shouted to the guards outside.

"Drag this madwoman back to her shed and nail the door shut. No one is to give her food or water. Anyone who disobeys will be killed on sight!"

I was dragged back to the prison they called a shed and watched the door close before me.

Once the guards had nailed the door shut from the outside, every one of them left.

I took out the matches I'd secretly hidden, lit one with a smile, and tossed it onto the woodpile in the shed.

Soon, flames were shooting into the sky at the corner of the estate.

I heard people outside shouting about the fire, but no one could put out the blaze that had engulfed the shed.

The next day, Marco DeLuca, Elias's underboss, went pale as he delivered his report.

"Don, there's been a fire at the estate.

"Flora is dead."

Chapter 5