Chapter 4

Alfonso soon hurried up after me.

He scrutinized my expression, searching for some emotion on my face.

"How was the prenatal checkup?" he asked.

This was the first time he had ever asked about the baby since finding out about my pregnancy.

"It was fine."

It would probably be even better if I could stay as far away as possible from him and Bianca.

Alfonso wore an "I knew it" expression on his face as he said, "Bianca was right all along. You really were just faking your pain and illness just to get my attention.

"You looked so in pain yesterday that you nearly had me fooled. I thought something had indeed gone wrong with the baby.

"You're now pregnant with my heir. You should stop joking around with your health like that. If anything actually went wrong, I swear that you'll never be able to handle the consequences."

I had no intention of continuing this conversation with him and just nodded in acknowledgment.

"I know that Bianca needs your company more. I won't trouble you with the baby anymore after this. I'll be taking good care of it."

"Good," he said. "That's more like how a proper Donna should behave."

He thought that the conflict was finally resolved and reverted to his usual condescending gentleness.

"You will stop acting out of spite with me now, Debora. You know that Bianca is nothing but a little embellishment in my life. She will never take your place."

No sooner had he said that than a scream from Bianca rang out from the living room downstairs. He immediately let go of me and ran back downstairs.

I sneered.

Alfonso said that she was just an "embellishment", but whenever he had to choose between her and me, he would always obviously choose the former.

For the next few days, Alfonso openly kept Bianca right by his side. I stopped paying attention to them and just focused entirely on waiting for the divorce decree to be finalized.

…

On the day I left, I was wheeling my suitcase behind me when I ran into my personal styling team at the doorway.

Alma explained awkwardly, "Donna, they are here to attend to Signorina Parisi. Don said that he was taking her to a Famiglia banquet."

I was just about to step aside to let them in when I heard Alfonso's displeased voice from behind me.

"What is this tantrum about now, Debora?

"Bianca was kind enough to step in and attend the banquet on your behalf, concerned that your pregnancy would make it inconvenient for you. And yet, you're planning to run away from home over such a trivial matter?"

Before I could respond, Bianca's panicked voice chimed in.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken Donna's place. Don Alfonso, please rescind your order. I don't want Donna to get mad at you or harbor any resentment toward you just because of this."

He got even angrier after hearing what she said. He absolutely refused to tolerate anyone challenging his authority.

"Resentment? Tolerance and forbearance are the virtues expected of a Donna. And since she holds this role, she ought to embody them rather than throwing unreasonable tantrums just because she thinks she can walk all over my head."

He took a few steps forward, his imposing stature looming over me as he looked at me with eyes full of disappointment.

"If you refuse to learn to be sensible, Debora, I will have you locked up to teach you some discipline. Don't you force me into doing it."

"Of course you don't need to do it," I said with a calm, light smile on my face. "Because we're already divorced. What you do has absolutely nothing to do with me anymore."