Chapter 8

Over the next few days, I became the only person in this house who was not bedridden. Tommaso and Gelsomina both lay in the hospital, and I had to take care of them both.

When Gelsomina woke up, she deliberately knocked over the blood bag on her bedside table. Bright red liquid spilled across the floor. She complained, "I don't want this dirty blood!"

"This is Tommaso's blood." I knelt down and began cleaning it up, ignoring her tantrum. "What you just wasted is the life he nearly gave up to save you."

She froze for a moment, but quickly reverted to her usual self. "So what? He's willing to do anything for me!"

Around 2:00 am, she started cooking up new demands. She ordered, "I want to eat the best deep-dish pizza! Right now!"

It was as obvious as day that she was deliberately making things difficult for me. I looked at the storm raging outside, then at the time. "Every restaurant is closed right now."

"I don't care! Tommaso, make her go buy it!" She turned to the weakened Tommaso, pleading.

The latter could only look at me helplessly, his voice hoarse. "Per favore, Alessia."

I put on my coat and drove across the entire city, finally finding pizza at a small 24-hour store. By the time I returned, it was already past 3:00 am. I was soaked through, but Gelsomina only glanced at it before wrinkling her nose.

"This isn't from my favorite place! I want the authentic kind!" She threw the pizza box on the floor and continued ordering me around. "Go buy it again!"

This torment continued for an entire week, with new demands, new difficulties, and new unreasonable tantrums every day.

After Tommaso recovered, he seemed to want to make up for my hardships. He took me to private art galleries and the opera house, doing all the cultured things we'd never done in our five-year marriage. We were like a real married couple enjoying ourselves.

"Alessia, I think we..." He wanted to say something, but his phone rang and interrupted him. News of these "dates" quickly reached Gelsomina's ears.

The next day, I was reading in the garden, enjoying a rare moment of peace.

"Alessia, you're going to pay for this."

Gelsomina appeared behind me, holding a handkerchief soaked in ether. Before I could react, she clamped it over my nose and mouth. The chemical scent flooded my nostrils. My consciousness faded into darkness.

When I woke up again, I found myself bound to the top of a shipping container at an abandoned dock, my mouth completely gagged. The icy wind whipped past my body, which swayed in the air high above the dark water below.

Not far away, Gelsomina was tied to another container. She looked disheveled, tears streaming down her face as she stared down below. It seemed she'd staged this entire scene, just waiting for Tommaso to make his choice.

The supposed kidnappers shouted at Tommaso, "You can only save one! Choose!"

I looked down. Tommaso stood on the dock, his face deathly pale.

"You can only choose one!" the kidnapper continued. "The other will be dropped into the lake!"

Tommaso's hands trembled. He looked between us, his worried gaze flitting back and forth. But he only hesitated for three seconds.

"Save Gelsomina!" he shouted without further hesitation. His voice echoed across the night sky.

The container I was on began descending. The icy lake water drew closer and closer until it swallowed me. Darkness and coldness were my only companions.

Some divers quickly pulled me out. I lay on the dock coughing violently, the lake water pouring from my lungs.

Tommaso knelt beside me, his face ashen. "Mi dispiace, mi dispiace... I thought she would actually die..."

I pushed his hand away and struggled to sit up.

"I'm going back," I spat, my voice hoarse. "Today is the last day."

"Alessia, I can compensate you! Diamonds, properties..."

"Right now, I only want you to do one thing." I looked at him, my gaze cold and void of emotion.

"What?"

"Go be with her."

Back at the estate, I immediately pulled out the IV, ignoring the doctor's protests. Then, I called Aldo, the family lawyer. "Initiate the final procedures immediately."

I placed the marriage dissolution agreement, the family ring, and the safe key on Tommaso's desk. The ring gleamed coldly under the light, as if it were the tombstone for our five-year marriage.

I would leave for another city to search for the young man who looked so much like Marco. As I stood at the estate gates, I turned to take one last look at the house.

"Addio, Tommaso."