Chapter 3

A knot formed in my chest. I kept my head down, pretending not to notice, but Alessio did.

"Father, Mother." Alessio's expression was grave, his voice carrying the authority of the Don. "If you show my wife any more disrespect, don't blame me for returning the favor."

After a dead silence, Raul slammed his hand on the table, making me jump.

"Watch your tone. Are you really going to betray your own blood for this woman?"

Alessio gripped my hand, giving me no room to move, and calmly retorted, "Father, she is the love of my life."

"Harming her is the same as harming me."

"If it happens again, don't blame me for turning on you."

His acting was always so flawless, so seamless. Anyone witnessing this scene would say he truly loved me.

Too bad he didn't know my fingers were cold not because of his parents, but because of him.

Alessio stood before me, a perfect protector, but I felt no safety from him.

Sensing the tension, Margaret instantly shed her cold demeanor and put on a fake smile.

"Alessio, you've misunderstood." She stepped forward, reaching to embrace me. "Blair is like a daughter to me."

I stiffly allowed her to touch my shoulder. There was no warmth. "Dinner is ready. Let's go inside."

In the dining room, the crystal chandelier cast a dim glow, the only sounds the crisp clinking of silverware against porcelain.

Margaret kept making those grating little noises with her silverware, and my hand tightened around my fork.

"Blair, dear," she said, cutting her steak. "How are you feeling now? Are you recovering well?"

I knew what she was referring to. It had been six months since we lost our daughter.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking." I picked up a piece of carrot.

"That's good." She set down her knife and fork. "The family needs an heir, Blair. You know the Greco bloodline cannot be broken."

Alessio's hand tightened on his wine glass. "Mother, we just lost our child."

"Precisely because of that," Margaret's voice grew sharp. "You must have another one as soon as possible. Blair, as the Donna of the Greco family, this is your duty."

She paused. "Besides, if you had taken better care of our daughter, she wouldn't have died."

The air at the table instantly froze. Her words stabbed at my heart like daggers, but before I could speak, Alessio shot to his feet, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.

"Enough!" His voice was thick with suppressed fury. "We're eating. Don't talk about such nonsense."

Raul sneered. "Alessio, you call this nonsense? You've disrespected your parents time and again for an outsider."

"Outsider?" Alessio's eyes blazed with anger. "How many times do I have to say it? Blair is my wife, the Donna of this family!"

"I've already told you both, Blair is afraid of the pain. I won't put her through that again until I'm absolutely sure she has recovered. If we never have children, then so be it."

My hands were trembling, but I forced myself to remain calm.

Suddenly, I spoke. "Don't worry. You will all get what you want soon enough."

Everyone froze, three pairs of eyes fixed on me. Alessio turned his head, his eyes filled with confusion. "Blair?"

I didn't look at him, continuing on my own. "I promise." I took a sip of red wine. "In two weeks, the Greco family will have a new heir."

Alessio was about to say more when his phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, and his expression changed.

I knew who it was. And I knew he would be gone in three seconds.

Three, two, one. Just as I expected.

Alessio stood up right on cue. "Blair, I have to handle some family business. You stay and finish dinner. I'll be back to pick you up later."

He kissed my forehead and, without waiting for a reply, grabbed his coat and left.

The moment the door closed, Margaret and Raul's masks fell away.

"Now you can drop the act," Margaret sneered. "Can you really have another child? Or was that just another lie?"

"I have no reason to lie to you." I stood up. "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."

"Wait." Raul blocked my path. "Blair, you'd better understand your place."

"When Alessio isn't here, you're nothing in this family," Margaret said, stepping in front of me. "Just a pathetic outsider."

"If it weren't for Alessio protecting you, do you think you'd still be alive today?" Raul's voice was filled with threat. "The Greco family cemetery is filled with women who didn't know their place."

I fought back the nausea and pushed past them.

An hour later, the driver dropped me back at the villa.

As the car stopped, I opened the door to get out, and my hand brushed against something in the seat crevice.

I pulled it out. It was a used condom wrapper, not a brand we ever used. The implication was obvious.

To be more accurate, it was a fact that no longer needed proving.

I was just now learning that Alessio was into this sort of thing.

In the eight years we'd been married, I had always been the conservative one. The king-sized bed in our master bedroom was my only domain.

I once asked him if we should try more things, worried he might find it dull.

At the time, this was his answer: "Baby, don't force yourself to do things you don't like. All I want is you, no matter where."

And now, the car, the sofa, the dining table, the study… they had all become his battlegrounds with Sophia.

My husband of eight years, and I had never truly known him.

It was late when Alessio returned home.

He saw me sitting on the living room sofa and immediately came over.

"Baby, I'm sorry." He sat down beside me. "I shouldn't have left you there alone."

He pulled me into his arms, holding me tight. "Did my parents say anything?"

"Nothing." My voice was hollow.

"Blair, you know I'm always on your side," he kissed my hair. "You're the most important person in the world to me."

His embrace should have been warm, should have been safe.

But all I felt was a chilling cold, like the bars of a cage slowly closing in, about to suffocate me.