Chapter 3

Our wedding anniversary was in seven days and Nico had been acting strange all morning.

He kept hovering around me like he was waiting for the perfect moment to say something important.

I was in the garden cutting roses when he finally approached me. "Giulia, I need you to come with me somewhere today, it cannot wait any longer."

His signing was rushed and agitated, carrying that edge of desperation I had been noticing more and more lately.

I set down my gardening shears and wiped the dirt from my hands slowly.

"I have plans with the event coordinator this afternoon to finalize the celebration details."

Nico's jaw tightened and he pulled out his phone to make a call. After a brief conversation, he hung up and began to sign.

"I already called her and rescheduled for tomorrow, today you are coming with me."

There was no room for argument in his gestures so I simply nodded once.

The drive took over an hour and Nico refused to tell me where we were going. He kept glancing at me every few minutes like he was checking to see if I was still breathing.

When we finally pulled off the highway onto a private road, my stomach dropped.

We were heading toward the countryside estate district where the wealthiest families kept their summer properties.

Nico parked in front of a massive villa that looked like it had been transplanted from Tuscany.

"This is yours, Giulia. I bought it six months ago and had it completely restored for you."

"Happy early anniversary, I wanted you to see it before the celebration so you could enjoy it properly."

I stared at the villa and felt absolutely nothing except a dull ache in my chest.

A woman in a designer suit came from somewhere and started talking rapidly.

"Giulia, your husband has been working closely with me on every single detail!"

She was signing while she spoke and I realized Nico had hired her specifically for this moment.

Two workers trimming the hedges nearby stopped to watch us with obvious admiration.

"The Don really went all out for his wife, this renovation cost more than most people make in ten lifetimes."

"He personally approved every paint color and piece of furniture to match her taste perfectly."

Nico was practically glowing from their praise as he led me inside by the hand.

The interior was breathtaking with floor to ceiling windows and marble imported from Carrara.

Every room had been decorated exactly how I would have done it myself if given unlimited resources.

He had remembered conversations from years ago about my favorite colors and design styles.

Part of me wanted to be moved by the effort he had clearly put into this gift.

But all I could think about was whether Valentina had already seen her version of this villa.

Nico pulled me toward the staircase leading to the second floor.

"The master suite is my favorite part, I spent the most time planning that room specifically."

The bedroom was enormous with a balcony overlooking gardens that seemed to stretch forever.

Above the bed was a painted mural of the night sky filled with constellations.

Nico pointed upward and his hands started signing.

"Those are the stars from the night we got married, I had an astronomer map them exactly."

"Our initials are hidden in the constellation pattern, can you find them?"

I looked up at the ceiling and saw where GM had been cleverly woven into the design.

Below the initials were Italian words painted in gold that read "Per Sempre Insieme."

Together forever, what a fucking joke coming from a man who was building a second life.

Nico moved in front of me and cupped my face with one hand, his other hand moving through the air.

"Giulia, I know I have been working too much and neglecting our family lately."

"But this villa represents my promise that I am going to change everything starting now."

"You and Isabella mean more to me than anything else in this world."

His eyes were wet with what looked like genuine tears threatening to spill over.

My voice came out flat when I finally responded to his performance.

"This villa is beautiful, Nico. You clearly put significant time and resources into it."

Something in my tone made his face crumble and panic flooded into his expression.

"Giulia, please tell me what is wrong, you have been so distant from me lately."

"Are you unhappy with the villa, do you want me to change something about it?"

Before I could answer, his phone started vibrating violently in his jacket pocket.

He pulled it out and his entire body went rigid when he saw who was calling.

He stepped away and I could hear every word.

"Valentina, I told you not to call me when I am with her, what is so urgent?"

Her voice came through the speaker whining like a child denied candy.

"You promised you would stop by this morning but you never showed up!"

Nico's voice dropped to something soft and intimate.

"Baby, I will be there in less than an hour, just be patient for me."

He ended the call and walked back to me with guilt written all over his lying face.

"Giulia, I am so sorry but this shipment issue cannot wait.”

"Stay here with the designer and see the rest of the property, I will send the driver back for you."

He practically sprinted out of the villa before I could say a single word.

The designer started talking immediately like she had been waiting for him to leave.

"Donna, your husband is truly one of the most romantic men I have ever worked with!"

"Even with his business emergencies he makes sure you are completely taken care of first!"

The workers outside were nodding along like they were witnessing some great love story.

I wanted to tell them they were all fools celebrating a man who was performing for an audience.

Instead I turned toward the exit and started walking back to where the car was parked.

The designer chased after me with confusion and concern on her face.

He communicated with me through the screen.

"Donna, you have not seen the wine cellar or the guest houses yet!"

I shook my head without slowing down.

"I have seen enough for today, please have the driver take me back to the estate now.’’

My phone started buzzing the moment I was alone in the back of the car.

The first message was a photo of Valentina standing in a nursery painted soft blue.

Nico was behind her with his arms wrapped around her swollen stomach.

The second message was a video that started playing automatically.

Valentina was walking through a villa that looked eerily similar to the one I had just left.

"Nico, you really renovated two entire estates at the same time, you are completely insane!"

Nico's laugh filled the audio as he appeared on camera.

"I told you I would give you and our son the best of everything I have to offer."

"Your villa is actually bigger than Giulia's, you deserve more since you are giving me an heir."

The video cut off abruptly.

An heir.

I sat with that word for a long time before I could breathe properly again.

Seven years I had given him everything and now she was carrying his child.

I watched my grip tighten until my knuckles turned white.

When I got back to the estate, I went straight to our bedroom.

On my dresser was the bracelet Nico had given me last month with our anniversary date engraved inside.

He had spent weeks at the jeweler's workshop learning how to solder the clasp himself.

He said gifts meant nothing unless he put his own hands into creating them personally.

I picked up the bracelet and threw it as hard as I could against the wall.

The delicate links shattered and scattered across the floor like the lies he had told me.

I was still standing there when I heard his car pull up hours later. Nico burst into the bedroom holding papers that were shaking in his fist.

"Giulia, what the fuck are these, tell me right now where you got them!"

He shoved the documents in my face and I could see they were my transfer papers to Sicily.

His hands flew through furious signs. "It says you are leaving for Sicily in two days under Benedetti family protection!"