Chapter 2

Leo was our first child, Niccolo's and mine. Our only one.

He'd been sick since the day he was born.

When the doctor said the words "narrowed airway," Niccolo went white as a sheet.

That same day, he put all family business on hold, shut himself in the kitchen with nutrition books, and cooked every one of Leo's meals himself.

Leo lived to see his third birthday. Every day, he grabbed his crayons and scribbled white daisies.

There were crayon daisies everywhere: on the walls, on the table, even on the hem of my dress.

I thought I'd get to watch him grow up.

Until the day an enemy hurled a Molotov cocktail into our house.

Niccolo threw himself over Leo and me and yelled, "Get out, both of you!"

He grabbed the gun from his man and ran back into the fire.

Leo was screaming. I held him tight and ran for my life. I didn't know how long I ran.

Then I looked down, and he wasn't crying anymore.

His face and body had turned a bluish purple. His lips were dark, and his little hands hung limp.

I froze. The doctor's words echoed in my head like a curse.

Narrowed airway.

Leo didn't survive the fire.

After he died, part of me stayed trapped in that fire. I didn't want to get pregnant again.

It felt like a betrayal of Leo.

Niccolo never pushed me. He said he'd wait until I was ready.

Only now did I realize he'd stopped wanting to wait long ago.

The sound of the door opening pulled me back to the present.

Niccolo came in with a bowl of soup and said carefully, "Elena, the maid told me you haven't eaten all day."

He held a spoonful up to my lips.

"Come on, have a little soup. I promise you'll never have to deal with any of this again.

"I'll send Aria away."

I pushed the spoon away.

"Just send her away?"

His hand stopped in midair.

"Elena, I know you want me to get rid of the baby.

"But Aria's innocent. So is the baby. That's my own flesh and blood. I can't be that cruel."

My nails dug into my palms.

Innocent.

There was no way Aria was innocent.

She was the orphan I'd found on the side of the road. I'd raised her for 18 years.

Nobody knew better than she did what Niccolo and Leo meant to me.

And she still crawled into his bed.

I looked Niccolo straight in the eye.

"Tell me. Three years ago today, what did you promise me?"

He flinched and looked away.

"That's all in the past, Elena. We both have to learn to move on."

Move on.

I almost laughed out loud.

"You expect me to just move on from Leo's death?"

Niccolo's impatience finally showed. He set the bowl down hard.

"Elena, you're not the only one who's been suffering these past three years!

"I lost my son too. And my mother and the elders have been breathing down my neck about an heir day and night.

"Why can't you try to see it from my side for once?"

I looked at him.

I'd watched my child die in my arms.

Then his own father went behind my back and got another woman pregnant.

And now he was telling me I should see it from his side.

We stared each other down for a few seconds. Then Niccolo sighed.

"Don't worry. My family just needs an heir.

"Once the baby's born, I'll have Aria hand him over to you to raise.

"Nothing will change. Everything will be just like before."

With those words, he made the decision for both of us.

But I couldn't pretend everything was normal after what he'd done.

I looked up at him.

"Then let me go."

Niccolo didn't seem surprised.

He looked at me wearily, as if he'd seen it coming.

"Elena, don't threaten me with that. We both know you're not going anywhere.

"Since Leo died, you've barely been able to take care of yourself. How would you survive without me?

"Enough. Stop making a scene. The family meeting is still on for tomorrow, and you're coming."

With that, he walked straight out of the room.

A single tear dropped onto the white sheets.

Niccolo once promised that I'd never have to worry about a thing as long as I was with him. He'd take care of everything for the rest of my life.

I believed him.

Now he was using that very promise as an excuse to treat me like I was helpless.

I took out my phone and dialed a number.

"In three days, erase every record of me. I don't want anyone to find me."

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"Okay. Three days."