The Don Who Never Meant What He Said

The ring landed on the table and bounced once in front of him.Raphael went pale.Even his family, who had been watching the show, traded uneasy looks.Seven years.I had endured a life like this for seven full years.Raphael loved to humiliate me in front of people, then wait for me to swallow my pride and come and coax him back.Every single time, I did exactly what his thoughts asked. I came to him, and I made up first.It was not only because I could hear what he truly thought, and knew the sick shape of what he needed.It was also because he was the Don, and I had to uphold that absolute, unquestioned authority of his.After a while, his family stopped noticing.They would laugh and tease us. “A sadist and a masochist. You two really do deserve each other.”So when the word divorce came out of my mouth, Raphael's sister Serena hurried over to talk me down.“Scarlett, are you just in a bad mood today? You know how he is. He always says the opposite of what he means.”Raphael's brot

By the time I reached the Sterling estate, I was nearly frozen through.I sipped hot tea and looked around the place I had once called home.Everywhere I looked, Daphne had left her mark.“Scarlett, these are the Cohibas Daphne gave me. I like them. Put them away for me.”“Scarlett, the cufflinks Daphne gave me. Do they look good?”“This is the candle Daphne recommended. She said the scent makes her think of me.”Every time it started a fight, the need to control me only sharpened in his eyes. He liked watching me lose myself over him.It was as if the more I suffered, the more it proved I loved him.And his answer was always the same easy line.“Scarlett, Daphne is just my assistant. Don't lose the Donna's composure.”Worn down day after day, I stopped caring just as he’d wanted.I had even been ready to give up the Donna's seat.When the tea had warmed me through, I started packing my things.Just as I was ready to leave, Raphael came back.He reeked of liquor, leaning his weight use

“Raphael, I'm bleeding. There’s blood between my legs, I need to go to the hospital!”“It hurts. My stomach hurts so much.”I pounded at the locked iron door like a madwoman, and the dull echo rang until my eardrums ached.Raphael's cold words slid through the gap in the door like a snake.“Scarlett, ten years, and I never knew you could act this well.”“I saw it with my own eyes. Daphne is the one who got hurt. The men walk you to the basement and now you pretend you're bleeding?”“You think I don't remember? Your period isn't due for another week!”I screamed, breaking. “Yes! That's exactly why I'm scared! Let me out!”Seven years of agonized waiting, and I didn't dare let myself believe.I knew only one thing. I had to get to a hospital, now!“Raphael, I've never asked you for anything. I'm asking now. Please open the door.”“I really am bleeding!”The other side went quiet. Then came Daphne's sobbing.“Donna, to dodge the blame for hurting me, you'd tell a lie this clumsy?”“The me

I started changing my shoes.Raphael was quick. He stepped in front of me. “Where are you going?”Divorce, leaving home. Yesterday had shaken him too deeply, and he had turned even more raw than usual.Looking at his worried, wary eyes, I didn't want to set him off, so I picked an excuse at random.“Meeting a friend. Going shopping on Fifth Avenue, to clear my head.”He studied me. Then the knot between his brows loosened, and his forehead came clear and smooth as marble.He hesitated, and finally, for the first time, spoke up on his own. “I'll drive you.”I didn't refuse. Fifth Avenue, then a car to the airport, was just as good.On the way, Raphael drove, and his eyes kept stealing to the side, to me.“You really hate Daphne.” There was a thread of tension in his voice. “Don't you?”Daphne had been clinging to Raphael for a year now.I had answered this question of his more times than I could count.I hated her. I hated her beyond words.And Raphael always came back with the same lin

[Raphael's POV]In the hospital, Raphael came to.“Have you lost your mind?” Serena watched him from beside the bed, frightened and frantic. “What were you doing running off into the mountains?”Raphael ignored her and patted frantically at himself.“Where is it? No. I found it. I know I found it.”His movements were so violent the IV needle on the back of his hand pulled loose and bled, and still he didn't stop.He searched and searched, couldn't find what he wanted, and started trying to pull off his hospital gown to check.Ron couldn't watch anymore. He pinned him down, exasperated.“Stop it! You didn't lose it. When we found you, you were gripping it so hard it took three male nurses to pry your hand open.”With that, Ron tossed a mud-caked velvet box beside him. “This what you're after?”“It's just an oversized diamond. You had to go half out of your mind, ready to die for it?”Raphael seized the box like a drowning man grabbing a rope, and muttered:“You don't understand. With th