Chapter 3

Three days later, Enzo personally came to visit me in the hospital.

He was dressed down and unaccompanied, if not for Rico behind him. He shifted a chair over to sit by my bedside. In his whirlpooled eyes was a warmth that I had never seen before.

“Cara,” he said, using my name rather than calling me Mrs. Marconi. “How is your condition?”

“The doctor says I will be up and moving around in the next few days.”

Enzo nodded and fell into silence for a moment before suddenly speaking up again. “I’ve investigated your father’s case.”

My nerves abruptly became strung tight.

“Your father was framed.” Enzo’s voice was calm and even. “The accounts were doctored, and his embezzlement was faked. The person in charge of the investigation back then was one of Luis’ men.”

My fists clenched under the blanket.

“I went through the accounts and shipping logs,” Enzo continued. “Not only did your father not embezzle funds, he had even helped the family avoid more than thirty million dollars in taxes. He was innocent.”

I could not hold back my tears anymore. The day my father was imprisoned was the day I discovered I was pregnant. Luis had shut me up at home, refusing to let me out or to allow any visitors.

He told me that my father had confessed, to stop fighting and to just take care of my pregnant self. I had trusted him. It was only on the verge of death in the previous timeline that I found out Luis had framed my father.

“Don Tomasi, thank you,” I said hoarsely, wiping my tears away.

“There’s no need to thank me. This is what I owe you.” He paused. “Your father’s case will be reopened. I will restore his good name. As for you…”

He took a file folder from Rico and placed it before me.

“This private mansion in Isla Fortuna is under a name completely unrelated to the family. From now on, it’s yours. You won’t have to rely on anyone else to survive, and you won’t have to be afraid of anyone.”

I opened the file folder. Inside was the property deed and a black credit card. It was something that only members of the family’s inner circle had.

“Don Tomasi, I’m only—”

“You put your life in danger to save me,” he interrupted. “That’s enough to do it, in this family.”

I clutched the card and could not say anything for a long while.

In the previous timeline, it had taken me my whole life to realize something crucial. In this world, nobody but yourself would truly be good to you. I thought that marrying Luis would give me stability, that helping Luis in his career would buy his love. But how had that ended for me?

I had forfeited my life, but Luis barely took a second glance at me.

Right then, my maid, Winona Turner, rushed in.

When I saw her face, I remembered how she had been paid off by Bianca to poison me in the previous timeline.

As expected, when she saw Enzo in the room, she walked up to me and taunted, “Save it, Mrs. Marconi. Your attempt to win Mr. Marconi’s sympathy won’t work! And forget using this old man, too! If you think you’ll make Mr. Marconi jealous this way, you’re dead wrong! Mr. Marconi will rip you apart once I tell him you endangered the baby to sleep around with an old man!”

Winona acted triumphant all because Enzo was going incognito at the moment. She had assumed that he was my lover.

Enzo’s expression turned icy.

He let out a scoff, and the men that surged in immediately apprehended her.

“Take care of her. Leave her corpse at Luis Marconi’s door! It’s no wonder he would let his wife get in danger if he can’t even discipline his staff.”