Chapter 2

The line went silent for so long that I thought the call had dropped.

Finally, Father spoke, his voice exhausted and filled with pain.

“Are you sure? Once you come back, you’ll be the Lucas family’s principessa. You’ll have to participate in family affairs and give Theo up.”

“I don’t want him anymore.” I cut him off. “After I was blinded from taking a bullet for him, he actually brought another woman home and slept with her right in front of me!”

“He’s dead,” Father said instantly, his voice turning cold. It was the voice of Don Lucas delivering a death sentence.

“No,” I laughed as tears slid down my face. “I want him to suffer more than if he were dead.”

“Three days from now, I’ll send Silas to pick you up.” Father paused. “He’s been waiting for you to come back.”

Silas…

I closed my eyes.

As the Lucas family’s consigliere and my private tutor, he taught me code-breaking, how to ride, and how to read human nature.

Three years ago, when I left the family for Theo, he stood at the gates of the castle, watching me without a word. His gray eyes were full of disappointment.

“Alright.” I hung up.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

I pretended to fumble my way toward the stairs, but as I turned, I used the corner of my restored vision to see everything clearly.

Theo was shirtless. Fresh scratches lined his neck, and the scent of perfume clung to his skin.

The marks on his neck weren’t just evidence of what they had been doing in bed. They were Isabella’s declaration of ownership and a deliberate provocation.

She hated that I, a blind woman, held the legal title of his wife. So she wanted to leave marks for me to touch, smell, and discover. Anything to force me to back down.

I held the carved banister and walked down the stairs step by step.

Every corner of this manor belonged to the Lucas family. Even Theo’s position as boss was something I had begged Father on my knees to give him.

He said he would treat me well. Yet, he spent the night with another woman on our marital bed.

Now, it was time to take everything back.

The next day was my birthday. After Theo ascended to the position of boss, he would prepare a birthday party for me every year on that day.

He got up early and personally baked my favorite Sicilian lemon tart.

“Sophie, open your mouth.” He held a piece of tart crust to my lips. “Let me feed you, baby.”

Across the table, Isabella let out a cold, displeased huff.

She was wearing a maid’s uniform today, but her makeup was flawless, and her blonde hair was pinned up neatly, ready to receive Theo’s attention.

Behind my back, Theo typed rapidly on his phone.

From the reflection on the screen, I saw his fingers moving fast.

[Don’t make a fuss. I’ll make it up to you tonight. You’ll have anything you want.]

Only then did Isabella rise smugly. As she passed me, she accidentally knocked over my glass of milk.

Warm liquid splashed onto my hand. Though she apologized sweetly, her fingers dug viciously into the inside of my wrist.

I didn’t make a sound.

To them, this was just the blind woman’s slow reactions.

However, they didn’t know that during the time I spent blind, my senses had grown sharper. With my eyes closed, I could still clearly feel her approaching and the pain of her pinch.

It was a cheap trick she’d learned in the bars she used to work in, something used to teach disobedient women a lesson.

I was the well-behaved type, someone who wouldn’t trouble the busy Theo over something so minor.

“Baby,” Theo said when he noticed my silence. “Are you still mad? Is it because I haven’t spent enough time with you lately?”

Baby had once been our term of endearment. Now, hearing it from his mouth only made me feel sick.

“Today is your birthday,” he cupped my face in his hands. His eyes were so sincere that he could have fooled anyone.

“I’ll spend the whole day with you. Let’s celebrate on the yacht, just like on our wedding day three years ago.”

I let him lead me out of the manor.

Outside the gates, his black car was already waiting.

The driver, one of Theo’s most trusted men, nodded respectfully at me. “Madam.”

However, when he saw Isabella standing behind me, his eyes flickered.