Chapter 1

Three days after the abortion, I dragged myself home from the hospital, weak and hollowed out.

Bianca was in the living room, toying with an anklet —— a gift I'd bought for my own baby when I first found out I was pregnant.

"Elena, you're back! Alessio said you weren't feeling well and asked me to come keep you company."

She linked her arm through mine affectionately.

I looked at her counterfeit smile and laughed coldly to myself. Sending the mistress to comfort the wife. Alessio had a vicious sense of irony.

The anklet brought back the baby I'd carried for barely two months, and bitterness rose in my throat.

But I kept my composure and replied politely.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

Then came a sharp, mocking voice.

"What could possibly be wrong with her? She's been married to Don Rossi for years and hasn't brought one worthwhile advantage to the Family."

"She'll never measure up to you, Bianca. She doesn't even follow her parents' instructions."

My mother's voice cut through the room, high and sharp.

I turned as my parents, Victor and Margaret Costa, swept into the living room and settled onto the sofa as though they owned the mansion.

They had come to negotiate over Greyhaven Terminal. Margaret had told me to meet them at the door, but I'd been in the hospital and forgotten.

To them, it was one more failure. I could never understand why nothing I did measured up to Bianca, a woman with no blood tie to them at all.

Their attitude toward me had changed the moment I introduced them to her.

Bianca stepped in to smooth things over as usual, carefully pouring tea for Victor and Margaret before speaking softly.

"Please, Elena isn't feeling well today. Let's not be too hard on her."

"Not feeling well?" The words seemed to trigger something in my mother. She suddenly grabbed my arm, her expression turning eager.

"Are you carrying Don Rossi's baby? Wonderful, wonderful! You must rest, you absolutely must!" Margaret had already decided pregnancy was the only possible explanation.

After I married Alessio, she asked almost every month whether I was pregnant. She wanted a Rossi heir she could turn into leverage.

Whenever she learned Alessio had made me use contraception, she called me useless for failing to earn the right to bear his child.

To Victor and Margaret, I was a bargaining chip with a womb. I had never been the daughter they raised for more than twenty years. I had never been family.

I didn't answer her rambling questions, because I saw Alessio come through the door.

Alessio came in to find Bianca pouring tea for my parents. His gaze flicked to me, unreadable.

"Why is a guest serving tea?"

I reached for the cup in Bianca's hands. Somehow, the scalding tea arced toward her stomach before the cup hit the floor and shattered.

Alessio lunged to catch Bianca, knocking me onto the couch in the process.

Bianca looked startled, her eyes reddening as she clutched Alessio's arm, perfectly timing her wounded expression.

"Elena, what's wrong? Are you still not feeling well?"

It sounded like concern, but it was a calculated reminder of my abortion. Alessio assumed I was jealous of Bianca's baby, even though he believed I had no idea who the father was.

Alessio shielded Bianca behind him, his gaze turning cold.

"Elena, you're clearly not yourself. Apologize to Bianca, then go upstairs and rest."

One command, and he'd convicted me in front of everyone. He never noticed that Bianca was dry while hot tea soaked the front of my dress.

I lifted my chin and met his eyes. Ours was an arranged marriage, but for years he'd treated me with basic decency. Surely he couldn't be this blind.

"I didn't push her. Why should I apologize?"

Alessio stared at me in silence, his expression unreadable.

The silence stretched until Victor rounded on me.

"Don Rossi told you to apologize. Are you deaf? We raised you better than this."

Victor's roar made me flinch. I looked to Alessio for help. Whatever else we were, I was still his wife; he shouldn't have let outsiders humiliate me like that.

But this time, he said nothing in my defense.

His silence told me everything. I lowered my head. There was no point giving them another excuse to hurt me.

"I'm sorry."

Behind me, Bianca rushed to play peacemaker.

"It's fine. Really. Don't be so hard on Elena. I heard some handsome heir has been chasing her. What if she gets angry and runs off with him? What would we do then?"