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Lahat ng Kabanata ng Before the Council Named Me Donna: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 9

9 Kabanata

Chapter 1

The moment the De Luca security notification appeared on my tablet, I stopped waiting for Matteo.Vanessa Ashford had entered the Donna wing with a clearance level that should have belonged only to me, and Matteo had stood beside her without the De Luca signet he always wore before the family. That was not an accident. That was a choice.I closed the archive window and looked back at the mourning locket under my lamp. Pregnancy had made my hands unsteady lately, but pride kept me from breaking anything in my studio, including myself.Vanessa, Matteo, and I had grown up in the same private-school circle. Everyone knew Matteo once worshipped her. He missed council training for her riding competitions, bought a horse because she said it looked lonely, and fought anyone who laughed when she rejected him. I watched it all with the composure expected of a Rossi daughter, while quietly loving him.Years later, when his father’s health failed and the De Luca captains started circling, Matteo n

Chapter 2

The next morning, Matteo had already left, but espresso still sat warm on the counter beside brioche under a silver cover. He always remembered small things like that, which was exactly why I had mistaken care for devotion for so long.I had barely opened my laptop when Vanessa Ashford’s message appeared in the old boarding-school alumni chat.Private dinner tonight at The Aurelia Club. No excuses. I missed you all.I would have ignored it if Matteo’s reply had not appeared beneath hers almost immediately.I’ll be there.After staring at the screen for a while, I typed my own answer.So will I.The Aurelia Club sat behind an unmarked door on Fifth Avenue, and Vanessa had booked the De Luca private room as if she had the right. By the time I arrived, the table was already full, and she sat in the Donna’s chair at Matteo’s right, laughing in black satin as if the room had always belonged to her.A waiter hesitated when he saw the empty place left near the far end of the table. I handed h

Chapter 3

Matteo came back long after midnight, carrying amber on his skin.I had been awake for hours, but the scent reached me before he did, sweet, expensive, unmistakably Vanessa. My stomach turned so sharply that I had to cross into the bathroom and grip the marble sink until the nausea passed.Matteo followed me to the doorway. “Did something you ate upset you?”“No,” I said, rinsing my mouth. “It’s the perfume.”His expression tightened. “I took Vanessa home because she was unwell. Don’t make it uglier than it is.”That tone was new. Not loud, not cruel, but impatient in a way he had never been with me before.I looked at him through the mirror. “You gave her access to the Donna wing.”“It was temporary.”“You removed your signet.”His jaw worked once. “I didn’t want the captains turning it into a succession issue before the ceremony.”I almost laughed. “So you protected her position by erasing mine.”“Elena, that isn’t what happened.”“Then tell me what happened at dinner. Why did you ca

Chapter 4

I thought I would fall apart after blocking Matteo, but what came instead was a tired, practical calm. There were documents to sign, a flight to arrange, a child to protect, and a life in Florence waiting if I was brave enough to reach for it.The clinic called the next morning. Because of the pain I had reported, the doctor wanted one more scan before clearing me to fly, and the appointment required a local emergency contact. I refused to list Matteo, refused to involve my parents before I had a plan, and booked a discreet patient advocate through a private concierge service.At ten, I stepped outside the serviced apartment and stopped cold.Nico Ferretti leaned against a black car, holding a tablet with my appointment name on it.“Good morning, Mrs. Nobody.”I stared at him. “You have got to be joking.”“If you wanted a stranger, you should have chosen a cheaper service,” he said, opening the passenger door. “Expensive ones sell privacy until someone richer buys curiosity.”“Nico, le

Chapter 5

The morning after Elena’s clinic appointment, Matteo sat in the private suite of the Palm Beach house, staring at the sapphire bracelet he had chosen from a discreet dealer before dawn.It was not an apology. Not exactly. Elena hated empty gifts, and Matteo knew that better than anyone, so he had asked for something she could respect: an Art Deco sapphire piece with a damaged clasp, rare enough to interest her and flawed enough to give her hands something to fix.He took a photo and sent it.Don’t be angry. I saw this and thought of you.The message did not deliver.Matteo stared at the screen until the red warning appeared beneath it, and for a second, he did not understand what he was seeing. He called her, but the line went straight to voicemail.Only then did his stomach tighten.Vanessa came in from the terrace wrapped in one of the house robes, her hair loose, her smile lazy.“Still trying to reach your wife?”Matteo’s hand closed around the phone. “What did you send her?”Vaness

Chapter 6

By the time night settled over New York, Matteo was still outside the Rossi townhouse, realizing Elena had built a life with doors he did not have keys to.Her parents did not know where she was. Her closest contacts claimed they had not seen her. The De Luca drivers had no record of taking her anywhere, and the penthouse cameras showed only Elena leaving before dawn with two suitcases and her restoration cases, calm enough to frighten him.Matteo returned to the penthouse after midnight, but he did not turn on the lights. The silence was enough. Elena had left the brooch, the notice, and every answer he deserved.Was any of this real to you?He had answered with silence.Near dawn, a priority notice from De Luca legal lit up his phone. The Rossi attorney had filed Elena’s separation papers, and attached to the review file was a billing alert from the family insurance office.Her medical coverage had not yet been removed from the De Luca alliance plan.Private prenatal clearance.Patie

Chapter 7

The doctor cleared me the next morning with strict instructions, a folder of test results, and a warning not to fly until the next scan confirmed everything was stable.Matteo had not stayed in the room, but he had not gone far either. Two De Luca guards waited near the private exit, and when the nurse brought my discharge papers, he appeared from the corridor in yesterday’s clothes, his face pale from a sleepless night.“Elena,” he said, reaching for my bag. “Come home with me.”I held the strap before he could take it. “No.”His hand stopped in midair.Before he could speak again, the elevator opened, and Nico stepped out wearing a dark coat, no flowers, no apology, just a leather document case tucked under one arm and that infuriating calm on his face.“Perfect timing,” he said. “Your lawyer sent the revised separation draft, your travel clearance needs one more signature, and your safe apartment is ready.”Matteo turned on him at once. “This has nothing to do with you.”Nico glance

Chapter 8

Nico did not argue, did not bargain, and did not turn my exhaustion into an opening. He only waited until I looked away and said, “Being pregnant with Matteo’s child does not make you damaged, Elena. It makes him an idiot for losing you.”The bluntness startled a laugh out of me, small and tired but real. Nico’s expression softened for a second before he looked away, giving me the dignity of pretending he had not noticed.We did not go upstairs to the safe apartment. After sitting in the garage for a long moment, I asked Nico to take me to the Rossi townhouse, and he drove me there without asking why.I had planned to tell my parents everything with perfect composure, but the moment my mother opened the door and saw my face, all the words I had rehearsed collapsed. I told them about the alliance contract, the delayed ceremony, Vanessa, the pregnancy, Florence, and the separation notice. I expected anger, disappointment, maybe the cold Rossi silence I had grown up fearing.Instead, my m

Chapter 9

Two days later, the Florence studio sent the countersigned contract.Not only had they kept the position open, they had upgraded it. The Medici reliquary project was now mine to lead, with relocation covered, a private apartment near the Arno, and enough discretion written into the contract that no De Luca lawyer could turn my pregnancy into a family negotiation.For the first time in weeks, I smiled before I remembered to stop.Nico appeared behind me in the Rossi townhouse garden as if summoned by bad timing and worse manners.“What happened?” he asked. “You look almost happy. Should I be concerned?”I closed the email and looked at him. “Florence confirmed everything.”His mouth curved. “Then I suppose you owe me dinner.”“I owe you?”“I provided medical escort, legal interference, emotional restraint, and exceptional company. That is at least dinner.”I should have refused on principle, but the scan had gone well, my flight clearance was signed, and for once, I wanted to sit somewh

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