All Chapters of Guilty Until Proven Faithful : Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

An awkward silence fell over the room.Carlo's face darkened. "Go home, Mia. Madison needs to rest."He told her several times, but she refused to leave.Instead, she glared at me and stepped forward to defend him."Madison, my lab team and I ran the tests twice. The Don's condition is real. You're his wife, yet you somehow got pregnant when he can't father a child. Aren't you ashamed of betraying him?"I pushed myself upright, ignoring the ache in my body."I saw that report. It only showed observations taken before and after centrifugation. Is that what you call two complete tests?"For a second, Mia's expression went stiff. When she answered, her voice had an odd, guarded edge."Both readings showed no sperm. The results aren't wrong."I let out a cold laugh and raised my voice."You didn't even finish investigating. You sent Carlo a partial report, made him think I'd been unfaithful, and turned him against our baby. What exactly were you trying to accomplish?"Carlo stro

Someone entered the security code without a moment's hesitation.Mia walked in carrying a folder, looking so comfortable that anyone might have mistaken her for the lady of the house.My fingers curled into fists."How do you know our door code?"She came closer with a little smile."You were in the hospital for a while. The Don got drunk one night because he was upset, so I stayed to look after him for a few days."Carlo's voice cut through the room."Mia. Leave the documents and go."She glanced at the paper scraps scattered across the floor and sighed."Throwing me out already? Don't you want the photograph back?"She pulled an ultrasound printout from her bag.It was crumpled, with creases running across the image.I snatched it from her hand."Who gave you permission to treat it like this?"Mia shrugged, without a trace of regret."I just wanted to check how the baby had been developing for the Don. I wrinkled it by accident."Then she had the nerve to lecture me.

That evening, Dr. Whitfield, the attending physician at the family hospital, called me.There was a sadness in his voice."Donna Moretti, we've identified the cause of the miscarriage."I tightened my grip on the phone."What was it?""The embryo had a chromosomal abnormality. Miscarriages like this are unfortunately common. It was not necessarily caused by emotional stress or physical impact. Even if you'd spent every day in a protected hospital room, the pregnancy might still have ended the same way."After the call, my legs gave out. I sank onto the carpet.Our baby had never had much chance of surviving.But Carlo's cruelty had never been about hurting the child we'd lost.He'd hurt me. The woman wheeled out of surgery after losing her baby, only to be accused of falling in love with someone else.He'd honestly believed that as long as we loved each other, he could dispose of my imaginary lover and we'd go right back to being happy.As if offering to forgive a betrayal t

In the second month after our divorce, I went back to the estate where I'd spent five years of my life.I needed to collect the belongings I'd left behind.When I opened the front door, the smell of cigars and whiskey hit me like a wall.Every curtain was drawn. The living room was as dark as a tomb.A tall figure slumped on the sofa lurched upright at the sound of the door, knocking a glass from the coffee table.Carlo's jaw was covered in stubble. His face was hollow, his whole body gaunt. He looked less like a feared Don than a man who'd been abandoned on the street.He didn't even stop to pick up the glass."Madison! You're back! Does this mean you've forgiven me?"Then he noticed the movers behind me and went still.I looked away and spoke in a businesslike tone."I'm here for the rest of my things."As I surveyed the house, I realized nothing had changed since I left.Something simmered in the kitchen: the minestrone I loved. Its familiar scent felt like a cruel joke.