Cecilia's POV

"I've made my decision," I said, my voice firm.

Only after my mentor confirmed my name was added to the list did I book my flight and tell Mamma.

She was silent for a long time before finally saying, "Stay safe. If anything happens, contact Enzo Genovese. He happens to be stationed there on a peacekeeping mission."

"I'll contact him," I replied obediently.

After hanging up, I looked up and met Luciano's deep, dark eyes.

"Which Bastardo are you planning to contact?" he asked.

My gaze turned cold as I retorted, "What does it have to do with you?"

As far as he could remember, I'd always been sweet and meek. Even when he exhausted me until daybreak, I would only timidly ask, "Can we continue this tomorrow?"

But now, I was cold and sharp-tongued, like a cat that had had its tail stepped on.

For once, this seemed to amuse Luciano, and he pulled me into his arms.

"Don't be mad. Even if I'm married to Valentina, there's still a place for you by my side."

"What place?" I asked, shoving him away. "The place for an Amante Clandestina?"

Luciano's face darkened at my repeated sharp remarks.

"Don't tell me you actually want me to marry you? Amore, that joke isn't funny. Do you even understand that if I married you, I'd have to—"

His tone was teasing, but it still cut straight into my numb heart.

"You're right. It isn't funny," I interrupted flatly. "After all, we're through."

I promptly turned around to leave, but my phone suddenly slipped and hit the floor. A message from Valentina lit up the screen.

"Last round. Let's make the bet bigger."

Luciano picked up the phone first, his eyes narrowing. "What bet?"

I quickly snatched my phone back, my lowered lashes hiding the panic in my eyes. As calmly as possible, I said, "It's nothing. It's just a joke."

Luciano stared at me, trying to find anything off in my expression. Just then, one of his men called, sounding frantic.

"Sir! Ms. Fiore heard you went to see Cecilia. She got furious and challenged Matteo to a race. She said if she loses, she'll sleep with him!"

Everyone knew how cruel Matteo Barbieri's proclivities were. The women who fell into his hands ended up crippled or even dead.

After hanging up, Luciano grabbed me and shoved me into the car, then sharply drifted into traffic. This was the first time I'd ever seen him panicked. He even ran multiple red lights in a row.

He had always been the type of man whose love was three parts sincerity and seven parts deception.

The irony was that I'd been with him for four years and slept with him a thousand times, yet even those three parts of sincerity had been just an illusion of mine.

But soon, it would all be over.

…

We arrived at the port district soon enough.

Luciano saw Matteo pinning Valentina against a car hood, kissing her. He didn't even bother to park properly before rushing over and punching him.

Then he grabbed Valentina, eyes red with rage, as he demanded, "If I hadn't come today, were you really going to sleep with Matteo, Valentina?"

"What right do you have to ask me that?" Valentina roared back, her eyes just as red. "Weren't you busy with Cecilia?"

"Because I'm your man! The man you're married to!"

Watching them, my heart ached even more. I turned to leave, but Matteo's bodyguards blocked my path.

"Luciano, choose one," Matteo called out.

With a wave of his hand, his bodyguards surrounded us.

Luciano pulled Valentina behind him protectively as he glared at Matteo. "Choose what?"

"Take someone if you want, I've got no problem with that. But rules are rules. Between these two women, you have to leave one of them here. Otherwise…"

The words had just barely left his mouth when a dozen guns were aimed at the three of us.

Luciano's expression was conflicted. Valentina tugged at his sleeve and said, "Luciano, I'm scared…"

He made his decision instantly. "Cecilia stays."

It was an expected answer, but my eyes still stung. The sadness quickly passed, however, as I quickly pressed the emergency speed-dial for the police.

Seeing my reddened eyes, Luciano's heart skipped a beat.

"Amore, I'll come get you tomorrow," he promised softly.

Then he turned to Matteo, his gaze sharp. "You'd better not do anything to her, or I won't hesitate to make your entire family disappear from Carston."

With that, he scooped Valentina up in his arms and left. Leaning against his shoulder, she smiled at me and mouthed, "How pitiful… You lost again."

I scrambled to run, but Matteo kicked me hard in the leg, grabbed me by the hair, and dragged me toward a basement.

Cecilia's POV

The basement walls were lined with various sexual implements.

My eyes bulged wide as I struggled desperately. "Let go of me! Luciano won't let you get away with this!"

Matteo responded with several harsh slaps, then grinned cruelly as he grabbed my chin. "Luciano already gave you to me to play with, and you're still delusional enough to think he'll come back to save you?"

My cheeks swelled up from his slaps, and blood flowed nonstop from the corner of my lips.

"What do you want? La polizia will be here soon!"

"You dared to call La polizia?"

He turned and grabbed a thick leather whip from the wall. A lash landed on my body, and the pain wrenched an agonizing scream from me.

But this only excited him more.

"Go on, scream! Cry! So what if La polizia comes? You'll already be broken!"

The whip struck again and again, and my high-pitched screams eventually went silent—I could no longer muster any sounds.

Matteo ripped my blood-stained dress apart. Just as he was about to force himself on me, the basement doors were kicked open, and the piercing sounds of sirens filled the air.

"Polizia! Don't move!"

Matteo didn't even have time to pull up his pants before he scrambled out the window to escape.

A female officer saw me lying on the floor, covered in blood. She quickly draped her jacket over me, helped me into the squad car, and rushed me to the hospital, where the emergency room doctors treated my wounds.

…

The next day, the same officer told me Matteo had been arrested.

I thanked her with a smile, then had myself discharged.

After leaving the hospital, I went back to the apartment to grab my things. I donned long sleeves and pants, as well as put on a mask, and prepared to take a taxi to the airport.

But the moment I stepped out of the apartment, Luciano appeared and stopped me.

"Valentina felt guilty and went back to look for you yesterday, but she got into an accident on the way. She needs a blood transfusion right now. You need to come with me to the hospital."

"I'm not going," I refused immediately.

His grip tightened around my wrist, his voice low and cold.

"You owe Valentina a life. If it weren't for her, your stepsister would've buried you in the middle of nowhere a long time ago. It's time for you to pay your debt."

The wounds on my wrist throbbed with pain under his grip, but I gritted my teeth and asked, "If I agree to give blood, does that mean we're even?"

Luciano felt a pang of unease when he met my calm gaze. But then he thought of Valentina, whose life still hung in the balance, and he quickly ignored it.

"Yes!"

"Then okay. I'll go with you," I replied.

At the hospital, after my check-up, the doctor looked at Luciano with obvious reluctance.

"Sir, this lady has severe anemia, and she even—"

"Sir!" Valentina's caregiver interrupted urgently. "The doctor said Ms. Fiore is in critical condition!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Luciano ordered, "Draw the blood!"

He paused, then turned to look at me, sitting there quietly this whole time. "As long as you cooperate, I'll find you the best doctor."

He'd said the same thing yesterday, just before handing me over to Matteo to have his way with me.

So now, I no longer believed him.

As he turned to leave, I called out softly, "Luciano..."

He looked back.

I stood in the light and gave him a small smile. "Addio."

Anxious to see Valentina, he merely gave an absent-minded nod, then left without another glance back.

…

After the doctor was done drawing my blood, I needed help just to walk.

I got into the taxi bound for the airport, then sent the recordings from the private room, along with proof of my prior relationship with Luciano, to his brother.

"Please deliver this gift to Luciano at his birthday party tomorrow. Wishing you success as well."

Once everything was done, I blocked all of Luciano's contacts, then looked out the window at the international airport coming into view.

"Addio, Luciano. Forever."