"She did this to you," Vittorio said, his voice dangerously low. "As her husband, it's my debt to pay."

His words hit me like lightning.

He was really going to "help" Carina?

I couldn't believe it. The man I loved, the man I called my husband, was saying something so degrading, so humiliating.

My voice trembled. "So you think I drugged her... just to watch you fuck her?"

"Enough!" Vittorio roared. "Don't use that filthy language!"

On the bed, Carina reached out a trembling hand and touched Vittorio's chest. His body tensed at her touch.

"Vittorio... please don't... I can't let you betray your family," Carina's voice was weak but seductive. "You should go... I can get through this alone..."

Her fingers trailed down his chest. Vittorio's breathing grew ragged.

"No. I'm not leaving you," Vittorio said, grabbing her hand, his eyes full of pity. "This is her fault. She should face the consequences."

Carina pretended to push him away, but her body instinctively moved closer.

"Aurelia... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to take Vittorio from you... but I feel so awful..."

While she apologized, she guided Vittorio's hand to her own hot skin.

Something in my head snapped. I couldn't believe they were doing this, in my home, shaming me so openly.

"Enough, Carina Romano!" I screamed, my voice raw. "Stop the act! You destroy my home, you seduce my husband, and now you stage this whole show to get him into your bed! How disgusting can you be?"

The second the words left my mouth, Vittorio exploded.

Crack.

The sound of the slap echoed in the room. My left cheek burned, and I could taste blood.

"How dare you say that about Carina!" Vittorio grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard. "She's kind. She never says a bad word about you! But you, you've been nothing but hostile!"

"So all that understanding you showed today was an act!" His eyes were full of disappointment and disgust.

Carina sobbed on the bed. "Vittorio, don't blame Aurelia... It's my fault... I shouldn't have come back..."

Vittorio turned and gently stroked her face. "No. You're not the one who's wrong."

He pulled a pair of handcuffs from the nightstand drawer and looked at me, his eyes cold.

"You love these little drug games so much," he hissed. "Fine. You can listen to me help Carina with her 'problem.'"

He dragged me downstairs and cuffed my wrist to the iron gate of the wine cellar. Cold metal bit into my skin. The pain was a brutal, clarifying shock.

"Vittorio, you can't do this to me!" I struggled, but the cuffs only tightened.

"Listen," he said, his voice trembling with a rage he couldn't control. "You brought this on yourself, Aurelia. Now you get to hear the consequences of your 'masterpiece.'"

He turned and went back upstairs without a second glance. The door slammed shut.

I closed my eyes, tears streaming down my face.

Soon, I heard Carina's muffled moans from upstairs. I tried to block it out, but I couldn't even cover my ears.

"Vittorio... please, be gentle..."

"I know. Just hold on."

Then came the rhythmic creak of the headboard, and her moans growing louder, bolder.

"Ah... Vittorio... right there... harder..."

Every sound was a knife in my heart.

I curled up on the cold floor, the world spinning. The old gunshot wound began to ache, and a vicious cramp seized my abdomen. But my heart hurt the most, like it was being ripped to shreds.

The sounds from upstairs went on all night. Vittorio's heavy breathing, Carina's breathless cries, their shouts as they came.

I shivered on the floor, my clothes soaked with cold sweat.

A vicious cramp seized my abdomen. Then I felt it. A slow, warm trickle of blood down my thigh. A weak sob escaped my lips, but it was drowned out by the noise from above.

By dawn, everything was quiet.

I had no more tears left. I was just curled up in a pool of my own blood, like a dying animal.

Footsteps on the stairs.

Vittorio opened the cellar door. He started to say something mocking, but his face froze when he saw me.

"Aurelia?!" His voice was filled with a panic I'd never heard before. He rushed over, his hands trembling as he fumbled with the cuffs. "Jesus Christ, you're bleeding so much..."

I lifted my head and used all my strength to look at him.

"Let go of me..."

I collapsed. The fever made everything blurry. He scooped me up, his hands touching my cold, wet clothes. He roared, "I'm taking you to the hospital!"

Just then, Carina's voice drifted down from the bedroom, thick with lazy satisfaction. "Vittorio... you were too rough. I don't think I can walk..."

"Besides," she added, her voice full of fake concern, "if you take Aurelia to the family hospital, everyone will know about us. It'll be bad for the family's reputation."

Vittorio's arms tightened around me, then went still. I could feel him fighting with himself. He looked at my pale face, his eyes filled with pain and guilt.

But in the end, he turned to the guard at the door, his voice a low growl. "Get a street doc. The back-alley clinic. Now."

In the end, he chose to hide his affair with Carina over saving my life.

The bleeding seemed to stop. I couldn't hold on any longer. I sank into darkness.

A few hours later, I woke up in a small, dingy clinic. It wasn't one of ours.

The doctor was a middle-aged woman with a grim face.

"You were pregnant," she said, her face grim. "About three months along. Between the blood loss and the trauma... you lost it."

Tears rolled silently down my cheeks. Did it hurt? I felt numb.

"We need to do a D&C as soon as possible, or it could affect your ability to have children in the future."

I closed my eyes. "Do it."

Better to get it over with. Since I couldn't keep the child, it was time to end everything.

As the cold surgical instrument entered my body, the last of my love for Vittorio seemed to drain away.

All I wanted now was to escape this hell.

After the surgery, I lay in the hospital bed, took out my encrypted phone, and sent a new message to Orion with a trembling hand.

[A month is too long. I need you in three days. Get me out.]

My phone lit up instantly.

Orion's reply was immediate: [Done. Three days. I'll be there.]

I finally let out a breath. At least someone was willing to get me out of this hell.

I stayed in the clinic for three days. In those three days, Vittorio never called. Not once. He finally showed up on the day I was discharged.

"Sorry I'm late," Vittorio said, pushing the door open, his face tired. "Carina's been emotional. She needed me."

I looked at him, feeling nothing but irony. Three days ago, he was having sex with another woman in front of me. Now he was acting like nothing happened.

"Aurelia, about that night..." Vittorio came closer, reaching for my hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you."

I pulled my hand away.

"It's fine," my voice was as still as dead water. "It's over."

Vittorio frowned. "I know you're still angry, but you have to believe me. It's you I care about. Carina is just..."

"Just what?" I stared at him coldly. "The one you were willing to 'detox' with your own body?"

Vittorio's face changed. "That was different. I had no choice..."

"Enough," I said, standing up and grabbing my bag. "Let's go."

Vittorio wanted to say more, but the doctor came in.

"Mr. Falcone, about your wife's procedure, there are a few things you need to..."

"Doctor," I cut her off. "I'll take the medicine I need to. Don't worry about it."

The doctor looked from me to Vittorio, then said nothing more.

Back at the villa, Vittorio took a family call in the driveway. I walked inside alone. The first thing I saw was Carina, sitting on the living room sofa, a glass of red wine in her hand.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Carina drawled, looking up from her wine glass, a smirk playing on her lips. "Finished with your little pity party?"

I stared at her and said nothing.

"Vittorio was so worried you were gone for three days," Carina said, getting up and walking gracefully toward me. "But he was more worried about whether I was traumatized by that night."

She stopped in front of me, her voice suddenly cold and sinister. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "You want to know a secret, Aurelia? I was the one who drugged Vittorio that night."

My body went rigid.

"I even sent you that message on purpose, telling you he was in danger at the casino," Carina smiled like a demon. "I wanted you to go to him. I wanted you to give yourself to him when he was at his weakest."

"Why?" My voice trembled.

"Because I knew he could never love you," she purred, her eyes glinting with pure venom. "I wanted him shackled to a woman who would always be second best. A constant reminder of the guilt he felt for letting me go."

The room started to spin.

"Now I'm back, Aurelia," Carina caressed my cheek. "It's time for you to leave. Don't make me say it again."

Rage boiled in my chest like lava. I grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the coffee table and threw it in her face.

I got in her face, my voice a low snarl. "Listen to me, Carina Romano. As long as I am the woman with his ring and his name, you will be nothing more than the whore he fucks in the shadows."

Carina froze for a second, then laughed. She looked toward the front door, then immediately dropped to her knees, sobbing into her hands.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have come back!" She cried, tears streaming down her face. "Aurelia, I really didn't mean to ruin your marriage!"

I turned. Vittorio was standing in the doorway. His face was dark.

"Aurelia!" Vittorio rushed past me, pushing me aside to help Carina up. "Are you crazy?"

I stumbled back and hit the wall. The wound on my back throbbed with a fresh wave of pain.

"Carina, are you okay?" Vittorio gently wiped the whiskey from her face.

"I'm fine..." Carina sobbed. "Aurelia's right. I shouldn't have come back and disturbed your lives."

"Nonsense," Vittorio said, holding her. "You're not the one who's wrong."

He turned to me, his eyes full of fire.

"Apologize to Carina. Now."

"Why should I apologize?" I sneered. "Did I say something that wasn't true?"

"Aurelia, that's enough!" Vittorio stood up, towering over me. "Carina already forgave you for drugging her. What more tricks are you trying to pull?"

Tears streamed down my face.

"So in your mind, I'm that evil?" My voice choked. "All these years we've been together, isn't that enough for you to trust me?"

Vittorio's expression was pained. He clenched his fists. He seemed to be struggling with himself.

But in the end, his voice was cold. "I only trust what I see and what I feel."

I was completely hopeless.

I wiped my tears, lifted my chin, and smiled with pride.

"Then I'm sorry, Vittorio. I refuse to apologize," I said, each word deliberate. "Because you two are the ones who are wrong. Not me."

Vittorio's face twisted with rage. The last traces of guilt were gone.

"Fine," he said, pulling out his phone and dialing a number. "Marco, bring a few men over."

Soon, several men in black suits walked in.

"Family law," Vittorio said, his voice devoid of all emotion. "Thirteen lashes."

Carina pretended to plead for me. "Vittorio, let it go, don't hurt Aurelia..."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Thirteen lashes. The Falcone family's signature punishment. Reserved for traitors and rats.

He was really going to do this to me.

I straightened my back and met his gaze, my head held high.

"Vittorio. You lay one hand on me, and you will spend the rest of your life regretting it."

Vittorio stared at me, his eyes empty of any warmth.

"Do it."

Before I could react, a rough rope was wrapped around my wrists, and I was dragged to the backyard.

"Vittorio!" I struggled. "You'll regret this!"

But he had already turned away, holding Carina as he walked back inside, never looking back.

The whip cracked. The first lash split the skin on my back open. I bit down on my lip, hard, tasting blood. I refused to scream. The second lash landed. Then the third.

Blood ran down my back, soaking my white shirt.

By the tenth lash, I was numb. After the thirteenth, my back was a shredded mess of flesh and blood. My legs gave out. I collapsed in a pool of my own making.

Right before I passed out, I saw Carina standing at a window on the second floor, a triumphant smile on her face.

She had won.

Three days later, the sharp ring of my phone woke me. I struggled to sit up, my back screaming in protest.

"Aurelia?" Orion's voice was worried. "Are you okay? I couldn't reach you for three days."

"I'm fine," my voice was hoarse.

"I'll be at the rendezvous point in three hours," Orion's tone became gentle. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

I hung up and forced myself to the closet. I only needed to take one thing. I picked up the antique dagger from my vanity, the only memento I had from the Rossi family.

Everything else could stay in this hell.

My phone rang.

"Aurelia!" It was Luca, my protégé. He was practically screaming into the phone. "That bitch Carina—she tanked the port authority deal! Fifty million dollars, gone! She went in as a 'temporary consultant' and burned the whole thing to the ground!"

I remembered when I first joined the family. I mixed up the location of one dock deal, and Vittorio yelled at me all night. Now Carina had blown a much bigger deal, and Vittorio had nothing to say.

"What did the Don say?" I asked, not really caring.

"He said it's fine, we can always make more money," Luca's voice was full of disbelief. "Miss Aurelia, you have to come back and take charge! The family can't survive without you!"

"Sorry, Luca," I said calmly. "The Falcone family is no longer my concern."

"What?!" Luca yelled. "You can't—"

I hung up.

Immediately, a few of the family's old guard started calling.

"Aurelia, what the hell is this?" Old man Matteo roared through the phone. "The family is a mess and you're playing games?"

"I quit," I said flatly.

"You quit? You think this is a game?" another elder took the phone. "Get your ass back here and clean up this mess! Now!"

"If you've got a problem, take it to your Don," I sneered. "Don't pull that tough-guy shit with me. I'm not the one you should be afraid of."

I hung up on them, one by one, then blocked every number associated with the Falcone family.

Finally, I walked to Vittorio's study and opened his safe. I took out a blank SIM card and copied all the evidence onto it. The proof of my miscarriage. The security footage from the villa. The audio file of Carina's confession. And the divorce papers he signed with his own hand.

I put the SIM card back in the safe with the other documents and locked it.

These were my parting gifts for Vittorio. Four of them.

One day, he would open this safe.

And on that day, he would know exactly what he had lost.

I was about to leave when my phone buzzed again. Vittorio's name on the screen.

I glanced at it and blocked the number.

But then the texts started flooding in. All from him.

[Aurelia, Carina messed up the port authority deal. Get back here and fix it.]

[I know you're mad, but the family needs you.]

[Answer me!]

[Aurelia, stop being childish.]

I deleted every single one. Then I blocked his number.

An hour later, I was at the rendezvous point. A private jet sat on the runway. A tall figure stood beside it.

Orion stood there in a flawless black suit. In his hand, he held a single, perfect black rose. It was crafted from velvet, a flower that could never wilt or die.

He saw me and slowly looked up. He stepped forward, his dark green eyes locking onto mine.

"Aurelia," he said, his voice a low, soothing balm. "I'm here to take you home."