"How could men and women ever be equal? Stop stirring things up, alright?"

I no longer wanted to keep debating and turned around to walk away. Dante reached out and tried to hold me back.

With a loud crash, Rocco Mancini struck the table hard with his palm.

"Go. Let her leave!"

"A woman living off my son is acting all proud now, don't come back crying and begging later!"

Dante truly listened this time and did not run after me.

The cold wind on the road rushed straight toward me, just like that winter when I first fell for Dante at a single glance.

Back then, my closest friend warned me.

"Him? He's that well-known poor campus crush in our department who only focuses on studying."

"So many wealthy girls chased him at school, and he didn't even look their way. When asked, he only said he didn't have time for dating nonsense."

"If you want to go after him, that'll probably be tougher than reaching the sky."

But I still liked him.

So I hid who I was, switched into his major, and began shamelessly sticking close to him, doing everything I could to make myself noticeable to him.

Behind the scenes, I covered his tuition fees and daily costs through anonymous hidden sponsorship, and by pulling strings through Family connections, I made sure he could train under respected physicians and sit in on closed-door medical conferences most associates would never see.

I refused every son of every allied family my father introduced and poured all my time and energy into Dante alone.

In the end, as someone considered "on the same level" as him, I naturally became his partner.

After graduation, with arrangements already in place, he and I smoothly entered my father's medical front to work.

I did not move into the guarded apartment my father had bought long ago. Instead, I chose to squeeze into a small studio close to the clinic with him.

We once shared a truly happy time.

In the mornings before work, when I didn't want to get out of bed, Dante would hold me and help me brush my teeth and wash my face.

In the evenings after work, we would walk hand in hand to buy groceries together.

Curled up on the couch watching television, I would rest against his shoulder, and he would feed me fruit he had peeled himself.

But after Viviana returned from overseas, everything became different.

She turned into Dante's focus and main concern.

The car Dante bought using his very first real paycheck, its front seat turned into a seat meant only for Viviana.

"Anyway, our place is very near the clinic. Walking a little more is good exercise for you."

One evening after working late, a sick and perverted patient followed me.

With shaking hands, I called Dante and begged him to come get me, yet he was already heading to Viviana's place.

"Viviana is at home with bad menstrual cramps and can only drink the ginger drink I make. At a moment like this, can you stop being jealous and causing problems, okay?"

When that man rushed at me, I fought wildly in fear and despair.

When I grabbed a brick and swung it down, blood scattered across my face.

The next day, when I walked out of the police station, Dante was nowhere in sight.

Instead, I saw two flight tickets posted on Viviana's social media story.

Feeling awful during my period. My good brother didn't hesitate to take me on a trip to relax.

That place was the Maldives, the spot I had always held onto Dante about wanting to visit.

Every time I talked about it before, he would always say our main focus right now was saving money for the wedding, not wasting money to enjoy ourselves.

Yet the moment it had Viviana involved, every plan about saving money completely disappeared.

I slowly let out a breath and wiped the tears away.

My thumb drifted over the pale mark where my engagement ring used to sit, the skin still indented after all those years.

Then I thought about every visit I made to the Mancini family house for Sunday dinner, where I busied myself serving the whole family.

Carmela would always slip the family heirloom sapphire bracelet onto Viviana's wrist, straightening each pearl on her own bracelet bead by bead while sighing again and again about how perfect it would be if she and Dante were together.

Bit by bit, moment by moment, I always believed that as long as I loved Dante, I could endure everything.

But now, I could no longer keep loving.

Since in their family's hearts, I would forever be an outsider, I decided from then on I would no longer mistreat myself.

I went back to the lakeside villa to pack my belongings and leave, but the code on the gate lock failed again and again.

Just as I was about to call Dante to ask, the door suddenly opened from inside.

Viviana stood there dressed in my pajamas, arms folded, looking annoyed as she asked me. "What did you come here for?"

Before I could even ask her anything, Dante happened to return. He quickly pulled Viviana behind him in a guarding way and explained, "Bianca, don't think too much. After Viviana became pregnant, she hasn't been sleeping well, so I let her stay here at the villa."

"Besides, the rental near the clinic hasn't ended yet. You can stay there a little longer for the time being. After the baby is born and we get our papers signed, you can move back."

I said with shock, "I also paid half of the money for this safehouse. What right do you have to let her live here without asking me? And what right do you have to decide so easily when I can come or leave?"

In truth, the waterfront estate in this part of the city cost far more than Dante believed.

My father didn't want me to suffer, so he had already paid eighty percent of the total price through a shell company in advance. On the surface, Dante and I each paid half to purchase it.

Dante looked away with a guilty face, and in the next moment, Viviana was already yelling with a proud tone.

"That's because the property papers have my name and my brother's name on them!"

"I only didn't have the soldiers at the gate throw you out because of my brother!"

I stared at Dante in shock. Only then did he explain, clearly unwilling.

"Viviana grew up with me. She's basically part of my family. She won't be getting married later and still has to raise a child. I'm the child's father, so I need to give her some protection."

"Anyway, you and I will get married sooner or later. No matter what happens, I won't leave you. Does whose name is on the house really matter more than what we have?"

Seeing the twisted logic of the man standing in front of me, I almost couldn't recognize him. He smoothed the front of his jacket, a gesture so practiced it looked like reflex, and held my gaze as if the lie he'd just told was the most natural thing in the world.

I had once thought Dante just didn't love me that much. I never thought that even the small bit of feeling left had long been replaced by careful planning.

Was this really the man I bent myself to love for ten years?

Not worth it, truly not worth it.

My thumb drifted over the pale mark where my engagement ring used to sit. The skin there was still slightly indented, a ghost of a promise already rotting from the inside.

When he saw my eyes turn red, Dante looked uneasy and, without thinking, took out a cigarette and lit it. After noticing that Viviana was still pregnant, he quickly stepped away and put it out.

Using that moment, Viviana walked over and jabbed my shoulder hard with her finger.

"I'm really tired of women like you, always complaining and picking at things! My brother is willing to take care of me. What does that have to do with you?"

"If you have any sense, hurry up and leave!"

Just as I lifted my hand to knock hers away, she suddenly used both hands to shove me with force, pushing me straight into the man-made lake behind the estate.

Hearing the sound, Dante hurried back. Viviana spread her hands with a careless look.

"I didn't touch her."

Dante slowed his rushed steps, his eyes turning cool as he watched me struggle in the water. The lakeside lights caught his face, and there was nothing in it. No alarm. No love. Just calculation, the same expression I'd seen him wear across a hundred sit-downs when deciding what was worth saving and what could be let go.

"That's enough, stop acting. Viviana isn't the kind of person who pulls fake sympathy acts."

"Stop using such awkward tricks to get pity. Get out by yourself!"

Water rushed into my mouth, and my legs began to cramp. "It was her! Help… help me!"

Noticing something felt off, Dante panicked a bit, reaching out as if to pull me up.

But Viviana suddenly grabbed her belly and cried loudly, "Dante, the baby feels like kicking me. I'm hurting so badly!"

Dante paused for only a brief second before firmly turning back and lifting Viviana into his arms, carrying her toward the villa.

With a heavy crash, the door slammed shut, as if it closed off my chance to survive.

I had no idea how long I struggled. Just as my consciousness was nearly fading away, a strong pair of hands finally pulled me out of the water.

When my eyes opened, I saw a familiar yet barely known face.

"Bianca, how did you end up looking this terrible?"

Don Vitale shrugged off his coat and covered it over me. His movements were polite, but his look and tone were still teasing and hard to control, like when he used to spar with me as kids.

I coughed hard, spitting out several mouthfuls of water, and asked him, "Why did you suddenly show up here?"

"This young man heard from your father that you're calling off your old alliance, so I came back on purpose to see if you got thrown aside, so I could laugh at you."

He raised his eyebrows and was about to get up when I suddenly grabbed the edge of his sleeve.

"Since you've already seen everything, then, do you want to go make this a binding union with me?"

Don Vitale's expression froze, as if shocked, and he stayed quiet for a long while. He didn't reach for a glass. He didn't move at all. Everyone who knew him understood what that stillness meant.

"If you don't want to, then forget it. I can find someone else just as easily."

Hearing that, Don Vitale quickly caught my wrist. "Who said I don't want to?"

He looked at me, his face serious.

"But Bianca, I need to say this clearly first. If you marry into my family, then there's no such thing as walking away."

He stepped on the gas, and Don Vitale drove me straight to the church rectory where a Family-connected priest filed the papers and issued a certificate the Commission would recognize by morning.

After taking me to a hotel to clean up and change clothes, Don Vitale helped me dry my hair, carefully but a bit awkwardly.

Not long after, a message from Viviana suddenly showed up on my phone, followed by a live stream link.

[Bianca, to be honest, when Dante donated that time, we didn't go through the Family's medical front at all. We did it right here on this boat, just like this!]

[And after I got pregnant, he couldn't stay away from me anymore!]

My heart skipped a beat. My hands shook as I tapped the link.

On the screen, on the couple's bed inside the villa, Dante and Viviana were wrapped around each other, completely unaware of anything else.

While gasping, Viviana asked, "Between Bianca and me, who makes you feel better?"

Dante frowned. "Why mention her at a moment like this?"

He changed positions eagerly. "But honestly, after all these years, I've gotten a little bored with her."

"And you, I never thought that even though you usually act like such a tomboy, you could be this feminine. I'm starting to get hooked."

All kinds of rude poses and dirty words kept coming. I forced myself to keep watching for a long time.

Until my fingers went cold and my mind became unusually calm and clear.

My thumb drifted over the pale mark where my engagement ring used to sit. Then my hand fell still.

After leaving the stream, I called one of my father's trusted associates and asked about the ten-million-dollar payment my father had put down on the safehouse estate.

"Uncle, that villa has nothing to do with me anymore. As for the remaining money, you can go ask the current owner to cover it."

Then I took out the marriage certificate I had just received with Don Vitale, snapped a photo, and sent it to the Mancini family group chat.

I also tagged Viviana. [If you like garbage, I'll hand it over to you. I've already bound myself to someone else before God and the Commission. From now on, I won't stand in the way of your two families being close.]