“What concerns you matters more.” Those words felt like a blade sliding straight into my chest.

Wasn’t I supposed to be the most important person in his life?

Since when had Stella Rossi taken my place?

The drug coursed through my bloodstream, heat rolling through my body in waves while my heart felt like it had been dropped into ice.

I wanted to storm inside and demand an explanation from Victor Moretti himself, but my legs felt as heavy as lead.

And then the accident happened.

Outside the restaurant.

A black SUV lost control and came hurtling straight toward the building, smashing directly into the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The explosion of glass echoed through the street, shards scattering everywhere as terrified screams erupted inside the restaurant.

In the chaos, I saw Victor move almost on instinct.

He lunged forward and pulled Stella into his arms, turning his body so that his back faced the crashing vehicle and the rain of glass, shielding her completely.

A jagged shard sliced across his temple, and blood instantly ran down his face, staining half of it red.

“Victor!”

Stella cried out, her face pale with shock.

But he only frowned slightly, his voice rough. “I’m fine.”

Moretti family bodyguards rushed in immediately, clearing the area and securing the scene.

Victor was helped to his feet, his face already frighteningly pale, yet the first person he looked at was still Stella.

He spoke softly to reassure her.

“I’m going to the hospital to get this taken care of. You’re afraid of blood, so don’t come. I’ll have someone escort you home.”

His voice was gentle, almost coaxing, like he was calming a frightened child.

From beginning to end, he never once noticed that I was standing right there at the entrance.

In that moment, I felt frozen in place.

So this was the truth—Victor would risk his life to protect Stella.

“Shocking, isn’t it?”

A soft voice sounded beside my ear.

I turned stiffly. Stella had somehow appeared next to me without my noticing.

Her face still held the pale look of someone who had just been frightened, but her eyes had already returned to their usual softness, and beneath it there was unmistakable triumph.

“You didn’t expect Victor to risk his life for me, did you?” she said as she stepped closer, her gaze full of quiet mockery.

“Elena, have you ever wondered why Victor loved you so much in the first place?”

“Many years ago Victor was ambushed and badly wounded. I was the one who saved him. I hid him at the old Rossi estate and took care of him for three days and nights. When he finally woke up, he spent a long time searching for me.”

“Eventually he traced the lead back to the Rossi family and learned that the person who had saved him might have been one of the Rossi daughters, which is why he approached our family in the first place.”

“But unfortunately for him, the information he found was wrong. He thought you were the one who saved him.”

“So he married you and indulged you without limits.”

My breathing stopped.

Every memory that had once made my heart race flashed through my mind— the way he used to look at me with quiet intensity, the way he indulged every whim I had, every moment of warmth he had ever shown me.

So that was it.

He had simply mistaken me for someone else.

“Later,” Stella sighed softly, though the pride in her voice was impossible to hide, “somehow he discovered the truth and realized that the one who saved him back then was actually me.”

“So of course he took all that affection back from you.”

She looked at me and smiled, the expression both gentle and cruel.

“Victor is a man who takes responsibility seriously. Even after learning the truth, he wouldn’t divorce you easily because he feels obligated to you.”

She leaned closer, her voice lowering into something venomous.

“But with your pride, Elena, once you know the truth you won’t cling to a marriage that was never meant for you.”

The triumph in Stella’s eyes was no longer hidden.

My chest felt like it had been torn open, cold air rushing into the wound until every organ inside me ached.

So that was the truth.

The last three years had been nothing more than a ridiculous misunderstanding.

If Victor didn’t love me, he could have told me the truth.

I am Elena Rossi. I can love deeply, but I can also walk away.

No matter how much I loved a man, I would never steal someone else’s.

I didn’t know how long I stood there while the drug continued to churn through my body, but the pain in my chest had already eclipsed everything else.

I stumbled to the curb and flagged down a taxi.

“Hospital,” I said. I needed the antidote, and more than that… I needed clarity.

I lay in the hospital bed staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep the entire night.

Early the next morning the doctor walked in holding a report.

“Miss Rossi.”

“Congratulations. You’re two months pregnant.”

My entire mind went blank.

I stared at the ultrasound image in my hands, the tiny life barely visible on the screen.

And suddenly I understood something.

This child should never be born into a marriage built on a lie.

I picked up my phone and called my best friend.

“Lillian, I need a favor.”

“I’m sending you the divorce papers. Find a way to make Victor sign them.”

A marriage that existed only because of obligation…

was not something I was willing to keep.

By the time I returned to the Moretti estate, the sky was already dark.

The moment I stepped into the grand hall, Margaret, the housekeeper, hurried over.

The moment she saw how pale I looked, concern flashed across her face and she asked carefully, “Madam… are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Margaret. I need you to do something for me.”

Without waiting for a response, I walked straight into the dressing room and motioned for her to start taking down the dresses and the expensive jewelry from the display cabinets.

“Call the auction house. I want all of this sold.”

Margaret froze where she stood.

“But… these are all gifts from the Don…”

“Just do it.”

She hesitated for a second, then nodded and stepped out to make the call.

By the afternoon the representatives from the auction house had already arrived.

They were just about to move the crates out of the estate when the front doors opened.

Victor had returned.

He filled the doorway the moment he stepped inside, tall and broad-shouldered, his tailored suit fitting perfectly over his powerful frame.

His deep blue eyes were cold as winter seas, his sharply sculpted features carrying the unmistakable elegance of old European bloodlines.

There was something inherently dangerous about him, the kind of quiet authority that made people instinctively lower their gaze.

Even with a strip of gauze across his temple and a faint pallor still lingering on his face, nothing diminished the commanding presence that surrounded him.

His eyes moved across the room and landed on the packed crates and the men from the auction house.

His brow drew together slightly.

“What’s going on here?”

“I’m sending them to auction. I don’t want them anymore.”

Victor looked at me for several seconds, his gaze deep and unreadable as if weighing something. Then he gave a small nod.

“Alright. I’ve already asked someone to prepare a new collection of dresses and jewelry for you. They’ll be delivered in a couple of days.”

“And that pink sports car you liked? I bought it. It should arrive this week.”

Before, I would have thrown my arms around his neck and kissed him for something like that.

Now I felt nothing.

I simply couldn’t understand why he was still willing to spend time and money on me.

Was responsibility really more important than being with the woman he actually loved?

He leaned down and brushed a kiss against my forehead, his voice soft and intimate.

“About last night, I really did have urgent business. Don’t stay mad at me. I’ll make it up to you tonight.”

Before I could respond, he continued casually,

“By the way, today is your father’s birthday. I postponed a meeting with the family captains. We’ll go to the Rossi house together later.”

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

My father’s birthday had never been something I looked forward to.

Growing up, my parents had always favored Stella.

No matter what gift I brought them, their reaction was always distant and lukewarm.

But during these past three years, every time I went back to the Rossi estate Victor had accompanied me.

When my parents criticized me or tried to pick me apart, he would either step in quietly or shift the conversation somewhere else.

Sometimes he would even take my hand under the table, squeezing it lightly.

It always felt like he was telling me without words that he was on my side.

But now…

All I could see in my mind was the way he had shielded Stella.

And the words he had said.

What concerns you matters more.

Maybe the only reason he wanted to go tonight was because Stella would be there.

“I don’t want to go,” I said.

Victor was loosening his cufflinks. “Elena, don’t be difficult. They’re still your parents.”

A sudden thought crossed my mind then— I was leaving soon anyway, and before I disappeared from their lives completely, perhaps I should see them one last time.

“Alright,” I said quietly.

“I’ll go change.”

I changed into a simple black dress.

By the time we arrived at the Rossi estate, my parents were already waiting in the living room.

The moment Victor walked in, both my father and mother stood up immediately to greet him.

Their smiles were warm and almost eager.

“Victor, you’re here!”

Their enthusiasm nearly overflowed, but the moment their eyes shifted to me the smiles faded.

“Elena is here too,” my mother said flatly as she looked me up and down, her brows knitting together slightly. “You look terrible. Were you drinking again at the banquet last night?”

My father frowned as well, his tone clearly displeased. “I also heard that you left the banquet early and caused quite a scene.”

He paused, his gaze growing darker. “Elena, you represent more than the Rossi family now. You’re the wife of the head of the Moretti syndicate. If people start thinking you can’t control yourself in public, it reflects badly on Victor.”

If this had happened before, Victor would have defended me.

But today…

He simply sat on the sofa, looking down at his phone as if he hadn’t noticed any of it.

I watched my parents’ cold, judgmental expressions, then glanced at Victor in silent desperation, hoping he would say something.

The next second he lifted his head.

“Where’s Stella?” he asked. “I didn’t see her.”

My mother looked slightly surprised before smiling again.

“We arranged a dinner for her tonight with a very promising young man. Since Elena has been married for three years already, it’s time Stella began considering her own future.”

In that moment, I clearly saw the expression on Victor’s face change.

His jaw tightened slightly. It was the expression he wore whenever something displeased him.

The next second he set his teacup down, pulled out his phone, and made a call.

After speaking a few quiet sentences in Italian, he rose from the sofa and told us that something urgent had come up within the family organization.

He said he had to deal with it personally, but that he would come back to pick me up once the dinner was over.

The rest of the birthday dinner felt unbearable.

My father and mother seemed to have finally found an outlet for their irritation. From the moment Victor left, they took turns criticizing me, saying I lacked composure, saying the way I behaved at the banquet the night before had embarrassed the Rossi family in front of half the underworld.

Just as the atmosphere in the room was growing heavier and heavier, there was sudden commotion at the entrance.

Stella had returned.

Her eyes were red as if she had been crying, and her long hair was slightly disheveled, making her look unusually fragile.

My mother immediately stood up, worry filling her voice. “Stella? Why are you back already? I thought you were attending that charity dinner tonight.”

Stella sniffed softly and wiped her eyes. “Everything was going fine… but halfway through the evening a group of men in black suits burst in. They didn’t say a word. They just started smashing everything.”

My father shot to his feet, his face instantly darkening.

“Who did it? Find out immediately! I want names!”

Stella shook her head gently, her voice trembling with hurt. “There’s no need to investigate. I already asked the man leading them. He said… Elena was the one who ordered it.”

At that moment every pair of eyes in the room turned toward me.

I lifted my head and looked straight at Stella.

“What are you talking about? I have no idea what dinner you’re referring to, and I certainly didn’t send anyone to wreck it.”

Tears spilled down Stella’s cheeks instantly.

“I knew you would deny it,” she said softly. “That’s why… I brought the man with me.”

The front door opened again and a bald man in a black suit walked in.

I had never seen him in my life.

The moment he entered the room, he bowed deeply to me.

“I’m sorry, Miss Rossi. The job you asked me to do… didn’t go exactly as planned.”

In that instant everything became clear.

This was a trap Stella had prepared for me.

Framing me was hardly new to her. She had done it more times than I could count growing up.

My father slammed his hand down on the table, his face livid with anger.

“Elena! Your sister finally had a respectable opportunity to meet someone from a good family, and you had to ruin it? Do you hate her that much?”

My mother’s voice trembled with fury.

“Elena, how could you be so vicious? Stella is your own sister!”

The relatives around the table began whispering among themselves.

“This is unbelievable…”

“She’s always been jealous of Stella. Now she’s sabotaging her future too?”

A wave of humiliation and anger rose inside me so violently that it almost made me dizzy.

But I knew perfectly well that explaining myself would change nothing.

They would never believe me.

Victor—the only person who had ever defended me—was gone, and even if he had been here… maybe he wouldn’t have stood up for me anymore.

I looked at my parents with quiet disappointment. I hadn’t expected the last time I saw them before leaving to end like this.

I wiped the tears from my face and turned toward the door.

I didn’t want to stay here for another second.

I got into my car and drove slowly out through the gates of the Rossi estate.

I had barely made it fifty meters down the road when someone suddenly ran into the street from the side.

I slammed on the brakes.

But in the next instant—

she lunged forward.

A dull thud echoed through the night.

Stella’s body was thrown backward, landing several meters away on the pavement.

Did I just… hit Stella?