At midnight, I ripped out the IV cannula attached to the back of my hand. Then, I stepped onto the cold tile floor barefoot.

I did not know where I was going. Perhaps I just wanted to escape that cage.

When I was at the end of the corridor near the smoking area, I stopped in my tracks. Through the half-closed door drifted the smell of cigarettes and the sound of a familiar argument.

I pressed myself against the wall and held my breath.

"Are you nuts? Why are you smoking here?" Lorenzo asked with fury, but soon softened his tone.

"Sofia, put it out. It's bad for your body."

Sofia snickered. "My body? Hah! Vittoria's child is gone, and you're here talking about my body? Lorenzo, that was your child, too!"

Lorenzo snapped softly, "It was an accident! No one knew that she would open that safe!"

Silence hung thickly in the air.

A long time later, Sofia said with a trembling voice, "I'm pregnant."

"What did you say?"

"I said, I'm pregnant, Lorenzo."

I covered my mouth as tears subconsciously streamed down my face.

My heart ached so much as if someone were squeezing it tightly. It was so painful that I could not breathe.

So, that was the truth.

My best friend and my husband. Just when I had lost a child, they were discussing the arrival of another new life.

"That night was a mistake," Lorenzo said bitterly, but barely able to contain his delight and surprise.

Sofia sneered. "Mistake? So, what do you want to do now? Do you want me to get an abortion? Lying on the operating table just like what happened to Vittoria?"

Lorenzo answered definitively. "No! No way! You must keep the child. Vittoria can't have any more children. The doctor said that her womb was damaged. Sofia, this is God's way of making up to our family. It's his way of giving me an heir."

He continued, "I'll send you to Swisserland to carry to term. When the baby is born, we'll say that it's adopted, or an orphaned child by a distant relative. Vittoria is kind. She'll treat the child as her own."

'Treat the child as her own'.

Those words were like a huge slap to the face. Were they planning on using me to raise their illegitimate child?

Were they using me to love and care for the product of my husband's and best friend's betrayal?

At that moment, any hope I had left for them completely vanished. It turned out that there was no limit as to how cruel one could be.

I did not rush in to cause a scene or question them loudly. I merely stood in the shadows listening to their conversation.

They consoled each other as if they were star-crossed lovers. It was as if I was the evil witch who was in the way of their happiness.

I turned around and headed back to my room.

In my room, my thoughts drifted back to the past.

When I was 18 years old, when I realized that my feelings for Lorenzo were more than friends, I unreservedly told that to Sofia.

Back then, Sofia was at first stunned. Her expressions stiffened.

Then, she furrowed her brows in disdain. "Vittoria, have you gone mad? How could you fall for him? His hands are covered in blood. He doesn't deserve you."

From that point onward, Sofia hated Lorenzo even more. They started giving each other cold shoulders.

The day that Lorenzo and I got together, Sofia and Lorenzo fought in the training yard. She came out with red eyes, jaw clenched, refusing to say a word.

Later, when Lorenzo took over the family's affairs, he became the new Don.

Sofia went on to study law and economics. She later returned to be a core member of the family, becoming Lorenzo's most trusted Consigliere.

She held my hand and swore to me, "Vittoria, don't worry. I'll look after Lorenzo."

When Lorenzo proposed to me, Sofia cried terribly hard at our wedding. She grabbed Lorenzo by the collar.

"Lorenzo, if you ever mistreat Vittoria, I'll chop you up into pieces and feed them to the sharks."

Lorenzo did not argue. He had not yet shown the authoritative demeanor of a Don.

With reddened eyes, he looked at Sofia's quivering lips and replied softly, "I promise."

After that, Lorenzo's attitude toward Sofia had a subtle but unmistakable change. Whenever Sofia objected to his decisions, he would often listen to her quietly.

Sometimes, he would even give in to her excessively as he teased, "Yes, you're right, Lady Consigliere."

The day I got pregnant, Sofia cried once more. She got herself rather drunk on whisky that night, sobbing while drinking.

She said, "Vittoria, I'm really happy that you're about to become a mother…"

She trailed off before saying, "I don't think I'll ever get married in this life. Your child will be mine too, in the future…"

She was so drunk she could barely finish her sentence, but at that time, I thought that she was just happy for me.

It was Lorenzo who took her home. He was gone for a long time.

When he came home, his eyes were a little reddened. The corner of his lip was split. He said that the stairs were too dark, and that he accidentally bumped into a wall.

Sofia was not a person who cried a lot, but whenever it came to matters between Lorenzo and me, her tears somehow seemed to flow freely.

Once, I asked her, "Sofia, all these years, have you never fallen for anybody?"

She suddenly looked up and swept Lorenzo a glance before replying to me with a smile.

"Of course. I have my eyes on a soldato that just joined us. I'll show you one day."

As if on cue, the glass in Lorenzo's hand shattered.

As for that soldato, I had never met him.

It turned out that the signs were there all along, but I had never once paid any attention to them, nor did I want to.

…

As if trying to cover up the truth, for the following few days, Lorenzo and Sofia treated me well, even much better than before.

I had never brought up the 300 love letters. It seemed to have become an unspoken secret between us.

The days passed as if nothing had happened, but I no longer felt as happy as before.

One day, Lorenzo decided to bring me to attend talks with the ancient Cecile Island family, the Cecilia family.

He claimed that it would help me take things off my mind, but I knew that he only wanted to have the perfect Don image.

A Don who cared about his wife and family..

Sofia, as the Don's Consigliere, naturally went along as well. She donned a wide beige trench coat and flats with minimal makeup on. She looked every bit the smart and professional woman that she was.

She would only occasionally touch her abdomen, her eyes gleaming with a motherly pride.

The tension was razor sharp on the negotiation table.

The Don of the Cecilia family was Valentino Cecilia. According to the rumors, he was even more ruthless and bloodthirsty than Lorenzo. He was a master of more than half of Oropa's weapons shipping routes, a true king of the sea lanes.

Lorenzo brought with him his best interpreter, who failed at the worst possible moment.

Valentino spoke an ancient dialect of the Cecile Island, mixed with slang that only the older generation of smugglers understood.

The interpreter stuttered through as he sweated profusely.

Lorenzo started to lose his patience. He knocked his knuckle on the table, eyes looking sharp.

"Tell him that if he doesn't agree to a seventy-thirty split, we'll go to war."

Lorenzo placed his gun on the table as if trying to intimidate with force.

Sofia backed him up, not understanding a word Valentino had said but defending Lorenzo's authority all the same.

"Mr. Cecilia, just a reminder that you're on our turf."

Fools. What a bunch of fools.

I sat on the couch in the corner, watching the entire scene unfold. None of them understood what Valentino had said.

Valentino was not refusing. He was testing them. His coded phrase actually meant, "If you help me clear the cargo sitting at the port, I'll agree to a 10-90 split."

His bodyguards had their hands in their coats the entire time, ready to fire.

If Lorenzo had truly declared war, the negotiation table would become a bloodbath in the very next second.

I looked at Lorenzo's arrogant expression and Sofia fanning the flames beside him. How confident of them, yet so foolish.

I thought about my child who did not even get to come to the world. I thought about the safe of love letters. I thought about Sofia in Lorenzo's arms.

I should not have interfered. I should have just let them die there. Perhaps that would be the best revenge for me.

However, I looked at Valentino in the main seat, playing with his ring distractedly, scanning everyone with a mischievous look.

In the end, his eyes landed on me.

I realized that it was perhaps my only chance.

A wild thought sprang to mind and spread like wildfire.

Rather than granting them a quick death, which would be too merciful, I would rather have them alive and ruined.

Also, I needed a ship that could take me away from there.

I took a deep breath and walked out of the shadows. My voice was not loud, but it rang clearly in the room.

"Hold up."

Lorenzo suddenly looked back and frowned at me. "Vittoria, stand back! This isn't a place for you to fool around!"

Sofia sneered, "Vittoria, go back. You'll get everyone killed."

I ignored them. I stood up and tidied my clothes before walking over to the long table and pouring myself a glass of red wine.

Then, I raised my glass to Valentino and replied to him in the most fluent ancient dialect of Cecile Island, replying to his coded phrase.

"The wind at the port is strong, but we have the best captain. We can ship the cargo to a place where even God can't find."

Lorenzo and Sofia looked at me as if they had just seen a ghost. They never knew I could speak this ancient dialect.

All they knew of me was just a materialistic housewife who only knew how to shop and cook, but nothing else.

They had forgotten that my parents were the previous generation's best smugglers. That dialect was like a lullaby I had heard since I was a young age.

Valentino stopped playing with his ring. He slowly sat up and fixed his hawk-like gaze on me.

A few seconds later, he chuckled.

"Deal."

He got up, walked past Lorenzo, and headed straight to me. Then, he held my hand up and kissed the back of it like a gentleman.

"Beautiful Signora, your talent delights me."

Lorenzo's face turned green with jealousy. He pulled me behind him, looking rather on guard.

"Valentino, she's my wife."

Valentino stood up straight. His gaze instantly darkened. He looked at Lorenzo with condescension and said, "What a pity. If you don't know how to cherish her, she'll leave you sooner or later."

That night, the family had bagged an unprecedentedly huge deal. Everyone celebrated with wine and cheers.

Lorenzo was the center of attention, being flattered by everyone. Sofia was next to him, too, equally basking in the glory.

No one seemed to remember what I had done. No one remembered me, except for Valentino. He stuffed a business card into my hand before he left.

On it was a personal phone number and one sentence.

[My ship will always have a place for you.]

Late at night, Lorenzo was passed out drunk in bed. I sat in front of the vanity, staring at the pale woman in the mirror.

I took off my wedding ring and placed it in the empty jewelry box. Then, I took out that business card and dialed the number.

The call was picked up after one ring.

I could hear the sounds of waves mixed with the man's voice, saying, "I thought you would wait until dawn to call me."

I looked out at the dark sky and smiled in relief.

"Take me away. Right now."