The Day the Don Begged Me to Come Back

For ten years,I kept our promise to stay child-free.Then I found a family photo tucked under the pillow of my husband,Dante Moretti,the Don of the mafia. In the photo,he was holding a baby in one arm.With his other hand,he was holding the hand of his first love,Celeste Vale. My hands and feet went cold.Clutching the photo,I rushed to the Moretti family headquarters. But when I reached his office door,I heard the intimate sound of panting from inside. Celeste was sitting on Dante's lap,her arms around his neck as she acted spoiled. "I'm already pregnant with our second child.When are you going to make Evelyn Snow get out?" I felt as if I had fallen into an ice cellar.Staring at the indulgent smile on Dante's face,I heard the words he had said to me over and over through the years. "I hate children." In the ten years I was married to him,I had been pregnant three times. Each time,Dante had used the same excuse,that he did not need an heir,and had made me terminate the pregnancy without hesitation. Before the third procedure,the family doctor said my body could no longer take it.If we continued,I might hemorrhage. I cried and begged Dante to let me keep the child. Even if the baby was never entered into the Moretti family records,even if the child could never call him father,I was willing. But he only looked at me coldly. "If you insist on having it,we end the engagement." So Dante did not hate children. He only hated children born from me. I let go of the door handle.I did not rush in and question him.Instead,I booked a flight out for that night. ... Clutching the photo,I walked out the front door in a daze. Rain came down in sheets.I was cold all over. Then I saw Dante's assistant hurrying a little boy in a raincoat through the entrance,warning him anxiously. "Slow down,please.The steps are wet.Don't fall." The child looked back and smiled,his voice soft and bright. "I'm not afraid of falling.I can't wait to see Daddy and Mommy." My breath stopped. That face was almost a perfect copy of Dante as a child. Without thinking,I placed a hand over my lower abdomen. During my third pregnancy,the baby had already been five months along. The family doctor performed an ultrasound for me.I saw the tiny outline on the screen,the brows and eyes so astonishingly like Dante's. I brought the report home and begged him,humbly,to let me keep the baby. But Dante did not even look at it.He moved straight into the study. After that,we were in a cold war for half a month. He treated me as if I were invisible. Even when morning sickness left me too weak to stand and I asked him to pour me a glass of water,he simply walked around me with indifference. I could not bear his cold violence and neglect,so I scheduled the procedure. At last,he was satisfied.He said his first words to me in half a month. "Good girl.I don't like children." I looked at the boy who was about to disappear into the rain. He must have been five already. And my fully formed child had been forced away three years ago. It turned out he had not wanted my child because he had already had an heir with Celeste. Tears blurred my vision.I bit my lower lip hard enough to draw blood before I forced down the urge to sob aloud. But when I turned,Dante happened to come out holding the child. There was nowhere for me to hide.Through the downpour,our eyes met. The child frowned and shook the extra umbrella in his hand. "Daddy,why is that lady standing in the rain?" "Can I give her the umbrella?She looks so pitiful." The taste of blood filled my mouth. I did not miss the warning that flashed through Dante's eyes. He had his assistant bring me the umbrella,then shielded the child as they got into the car. Celeste appeared after them with a little schoolbag in her hand.When she saw how wretched I looked,she laughed with pleasure. Faintly,I heard Dante coaxing the child in a gentle voice. "Nico,people who stand on the roadside in a storm staring into space are usually not right in the head." "People like that are the easiest to lose control.If you see one in the future,keep your distance.Don't go near." The car rolled slowly past me,splashing muddy water across the ground. Through the window,I saw Dante and Celeste with their fingers intertwined. And the child sat beside them excitedly building with Lego. My phone suddenly vibrated.A message from Dante popped up. "Go back to the estate first.I'll explain."

I scrolled through our chat history. For an entire six months,it had been nothing but my one-woman show. "Dante,I made the beef bone soup you usually drink tonight.Will you come home for dinner?" He had not replied. "Dante,I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle.Could you pick up a bottle of pain relief spray from the pharmacy if you pass one?" Still no reply. With trembling fingers,I selected every conversation with Dante. It felt as if I were selecting the entire ten years of our relationship. Then I deleted them with one tap. At the same time,a new follow request appeared on my phone. It was from Celeste. I did not accept it,but as if possessed,I tapped into her Instagram. It was packed with photos of a family of three. As I looked at those familiar dates,tears kept falling. On the day of my first abortion,Celeste had posted a selfie with a peace sign. In the corner of the photo,the trash can was piled full of cigarette packs. "Starting to try for a baby.He quit smoking right away and said he wanted to be the best daddy in the world." On the day of my second abortion,Celeste lay weakly in Dante's arms,holding a wrinkled little newborn. "Mother and son are safe.He cried harder than I did outside the delivery room." I looked at Dante's reddened eyes in the photo and suddenly remembered many years ago,when I went with him to the docks to negotiate a dangerous deal. A gunfight broke out on the road,and the car window was shattered by bullets. Without hesitating,I threw myself over Dante to shield him. He was unscathed. But glass shards and fragments tore open my chest,leaving me covered in blood. Dante gripped my hand tightly.His eyes were anxious,yet the distance in them could not be hidden. Even at the edge of life and death,he still called me by my full name. "Evelyn Snow,don't sleep." I had thought he was born cold and did not know how to love. I tried for ten years to warm him. But it turned out I had never entered his heart at all. I could not tell whether the wetness on my face was tears or rain.I only wanted to call a car and leave at once. But I was soaked through,and several Uber drivers canceled on me. I had no choice but to walk all the way back to the estate. Halfway there,a young couple on the roadside seemed to be having an argument. The boy rubbed his forehead helplessly and reached out to take the girl's hand. The girl shook him off in grievance and turned her face away. The boy had no choice but to crouch down and carry her on his back,coaxing her softly. "All right,princess.I know you're tired from walking.I'll carry you back,okay?" At last,the girl smiled. But I saw the boy's lips move. "So troublesome." My heart gave a violent tremble. I suddenly remembered the time after a family charity gala when Dante took me to see the hilltop winery he had just bought. On the way,I accidentally twisted my ankle. He glanced at my red,swollen ankle and asked coldly, "Can you still walk?" Everyone with us stopped to wait for me. I endured the piercing pain,unwilling to miss that rare chance to be close to him. But limping along,I still slowed everyone down. Then Dante suddenly turned back and picked me up in his arms. Back then,I thought he felt sorry for me,and I secretly smiled against his chest. Now that I thought about it,he had only disliked how slowly I was walking.He had only thought I was a nuisance. Tears ran down my cheeks. I took the wedding ring off my ring finger and threw it into the grass by the road. By the time I reached the estate,there were only three hours left before my flight. I shook my dizzy head and leaned against the wall as I entered the door code. The electronic lock vibrated and gave a shrill warning. "Incorrect password." The next second,the door opened from inside. Celeste looked at my disheveled state with provocation in her eyes,smiling as if apologetic. "Sorry.I casually mentioned that I could never remember the code,so Dante changed the lock to my birthday." I froze in the doorway. I saw the servants carrying out the furniture,ornaments,and photos I had personally chosen,box by box.

When Dante saw me drenched in rain,he frowned in displeasure. "The hall was just cleaned,and now you've dirtied it again." My heart went completely cold. The tears I had barely managed to stop broke loose again. Cold wind drove rain through the crack of the door.Celeste gave a soft sneeze. Concern flashed instantly in Dante's eyes.He took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. "Why haven't you closed the door?What if Celeste catches a cold?" Numbly,I closed the door. When I walked,the soles of my feet hurt as if needles were stabbing into them,and watery blood left faint trails on the floor. But Dante did not spare me even a glance.He only ordered the servants to make hot tea. He carefully helped Celeste sit down,as if she were fragile porcelain. Celeste giggled and pushed his hand away. "I'm not that delicate." Then,as if only now noticing the blood on the floor,she covered her mouth in surprise. "Dante,Evelyn's feet are all torn up.Hurry and have someone bring the first-aid kit." Dante then noticed my injured feet. His brows drew tight. Just when I thought he was about to have someone fetch medicine,and I was ready to refuse his belated kindness. He picked Celeste up in disgust and ordered the servants coldly,"Bring disinfectant.Wipe down every place she walked." The servants hurried over with alcohol and disinfectant,pouring them over the places I had crossed. Alcohol splashed onto the wounds by my feet,like fine needles drilling into bone. But that pain was not even one ten-thousandth of the pain in my heart. Dante looked at me as if I were some contaminating germ,as if he wished he could drive me out of the house at once. After a moment of silence,that was exactly what he did. "Butler,pack a few clothes for Evelyn and send her to a hotel for now." Celeste leaned smugly in Dante's arms and stroked her slightly rounded belly. "I'm sorry,Evelyn.He's only worried that with you this dirty,you might harm the child in my belly." "You'll have to suffer a little and move out for a few days." I looked up at the estate I had once considered my home. Now it had become unrecognizable. The wedding photo on the wall had been torn up and thrown into the trash. The custom fridge magnets of Dante and me lay scattered in a mess on the floor. Even the white roses I had planted by hand on the terrace had been uprooted by someone. To make Celeste comfortable,Dante had personally erased every trace of me. When I saw the childish pair of couple mugs on the dining table,my heart felt as if it had been gripped by an invisible hand,aching so badly I could hardly breathe. After the induced labor of that five-month-old child,I asked a jeweler to seal the ashes he left behind inside a tiny star pendant. I wanted to carry it with me at every moment. As if he had never left me. That day,I hung the little star at the head of the bed and slept well for the first time in a long while. But when I opened my eyes again,the pendant was gone. I broke down and searched the entire room,yet I could not find a single trace of it. Dante came out of the study and said lightly, "That childish little trinket?I thought it was an eyesore,so I threw it away." He thought it was childish. So without even telling me,he could throw away the last trace of my child. But now,he used childish couple mugs with Celeste,used childish stickers with her,and helped her and the child turn this estate into their home. I curled my lips in mockery and met Dante's icy eyes. "No need to trouble the butler." "I'll pack my own things." "I'll disappear soon enough and never offend your eyes again." I hurried upstairs.All I wanted was to take my documents,passport,and the relics my mother had left me. But when I reached the corner,a crisp shattering sound came from the bedroom.

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