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I Was Their Moon, Now I Belong to Another King
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
After my family collapsed,my mother's closest ally brought me to the DeLuca compound and placed me under their roof.That single act bound me to the DeLuca brothers for twenty years. Because they kept ...
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第1章
After my family collapsed, my mother's closest ally brought me to the DeLuca compound and placed me under their roof. That single act bound me to the DeLuca brothers for twenty years.
Because they kept me close, watched over me, gave me their attention in ways no one else received, the people around us grew jealous. But when I was finally old enough to talk about marriage, about building something real, both of them turned me down.
The older brother told me, "The Family comes first. I have no interest in marriage."
The younger one shrugged. "I'm still young. I want to have my fun for a few more years. Besides, this little thing between us was never something to take seriously."
Yet the next day, at my birthday dinner held in the main hall of the compound, the two of them got down on one knee and proposed. Not to me. To the housekeeper's daughter, right there in front of everyone.
What's more, just to make her happy, they forced me to drink hard liquor, knowing my stomach couldn't handle it. The bleeding started before I made it out of my chair. As I was rushed to the hospital, they covered her eyes and laughed at me, convinced I was just pretending.
Their cruelty was the thing that finally broke me. So on the day I was released from the hospital, I called my mother and said, "I'm willing to marry the Moretti Family's heir."
——
As I stepped outside, the biting autumn wind wrapped around me instantly, sharp and unfamiliar against my skin. It slipped through my thin clothes, chilling me to the bone, as if trying to remind me how unprepared I was for what came next.
The compound's iron gate stood behind me. Two soldiers stationed at the guardhouse didn't even look up. I was no longer someone worth watching.
My phone rang. The screen lit up with a name I knew all too well: Dante DeLuca, the elder of the DeLuca brothers.
I answered, and before I could speak, his cold, accusatory voice came through the line. "Bianca Valenti. Where have you been hiding all this time?" he demanded.
"Do you really think you can just walk away and escape what you owe?" he continued. "Get back here immediately and apologize to Serena Conti."
Before I could respond, I heard another voice in the background. Nico DeLuca, his younger brother.
"This is all because of you pretending to be sick," Nico said, his tone filled with irritation and blame. "Your little act upset Serena."
"Don't you know how delicate she is?" he added impatiently. "She hasn't been able to eat properly for days because of you."
As their voices echoed in my ears, I slowly turned my head and caught a glimpse of myself in the glass of a parked car.
The reflection staring back at me looked unfamiliar, almost like a stranger. The girl in the glass was thin to the point of fragility, her face pale and drawn, her body so frail it seemed a gust off the harbor could knock her over.
That fragile girl was me.
I had always been weak, prone to illness and frequent stomach pain. Because of that, the two brothers had once spent years worrying over me, taking care of me in ways I had once believed meant everything.
I could still remember one night when I'd had a sudden seizure. It had been late, and the compound's elevator was out. Without hesitation, Dante had carried me on his back, climbing twenty flights of stairs without stopping, his breath uneven but his grip unwavering.
At the same time, Nico had rushed out into the city after dark, searching almost frantically from bakery to bakery just to find my favorite carrot cake, hoping it would make me smile once I woke up.
From that moment on, they had paid close attention to everything I ate and drank, carefully watching over my health with a level of care that once made me feel like I belonged inside those walls. Like I was protected. Like I was theirs.
But all of that had long since faded away.
Ever since Serena entered our lives, those memories had become distant and meaningless, as if they had never truly existed.
Without saying another word, I hung up the phone. I didn't argue, didn't explain, didn't even feel the need to respond.
Instead, I dialed my mother's number.
I pressed my thumb against the pulse point inside my wrist. My heartbeat was thin and fast, but it was steady enough.
"Mother," I said quietly, my voice steady despite everything, "I've thought it through. I'm willing to marry the heir of the Moretti family."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. She didn't respond immediately.
After a moment, she finally spoke, her tone cautious but gentle. "This is a decision that will affect your entire life. Are you sure?"
When my father was killed and our family's territory was seized overnight, everything had fallen apart. My mother had no choice but to send me to the DeLuca compound for protection, while she stayed behind to salvage what little remained.
She carried the weight of our broken family alone, rebuilding piece by piece. It took her twenty long years before she finally managed to establish a connection with the Moretti family, giving the Valenti name a chance to mean something again.
Even after everything she had endured, she still cared about my happiness more than anything else.
The old matriarch of the Moretti family, Gianna Moretti, had personally chosen me to be her grandson's future wife. But my mother never forced me into it. She always left the decision to me.
Back then, I had believed in love. I thought it was something worth pursuing, something worth holding onto.
第2章
I had even imagined choosing between the DeLuca brothers, thinking that one of them would eventually be the one for me.
But now, I finally understood the truth.
To them, I had never been anything more than a passing amusement. Something temporary. Something easily replaced.
I should have walked away long ago.
I unlocked my phone, intending to book a plane ticket and leave as soon as possible. But before I could do that, Serena's latest post on Instagram caught my attention.
The caption read: "True love needs no words. Only useless old women would scheme to climb up the social ladder."
She didn't even try to hide her intentions.
In the photo, she lounged comfortably in my room, as if it belonged to her. On her fingers were two dazzling diamond rings, deliberately displayed. I recognized them. Gifts that had once been presented to me at a private dinner inside the compound, the kind of gesture that carried weight in a household where every piece of jewelry signaled exactly where a woman stood.
The clothes she wore were even more familiar.
They were the tailored designer suit and crystal heels that the DeLuca brothers had specially commissioned for me as a birthday gift just six months ago.
Silently, I stared at the screen for a moment. Then I blocked her without hesitation.
"Mom," I said firmly into the phone, my voice clearer now, "I mean it. I want to have my own child as soon as possible."
During my hospital stay, the doctor had told me that this latest incident had severely weakened my body.
If I didn't get pregnant while I was still young, I might never have the chance to have a child of my own.
Time was slipping away from me. I couldn't afford to wait any longer.
After a brief silence, my mother sighed softly. "Alright," she said. "I'll respect your decision."
"Gianna Moretti has already looked into your horoscopes," she continued. "Next Sunday is a good day to register the marriage."
"As long as you come back, I'll arrange everything for you."
I could tell that she already understood what this decision meant. A transfer of protection. Once the papers were signed and the union blessed, the DeLuca name would hold no authority over me. The Moretti bloodline would.
Before hanging up, she added one final reminder, her voice softer than before. "Don't forget to say goodbye to Gianna properly."
I lowered my phone slowly and looked up at the dull, gray sky above me.
The doctor had said it would take about a week for me to recover fully.
So I decided that I would use this one week to say goodbye—to everything, and to everyone I had once held onto.
I took a taxi back to the DeLuca compound, watching the familiar streets pass by through the window. Every turn, every corner carried memories I had once treasured, but now they only felt distant and hollow. The iron gates appeared ahead, flanked by the low hedges and security cameras I had learned to stop noticing years ago. The soldier at the gate barely glanced at me before waving the cab through. I was still inside, still on the books. For now.
However, the moment I stepped through the front door, a sudden blast of icy water hit me without warning.
I gasped as the cold drenched me from head to toe in an instant, my clothes clinging to my skin, the chill seeping straight into my bones.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Bianca," Serena's voice came, light and insincere.
She stood there holding a garden hose, her expression feigning surprise. "I was watering the flowers. I didn't realize you were standing there."
But even as she spoke, she didn't stop. The water continued to spray directly at me, soaking me completely before she finally lowered the hose, as if she had only just realized her "mistake."
I forced my eyes open against the sting of the water. When my vision finally cleared, what I saw made my chest tighten.
The lily of the valley I had carefully tended for years—something I had nurtured with my own hands—was gone.
In its place was a sprawling bed of bright, vibrant roses, planted deliberately, as if erasing every trace of what had once been there.
A cold wind swept through the courtyard, and the chill, combined with the shock, sent a sharp pain through my recently operated body. I pressed my thumb against the pulse point inside my wrist, counting the beats, willing myself to stay upright.
My legs weakened. The world spun for a moment, and I nearly collapsed, barely managing to steady myself before everything went dark.
Dante and Nico stood nearby, exchanging a glance before letting out mocking sneers.
第3章
To them, it was just another one of my "acts." They believed I was pretending again, just like before.
"I thought you had grown a backbone and wouldn't come crawling back here," Nico said mockingly, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Your own mother doesn't even want you anymore," he continued, his voice cold and cutting. "Where else could you possibly go but here?"
His words pierced straight into my heart, sharper than anything else.
At that moment, a memory surfaced in my mind, the first day I had arrived at the DeLuca compound.
Back then, everything had been different.
Nico had held my hand gently, his voice warm and reassuring as he tried to comfort me. "Don't worry, Bianca. From now on, this is your home."
Dante, always more composed, had personally prepared the largest and finest room for me, making sure I felt welcomed and safe. The compound had high walls and guarded gates, but inside those walls, they had given me the kind of warmth that made me forget what protection cost.
Later, when the three of us moved into this villa to run the family's front operations, he had carefully decorated the master bedroom to suit my tastes, paying attention to every detail.
He had even declared openly that, both now and in the future, I would be the unquestioned lady of this house.
But all of that changed the moment Serena entered our lives.
She came under the excuse of helping her mother, who kept house for the DeLuca family. At first, no one thought much of it. The housekeeper's daughter, running errands, learning the rhythms of the compound. Nothing worth noticing.
Yet from that day on, everything began to shift.
She clung to the two brothers constantly, always finding excuses to stay close to them. Meanwhile, my belongings began to be "accidentally" broken, one after another.
At first, I tried to be understanding. I told myself she was inexperienced, that she didn't mean any harm.
But the day she shattered the jade rosary my father had left me, right in front of my eyes, I could no longer stay silent.
I confronted her.
And that was the moment everything truly changed.
Dante frowned deeply and pushed me aside without hesitation. "Serena hasn't had an easy life," he said coldly. "You, on the other hand, are just a spoiled princess. Why do you have to make things difficult for someone who's barely seen the world?"
Nico stood beside him and added, "She's younger than me, Bianca. As an adult, can't you show a little more kindness?"
I stood there, clutching the broken pieces of my father's rosary in my hands, feeling something inside me shatter along with it.
That was the first time I truly felt helpless.
From that moment on, everything began to change.
I was no longer the most important person in their lives. Slowly, little by little, Serena took my place.
The housekeeper's daughter gradually became the new lady of the house, while I was pushed further and further to the side. She sat where I had sat. She poured wine at dinners I was no longer invited to. The soldiers at the gate began nodding to her the way they used to nod to me.
And now, standing here, I realized there was nothing left for me to hold onto.
All I wanted was to pack my things and leave.
When I stepped fully into the house, I saw that all of my belongings had been thrown carelessly into the hallway, piled up like unwanted trash. Clothes, shoes, framed photographs, a jewelry case with my mother's name still etched on the clasp. All of it stacked against the wall as if the room I had lived in for years had simply been emptied of evidence.
Dante stood there, one arm wrapped possessively around Serena's shoulders. His gaze fell on me, cold and filled with disdain.
"Bianca, you should know your place," he said harshly. "You're nothing more than someone living off the DeLuca family. You have no right to look down on Serena, let alone throw tantrums at her."
"From now on, you'll stay in the staff quarters," he continued without hesitation. "Serena will take over all family business matters, and you'll be transferred to the back office to handle miscellaneous tasks."
"Once you learn some humility, maybe we can talk again."
As if that wasn't enough, Nico picked up the small teddy bear my mother had once given me and tore it apart in front of me, laughing as he did it just to amuse Serena. His right thumb cracked against the side of his hand once, sharply, before he ripped the stitching open. Not because tearing a stuffed animal required force. Because he wanted me to watch him choose it.
"Miss Bianca," he said mockingly, emphasizing the title with deliberate sarcasm, "if you throw another fit and upset Serena again, I won't let you off so easily."
Miss Bianca and Bianca.
It was just one word's difference, but the meaning had completely changed. In this house, in this family, the distance between a name spoken with warmth and a name spoken with mockery was the distance between protection and exile.
In the past, hearing something like that would have broken me. I would have spent sleepless nights replaying every word, every slight.
第4章
But now, with my decision already made, I no longer had the energy to argue with them.
"You're absolutely right," I said calmly. "I'll move out as soon as possible."
Then I added, almost casually, "And there's no need to transfer me to another department. I'm resigning."
Dante let out a cold sneer. "So you're still planning to cling on like a leech?"
"Fine," he continued dismissively. "For my mother's sake, I'll overlook it this once. But you'd better remember your place from now on."
I walked past him without another glance, my voice soft but firm as I murmured, "There won't be a next time."
Although this place had once held so many of my cherished memories, I finally understood something.
It had never truly been my home.
I had thought that packing my things would take a long time, that I would need hours, maybe even days, to sort through everything I had accumulated over the years. But when I actually began, I realized how wrong I was.
After taking a closer look, there was barely anything left that truly belonged to me. The room felt emptier than I remembered, as if my presence had already been erased long before I made the decision to leave. The compound had a way of doing that. You could live inside its walls your entire life and still own nothing that couldn't be taken back by the family whose name was on the gate.
Nearly all of my clothes had been chosen by Dante. Back then, he would smile and say, "Bianca is the most beautiful princess, so of course she should dress up prettily every single day."
Those words had once made me feel cherished. But now, those same clothes lay piled on the floor, soaked in dirty water, giving off a foul, unidentifiable stench.
It was almost laughable.
The "princess" he once spoke of had long since disappeared. In his eyes, I had become nothing more than a troublesome parasite with an undeserved sense of pride.
As I pushed the damp clothes aside, my eyes landed on a scatter of photographs lying across the floor.
Back then, Nico had loved taking pictures of me. He used to say he wanted to capture every moment of my life, every smile, every memory.
Whenever the three of us took photos together, he would even compete with Dante, both of them trying to stand as close to me as possible.
Those moments had once felt warm and full of meaning.
But now, every single one of those photos had my face crossed out with a thick red pen, scribbled over without mercy.
I didn't have the courage to look any longer.
Without hesitation, I gathered them all and threw them straight into the trash, as if discarding something that had already lost all meaning.
Just as I was doing that, Dante happened to walk downstairs with Serena and saw everything.
For a brief moment, a trace of surprise flickered in his eyes. After all, I used to treasure every single thing he gave me.
But that moment passed quickly. His expression turned into a cold sneer. "You really don't mind wasting the DeLuca family's money, do you?"
The Dante I once knew had never hesitated to spend anything if it meant making me happy. He would go out of his way to give me the best of everything.
But ever since Serena appeared, everything I did had become wrong in his eyes.
I had lost the right to be willful, to complain, or even to feel hurt. And I no longer had the energy to argue.
"I'll pay you back," I said quietly, my voice calm.
"The DeLuca family doesn't care about that little amount of money," Dante replied dismissively. "But you need to remember one thing. Don't trouble Serena again."
Serena gently tugged on his sleeve, pouting slightly as she spoke in a soft voice. "Dante… don't waste your time on unimportant people."
"Besides, I still want to go to that secret place to watch the stars. Let's go," she added sweetly.
Her words made me freeze in place for a moment. My thumb pressed hard against the pulse point inside my wrist, holding there until I felt the beat steady beneath my skin.
The "secret place" she mentioned was something Dante had created just for me.
Back then, Naomi DeLuca had been occupied with family obligations and had entrusted Dante, who was six years older than me, to take care of me. It was the way things worked inside the compound: the eldest son carried what the household head couldn't, and for a time, that weight had included me.
He had tried his best to give me everything he could. He once told me that I was his "pure moonlight," something gentle and irreplaceable.
第5章
So he had built that place. An endless, dreamlike sky filled with stars, just for me.
I still remembered that night clearly. Standing under that artificial sky, the stars glowing softly above us, Dante had looked at me with warmth in his eyes.
"Bianca," he had said gently, "remember this. This sky belongs only to you, just like my feelings."
We had spent twenty years together, slowly turning that place into something magical, something that felt like a world of our own. The compound had a thousand rooms, a thousand locked doors, but that one space had been ours. Not the Family's. Not the business. Ours.
And somewhere along the way, my heart had quietly begun to lean toward him.
But every time I thought I had made my choice, Nico would interfere, stirring things up, making me hesitate, making me question everything all over again.
As for now…
They had found a new "rose" to admire and had long forgotten about me, the fading moon.
But it didn't matter anymore. None of it did.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and turned to leave.
In the end, I didn't want either of them anymore.
Suddenly, Serena reached out and grabbed my wrist. Her long nails dug into my skin, leaving thin red scratches behind.
"Why won't you listen to me?" she asked, her voice trembling as if she were the one being wronged. "Are you looking down on me?"
The sharp pain made me flinch instinctively. Without thinking, I shook her hand off with force.
Serena staggered backward, falling gracefully as if it were part of a performance. "Dante! Brother! Save me!" she cried out.
Dante's face filled with panic as he rushed forward, catching her and pulling her into his arms protectively.
Before I could even react, his hand came across my face.
The sound was sharp and sudden.
At the same time, Nico rushed in, his voice filled with anger. "Bianca, why do you always pick on Serena?"
"Don't forget," he continued harshly, "if the DeLuca family hadn't taken you in back then, you would've been nothing but a homeless orphan digging through garbage!"
"Not only are you ungrateful, but you repay us with cruelty!"
A loud buzzing filled my ears, drowning out everything else.
This was the first time in my life I had ever been struck like that.
In that moment, it felt as if my entire world shattered into pieces.
The compound had gone silent around us. Not the comfortable silence of a house at rest but the held-breath silence of men who had heard the sound of skin against skin and knew better than to witness what came next. Somewhere beyond the terrace, a soldier shifted his weight and looked away.
Dante seemed to freeze as well, as if only now realizing what he had done. His expression shifted slightly. "Are you alright? I…"
"I'm fine," I said quietly, wiping the blood from the corner of my mouth. "I don't blame you."
I truly didn't.
I took that slap as repayment for everything the DeLuca family had given me over the years. Every meal at their table, every roof over my head since my father's crew collapsed and left us with nothing.
From this moment on, we owed each other nothing. There were no more debts between us.
But Nico stepped forward, blocking my path firmly. He refused to let me leave.
"Stay here," he said coldly. "You're not going anywhere until you apologize to Serena."
The fierce look in his eyes was nothing like the boy who used to follow me around, calling me "sister" in a soft, affectionate voice.
But I knew exactly what he was capable of.
Once, there had been a boy at school who harassed me. Nico had secretly retaliated against him, while Dante handled the consequences behind the scenes. Between the two of them, favors were called in, pressure applied through channels no teenager should have had access to. The boy's entire family ended up leaving the neighborhood, relocated by a kind of quiet force that never left fingerprints.
I had never imagined that one day, that same ruthlessness would be turned against me.
Looking at the smug expression on Serena's face, I swallowed all the words I wanted to say.
There was nothing left for me to fear.
Even if they hadn't forced me out, I had already decided to leave.
Nico was still seething, his anger written plainly across his face, his jaw clenched as if he could barely contain himself. His right thumb cracked against the side of his hand once, sharply, and I felt the threat of it in my chest.
However, Dante, who seemed to feel a faint trace of guilt, raised a hand to stop him. He smoothed an invisible crease from the front of his tie before speaking, his tone softened slightly, though it still carried an air of authority. "Forget it," he said. "I overreacted earlier. Don't take it to heart."
He paused briefly before adding, almost as if offering compensation, "When I get back, I'll bring you your favorite chestnut cakes."
第6章
Then his expression turned serious again. "But I have one condition. You must promise not to make things difficult for Serena anymore."
There was an old saying: strike with one hand and reward with the other. That was exactly what he was doing now.
But Dante had forgotten something important.
I couldn't even eat chestnut cakes. My stomach had always been weak, and certain foods would trigger unbearable pain.
Years ago, he had gone to great lengths just to take care of me. He had tried countless cooks brought in through the compound kitchen, dissatisfied with each one, until he finally spent sleepless nights researching and crafting a medicinal diet tailored specifically to my needs.
At the same time, Nico had taken it upon himself to monitor everything I ate, making sure I followed that diet strictly, never letting anything slip.
Back then, they had remembered every detail about me.
Now, they had forgotten everything.
A cold gust of wind swept past me, cutting through my wet clothes. The chill seeped deep into my body, making me shiver uncontrollably.
Only then did I realize I was still completely soaked. My body, already weakened, couldn't take it. A fever was inevitable.
As I struggled to stay on my feet, Dante brushed past me roughly, his shoulder colliding with mine.
"You're still acting?" he said coldly, not even bothering to look back.
That final push was enough. The last bit of strength I had left drained away, and I collapsed directly into the mud.
Dante paused for a moment and turned slightly. There was a flicker of hesitation in his eyes, something that almost looked like concern.
But in the end, he said nothing.
He left with Nico, placing Serena carefully between them, shielding her as if she were something precious. Two soldiers fell in step behind them without a word.
After a long struggle, I managed to push myself up. Every movement felt heavy and painful, but I forced myself forward and called an ambulance. My thumb pressed hard against the pulse point inside my wrist the entire time I waited, counting the seconds until the line connected.
When my doctor saw the state I was in, his face darkened with anger. He couldn't hold back his frustration.
"You just got out of the hospital, and you ended up like this again?" he scolded harshly. "Do you even understand how serious your condition is?"
"You're pushing your body to the limit," he continued. "At this rate, you're heading straight toward collapse."
I didn't dare argue. I simply lowered my head and listened, quietly enduring his reprimand.
I stayed in the hospital for several more days under observation. Only after my fever subsided and my condition stabilized was I finally discharged.
By then, I knew I had lost too much time. I couldn't afford to delay any longer. I had to move forward with my plans.
I returned to the front office to submit my resignation, hoping at least to say goodbye to the few associates I had grown close to over the years.
But when I arrived, I found that all of them had already been cut loose by Serena.
The few people who remained looked at me with cold avoidance, as if I were something contagious, something they didn't want to be associated with.
I stood outside the building for hours, waiting, hoping to see someone familiar.
In the end, I was told that Dante and Serena had left on family business.
The three of them had gone to the seaside, the very place I had loved since childhood, the place I had always dreamed of visiting but never had the chance to go.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
I tossed my resignation letter aside. I had spent so much time worrying about how to explain my absence, only to realize that no one cared whether I was there or not.
At that point, there was only one thing left for me to do.
I needed to say goodbye to Naomi DeLuca.
Knowing that I would come to see her, she cleared her entire schedule and even canceled an important sit-down with an overseas associate just to make time for me.
The moment she saw me, her eyes turned red with emotion. "Why have you become so thin?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.
"I heard about your engagement to the Moretti family's heir," she continued softly. "He's a good young man. My dear child… I hate to see you leave."
第7章
I took out the bank card my mother had given me and placed it in her hands. "I'll come visit you whenever I can," I said gently. "Thank you for taking care of me all these years."
Tears began to fall from her eyes.
"Why are we being so formal?" she said, her voice trembling. "This is my fault. I was too busy with the family and didn't take better care of you."
She sighed deeply. "I even hoped you would become my daughter-in-law… but now…"
She pushed the card back into my hand. "Take this as part of your dowry. I won't be able to attend the ceremony, but I truly hope you'll be happy."
I held back my tears as I stepped forward and embraced her.
For all these years, she had treated me like her own daughter. But when it came to matters of the heart, no one could control how things turned out.
She held my hands tightly, unwilling to let go, repeating again and again that she didn't want to part with me.
Just then, Dante, Nico, and Serena returned.
The front door opened and the warmth of the sitting room changed. I felt it before I saw them. The way the housekeeper near the hall stiffened, the way voices from the kitchen went quiet. Compound instinct. When the DeLuca brothers entered a room, everything else adjusted.
The moment they saw me, their expressions darkened instantly.
"Bianca! What ceremony are you talking about?" Dante snapped. "Are you lying to my mother again?"
"Dante!" Naomi DeLuca's voice rose sharply. "Is that how you speak to your sister?"
Nico stepped forward quickly. "Mom, don't believe anything Bianca says," he said. "The only reason my brother and I ever talked about marrying her was to humor one of her childish dreams."
Behind Dante, Serena lowered her head shyly, a faint smile playing on her lips. Her fingers drifted to the pearl at her left ear and held there a beat too long.
Dante added calmly, "Serena may come from a humble background, but she is independent and strong. She would never agree to a union just for protection or money."
"Unlike Bianca," he continued coldly, smoothing an invisible crease from the front of his tie, "who has been spoiled by me and only knows how to bully others and stir up trouble out of jealousy."
Naomi DeLuca, who had been confused at first, suddenly slammed her cup down in anger. The sound cracked through the room like a gunshot, and the soldier posted near the hallway entrance flinched.
"No wonder Bianca insisted on leaving!" she shouted. "You two ungrateful fools. Take that woman with you and get out of my sight!"
After they left, I stayed behind for a long time, calming her down, soothing her until her anger slowly faded.
In the end, she let me go with tearful blessings, unable to keep me any longer.
I left with the last warmth she gave me, my heart filled with complicated emotions.
As I walked down the stone steps outside the compound's main entrance, lost in thought, my foot suddenly caught on something.
I lost my balance and tumbled down the stairs.
Pain shot through my body as I struggled to lift my head. And then I saw him.
Nico, standing there.
He had tripped me.
"Why can't you just leave quietly, Bianca?" Dante said, his face dark with anger. "You even came here to complain and slander me in front of my mother. Are you trying to ruin me?"
Nico grabbed me roughly, dragging me up before shoving me toward Serena. "Apologize. Now."
I had thought they would finally let me go. But they still refused to release me.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" I shouted, my voice trembling.
Before the words had even fully left my mouth, Nico's right thumb cracked against the side of his hand once, sharply. Then he lifted his foot and stomped down on my injured ankle.
A sharp, unbearable pain exploded through me, as if my bones were being crushed.
"Remember this, Bianca," he said coldly. "This is the price for hurting Serena."
"Unlike my brother, I won't tolerate your temper anymore."
As I curled up on the ground, the pain overwhelming my senses, only one thought remained clear in my mind.
Everything was over.
Twenty years of growing up together. Twenty years of shared memories.
Twenty years of love.
I owed them nothing anymore.
A kind passerby eventually found me and rushed me to the hospital.
After confirming that there were no major injuries, I left without hesitation.
Ignoring the throbbing pain in my swollen ankle, I boarded a plane and left, refusing to look back even once.
The next day, news of my alliance marriage to the Moretti family's heir spread across every channel that mattered, becoming the only thing anyone in the families was talking about.
Not long after, messages from the DeLuca brothers began to flood in.