After being publicly scolded, Chiara became the laughingstock of high society.
On a rare visit to an exclusive club in the city center, I happened to run into her. She was dressed in a lavish Chanel suit, her hair dripping with jewels. The wild, untamed woman from a few months ago was gone, replaced by someone trying desperately to project an air of nobility.
She smiled smugly. “You see, Alessia? I won in the end. Lorenzo still married me. I am his wife.”
“You always looked down on me, didn’t you? Because I wasn’t a ‘proper‘ debutante. Well, who in this city would dare say I’m not worthy of Lorenzo now?”
“I know you all whisper behind my back, calling me shameless for having a shotgun wedding. So what? I’m the one on top. You
are all beneath me.”
I stared at her pathetic display, her need for validation a sickness. “Chiara,” I said softly, “do you really think this is winning?”
My words seemed to strike a nerve. She shrieked, “What do you mean, ‘winning‘? I am the heir’s wife! One day, I will be the matriarch of this entire family! Do you think you’re so special just because you married Giovanni?”
“Lorenzo told me he hates Giovanni more than anyone! He said the old Don was going to pass the title to his father, but Giovanni staged a scene to save him, taking a bullet for him, and that’s how he stole the title. Lorenzo can’t wait for Giovanni to die!”
The moment the words left her mouth, a dead silence fell over the room. She finally sensed something was wrong. She looked up and saw Lorenzo’s father and Isabella standing behind her, flanked by several other core family members. The servants in the room had all faded into the wallpaper, wishing they could simply disappear.
Isabella gasped. “Chiara has lost her mind, to say such things.”
Lorenzo’s father’s face was a mask of thunderous rage. “I never knew my son felt that way. That day, Giovanni took a bullet meant for me and for the old Don. He earned the title, without question. I can’t believe my own son wishes him dead.”
“How can such an ungrateful man, a man of such flawed character, be fit to be our heir?”
Lorenzo, who had just arrived, heard his father’s words. His face went chalk–white, and he collapsed to the floor.
His father waved a dismissive hand. “Take Lorenzo and his wife to the estate’s cellar. They are not to come out without my
command.”
The wrath of a family leader was swift and severe. Lorenzo and Chiara were immediately put under house arrest.
I heard that as soon as they were locked in the cellar, Lorenzo slapped Chiara so hard she fell to the ground. “You stupid fool! How could you say something so secret in public? You’ve ruined me! I don’t even know if I can keep my position as heir now!”
“Why did I ever marry a curse like you!”
He kicked her, his eyes red with fury, and then kicked her again and again. Chiara clutched her stomach, crying and begging, ” Lorenzo, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it! I’m carrying your child!”
But the enraged Lorenzo couldn’t hear her. He was lost in his own violent fury, venting his frustration until Chiara let out a terrible scream, and blood began to pool beneath her on the cold stone floor. A guard outside shrieked, “My God, the madam has miscarried!”
News of Chiara’s miscarriage escaped the estate and reached Giovanni. He looked at the arms dealer kneeling in his study, begging for mercy, and at the reports from family members denouncing Lorenzo. He waved a hand. “Lorenzo’s character is corrupt. He is not fit to be the heir of this family. Demote him to the rank of a common member and send him to an insignificant post in Sicily. He is forbidden to set foot outside of there for the rest of his life.”
The arms dealer pleaded, “Please, Don Giovanni, allow my daughter to divorce him. She is half–dead. It was my failure as a
Chapter 8
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father that she caused this catastrophe. She is no longer fit to be part of this family.”
Giovanni agreed. When Chiara was carried out of the cellar, she looked as if she had aged ten years. Her face was a ghostly white, and she kept muttering to herself, “But I’m the heir’s wife…”
Lorenzo took his two mistresses with him to Sicily, but his convoy was ambushed by rivals on the road. During the shootout, he was shot in the groin. The doctors who saved him said he would be impotent for the rest of his life. He was a broken man.
Several months later, Giovanni convened a meeting of the high council and announced he was stepping down as Don.
The family elders objected, but Giovanni insisted. I stood by his side, placing a hand on my gently swelling stomach. “Giovanni has led this family for over a decade. Now, I am pregnant. We hope you can all understand our decision. We wish to leave this life behind and live in peace.”
In the end, the elders and senior members agreed to let us step down from all our duties.
Finally, Giovanni and I boarded a private jet, leaving the city behind us.
He wrapped his arms around me. “From now on, we are simply a husband and wife. We will live our lives and leave this world behind us.”
I leaned into his embrace and gently kissed his cheek.
“I’d like that.”
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