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But when he saw the man’s face clearly, he froze on the spot.
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Sophia, who had been the picture of confidence just moments before, snapped her head up.
But that wasn’t how she saw it.
The loud shout drew the rest of the dinner guests to the scene as well. The matriarch of the Torrino family, Dante’s grandmother, frowned in disgust. At her command, her bodyguards rushed forward, and in no time, they returned, hauling the two of them out to report.
“Has the Don been bewitched by these sisters? Does he plan on marrying both of them or something?”
She was just lucky, that’s all!
“Madam Torrino, I was still a virgin! And now I’ve been so senselessly defiled by the Don in front of everyone… I can’t go on living!”
Sure enough, she followed right behind him toward the manor’s back garden.
The expressions on the faces in the crowd were varied, but their gazes landed on her like daggers, cutting her until she throbbed with pain.
“Dante! I wouldn’t even fucking dare to touch her, and you ruined her!”
Just as we moved behind a garden statue, we heard them: a woman’s suppressed, blush-inducing moans and a man’s heavy panting. We were all adults; we knew exactly what was happening.
That marriage was supposed to be hers. The title of Torrino family matriarch, the unparalleled glory and riches-it should have all been hers. How did it all end up with Katya?
The moment Sophia spoke those words, the crowd erupted in shocked gasps and whispers.
“Madam Torrino, I… I, Sophia, only dirtied my dress and was on my way to the changing room. But I don’t know why… Don Torrino came rushing out, completely
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drunk. Without a word, he grabbed me and dragged me over here, and… and he…”
That day, she had witnessed Dante’s handsome features and seen how he doted on me.
A buzzing filled her mind, and giving in completely, her body went slack and she
fainted.
The woman’s hair was a mess, obscuring her face. Before the matriarch could even question her, she threw herself to the ground and began to beg for mercy.
Sophia looked up at the powerful Dante, then glanced at Marcus beside her. The contrast was painfully obvious. She clutched the small vial in her palm, finally making up her mind.
“Mm.”
Dante’s voice was low, a playful look on his face as he arched an eyebrow at me.
I then invited a few prominent ladies to join me for a walk, casually steering us in the same direction.
“I just had one too many and went to a room to rest for a bit. What’s all this commotion
about?”
Seeing his beloved woman, disheveled and her clothes in tatters, her innocence stolen, Marcus lunged forward and seized the man kneeling on the ground.
Only Marcus continued to visit them every day.
It was a pain in her heart worse than swallowing glass.
As I lowered my head to eat the food Dante had so thoughtfully placed on my plate, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Sophia’s gaze never left him, and a faint sense
of unease stirred within me.
She couldn’t accept that she had lost to Katya and decided to make one last, desperate
attempt.
“To be cuckolded in such a public way… Marcus will never be able to hold his head high again!”
Ever since she offended Dante at the last family gathering, all of Chicago’s powerful families had deliberately distanced themselves from hers.
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For someone of Sophia’s standing, especially after her family’s fall from grace, marrying Marcus was a blessing she should have been eternally grateful for.
A Capo’s wife, known for her bluntness, yelled coarsely, and the activity behind the statue instantly ceased.
The Torrino family threw a lavish gala in his honor.
“Who’s so shameless, carrying on in broad daylight? Get the hell out here now!”
I sat by Dante’s side, and from a distance, I could see Sophia at a table at the far end of
the hall.
“That’s the new bride of the Castellano family! How could Don Torrino do such a thing? When you think about it, Sophia is his own wife’s sister!”
My parents, grateful for his kindness in their hour of need, hastily married Sophia off to the Castellano family, terrified the arrangement might fall through.
News of Dante’s recovery spread like wildfire through the Chicago underworld.
He set down his utensils and left the table alone, and my eyes immediately shot to Sophia.
“Baby, want to see a show?”
Before he could even process it, Dante’s voice drifted from behind the crowd.
If this was the real Dante… then who was the man beside her?
