After three years of a blood-bound union, I still couldn't give the Bruno name an heir. Under my husband's patient pressing, I finally conceived after two years under the clinic's needles. When I was eight months along, I overheard a conversation between Dominic and his underboss, Marco.
"You slipped Adriana those pills for three years, just to make her believe her own body was barren, then used it to push her into the clinic, all so you could plant Vittoria's blood in her womb. That's cold, even for you."
Dominic didn't care. He rolled one shoulder as though shrugging off a coat. "Ten months carrying a child. Her figure ruined, and then the tenth level of pain when it comes. I couldn't stand the thought of Vittoria suffering that."
Looking at the man so full of calculation, I dialed the clinic's number without hesitation.
"Hello. I want to make an appointment for an abortion," I said firmly.
——
"Aren't you afraid Adriana falls apart once she knows the truth? No woman wants to carry another woman's child. Ten months, and the thing she births belongs to somebody else." Marco watched Dominic with a taunting slant to his mouth.
"How would she know, stupid as she is? And even if she did, what then? She's eight months gone. Would she cut it out of herself now? Look at her. Fat as a pig. Who'd want her but me?"
"True. The whole territory knows how much Adriana loves you. Stuck to you like flypaper all these years." Marco cracked one knuckle, then the next, an evil look creeping over his face as he raised his eyebrows. "Still, I've always been curious what a pregnant woman's like."
A flicker of disgust crossed Dominic's eyes. "Fat as a pig. I can't work up any interest just looking at her, never mind touching her. I'd rather watch a filthy film than stare at that belly like a watermelon. It turns my stomach."
"Since you're not interested, let me have a turn next time. I really want to know what a pregnant woman feels like." Marco offered it eagerly, cracking the last knuckle.
After Marco finished his filth, the two men in the room laughed, and every laugh was like a knife stabbing into my heart.
Because of that clinic, I had taken countless hormone drugs and countless injections over the past two years, and my body had swollen and lost its shape.
After I conceived, Dominic was forever fretting that I wasn't getting enough, so he had me take a mountain of supplements every day, and the child grew too large. My belly was covered in ugly stretch marks by the fifth month.
I used to think he pitied all my effort. Now I understood he only cared about the thing he'd made with Vittoria growing inside me. I clenched my palms tight and cold sweat kept sliding down my back. I nearly ran from that suffocating house.
After I steadied myself, I took out my phone without hesitation and dialed the clinic's number.
"Hello. I want to make an appointment for an abortion." I said it firmly.
I went to the clinic that same night. I was afraid I'd lose my mind if I stayed one second longer.
The doctor on duty looked at my huge belly and confirmed it with me again and again.
"You're already eight months along. Are you certain you want to end it now? Where is the child's father?"
"Dead."
Since Dominic had longed for this child so badly, I would prepare a fine gift for him.
The doctor looked into my hollow eyes and asked nothing more. He wrote out the medicine quickly and handed me the appointment slip.
"Take these, and come back for the procedure in three days."
I returned home worn to the bone with the slip in my hand, only to find the keypad on the door refusing me, flashing wrong code over and over.
Just as I reached to make a call, the door swung open, and Vittoria stepped out in a sheer nightgown.
