But Viviana suddenly grabbed her belly and cried loudly, "Dante, the baby feels like kicking me. I'm hurting so badly!"
Dante paused for only a brief second before firmly turning back and lifting Viviana into his arms, carrying her toward the villa.
With a heavy crash, the door slammed shut, as if it closed off my chance to survive.
I had no idea how long I struggled. Just as my consciousness was nearly fading away, a strong pair of hands finally pulled me out of the water.
When my eyes opened, I saw a familiar yet barely known face.
"Bianca, how did you end up looking this terrible?"
Don Vitale shrugged off his coat and covered it over me. His movements were polite, but his look and tone were still teasing and hard to control, like when he used to spar with me as kids.
I coughed hard, spitting out several mouthfuls of water, and asked him, "Why did you suddenly show up here?"
"This young man heard from your father that you're calling off your old alliance, so I came back on purpose to see if you got thrown aside, so I could laugh at you."
He raised his eyebrows and was about to get up when I suddenly grabbed the edge of his sleeve.
"Since you've already seen everything, then, do you want to go make this a binding union with me?"
Don Vitale's expression froze, as if shocked, and he stayed quiet for a long while. He didn't reach for a glass. He didn't move at all. Everyone who knew him understood what that stillness meant.
"If you don't want to, then forget it. I can find someone else just as easily."
Hearing that, Don Vitale quickly caught my wrist. "Who said I don't want to?"
He looked at me, his face serious.
"But Bianca, I need to say this clearly first. If you marry into my family, then there's no such thing as walking away."
He stepped on the gas, and Don Vitale drove me straight to the church rectory where a Family-connected priest filed the papers and issued a certificate the Commission would recognize by morning.
After taking me to a hotel to clean up and change clothes, Don Vitale helped me dry my hair, carefully but a bit awkwardly.
Not long after, a message from Viviana suddenly showed up on my phone, followed by a live stream link.
[Bianca, to be honest, when Dante donated that time, we didn't go through the Family's medical front at all. We did it right here on this boat, just like this!]
[And after I got pregnant, he couldn't stay away from me anymore!]
My heart skipped a beat. My hands shook as I tapped the link.
On the screen, on the couple's bed inside the villa, Dante and Viviana were wrapped around each other, completely unaware of anything else.
While gasping, Viviana asked, "Between Bianca and me, who makes you feel better?"
Dante frowned. "Why mention her at a moment like this?"
He changed positions eagerly. "But honestly, after all these years, I've gotten a little bored with her."
"And you, I never thought that even though you usually act like such a tomboy, you could be this feminine. I'm starting to get hooked."
All kinds of rude poses and dirty words kept coming. I forced myself to keep watching for a long time.
Until my fingers went cold and my mind became unusually calm and clear.
My thumb drifted over the pale mark where my engagement ring used to sit. Then my hand fell still.
After leaving the stream, I called one of my father's trusted associates and asked about the ten-million-dollar payment my father had put down on the safehouse estate.
"Uncle, that villa has nothing to do with me anymore. As for the remaining money, you can go ask the current owner to cover it."
Then I took out the marriage certificate I had just received with Don Vitale, snapped a photo, and sent it to the Mancini family group chat.
I also tagged Viviana. [If you like garbage, I'll hand it over to you. I've already bound myself to someone else before God and the Commission. From now on, I won't stand in the way of your two families being close.]
