Gianna nodded. "Nana raised me from infancy. She is like a mother to me. For your lady to strike her is the same as insulting my elder." She placed one hand over her swollen belly, the gesture automatic, possessive. "She took a slap from your mistress, so now they're even. When the heir returns, we'll call the matter settled."
Nana Agata spat on the ground. The rosary beads around her neck clicked once as her fingers released them. "You were so pleased with yourself a moment ago, weren't you? Humiliating my lady like that. Now you'll kneel and pay your respects, and welcome her into the compound with the honor she's owed. From now on, you'll be sisters, nothing more."
Rosa snarled. "You? You're nothing. How dare you demand our lady kneel to anyone."
A soldier was already moving. His boot caught Rosa square in the chest and sent her sprawling across the pavement. Then he seized my wrist, dragged me in front of Gianna, and shoved me down. "Kneel."
I looked up at him, cold and unblinking. "You forget yourself. What gives you the right to lay a hand on me?"
The words had barely left my mouth when something slammed into the backs of my knees. They buckled, and I crashed onto the stone with a crack that shot white-hot pain through every bone in my body.
The soldier pressed the flat of his weapon against my spine. "Apologize to the lady."
Gianna stood before me. Her shoes were exquisite, Italian leather, each stitch immaculate. They might as well have been a taunt.
Rosa clutched her injured chest and tried to lunge forward, but Gianna's people pinned her down. "Shut your mouth. A servant has no business running it in front of our lady."
Gianna's voice drifted down from above me, soft as silk. "My lady, all you need to do is apologize. I won't hold it against you."
"Or is it that you look down on me? That you think I'm some shameful kept woman not fit to be seen?"
The soldier roared. "I'll count to three. If you haven't put your face to the ground by then, I won't be gentle about it."
I kept my chin raised. He counted, loud enough for every soul outside the compound gates to hear. "One. Two. Three."
Then he brought the butt of his gun down hard against the back of my skull. My forehead slammed into the stone pavement with a sickening crack.
Blood ran down from my hairline. Rosa screamed, sobbing. "My lady! Have you all lost your minds? Our mistress isn't the heir's wife! You have the wrong person!"
Gianna laughed. "Oh? Now you won't even claim your own title?"
"My lady, it's only a couple of bows. Surely you're not frightened?" Her voice dropped low. "You were so proud of yourself just a moment ago."
"Once I bear the heir's child, even the position of his wife will be mine."
"Honestly, how has someone as foolish as you survived this long? The seat of Donna Moretti, wasted on someone like you. What a pity."
"The day I enter the compound as the true lady of the house, I'll have you kneel before me and serve me espresso like a kept woman. Just the thought of it makes me smile."
She straightened up. "My lady, you still owe one more bow."
"This one is for the child in my belly. After all, you did kick him earlier."
When I lifted my head, the onlookers flinched. My hair had come loose, and the blood from my forehead was matted into the dark strands, making the sight all the worse.
"Good God, she's bleeding. This is going too far."
"She's the Don's wife, for pity's sake. If someone dies over this, there'll be hell to pay."
"Exactly. That woman has some nerve."
Gianna only glanced at the soldier. He pressed harder. I clenched my teeth and braced against the stone. My thumb found the underside of my wedding band and turned it, one slow rotation. The ring stopped. "You wouldn't dare. I am the Don's..."
The growl of engines cut through the air. A convoy of black sedans pulled to a hard stop before us, tires biting asphalt. "What is going on here?"
I looked up. Enzo Moretti stepped out of the lead car, surveying the scene, his overcoat still carrying the cold of wherever he'd traveled from. He had only just returned to the city.
The instant Gianna saw him, she threw herself forward. Enzo caught her. "Gianna. What are you doing out here?"
Gianna crumpled against him, tears streaming down her face like rain on pear blossoms. "My lord, your wife tried to beat our child to death."
"She kicked me in the stomach too. It hurts so badly now. You have to stand up for me and our child." Gianna clutched at Enzo, her voice pitched to carry.
Carlo Valenti, the Family's political fixer, sucked in a sharp breath from behind the heir. "Whoever dares harm the heir's child must be severely punished! Everyone knows how difficult it's been for the heir to produce an offspring. The heir's wife has gone too far with her jealousy."
Enzo walked toward me. I was still on my knees, pinned down by the soldiers.
He glanced at me once, his lip curling in disgust. "What are you dressed like? You look nothing like the heir's wife."
I had just returned from Sicily, still wearing the plain dark clothes of the convent estate. The simplicity of my appearance only deepened his contempt.
Gianna burrowed into his arms. "My lord, I was so frightened. She truly meant to kill me. Our child and I nearly never saw you again."
Enzo looked down at me. "Wretched woman." Then he drove his foot into my body. I fell backward, and the veil slipped from my face.
Gianna let out a little gasp and pressed closer to Enzo. "No wonder you don't care for the heir's wife. Look at her. She looks even older than you."
"A man as handsome and distinguished as the heir, saddled with a woman her age? How could she possibly be a match?"
But Enzo had seen my face. His eyes went wide. The color drained from his skin, and his knees hit the ground with a crack.
