While serving champagne near the garden tables, I tried to disappear into the warm glow of the lanterns, praying no one would notice me. But they did. Every whisper burned through me like acid.
"Lucian and Gianna look perfect together."
"She fits this world. She moves like a real mafia wife."
"Their boy is so disciplined. She clearly raised him right."
"Lucian finally found someone worthy."
I kept pouring champagne, fingers tightening around the silver tray until they ached. My plain black server dress clung to me like a punishment. Everyone else sparkled in diamonds soaked in blood money and generations of power.
Then it happened.
Nico. Lucian's precious heir, his pampered prince, stuck his polished shoe out. I caught it too late. My heel snagged, and I lurched forward. Crystal shattered across marble. Champagne splashed onto a woman's ivory gown, the stain blooming like a sin she'd never forgive.
Gasps broke the air. The string quartet stuttered to a stop. I stood in the center of the ruin, hands trembling.
Nico lifted his chin and announced, "She ruins everything. Just like she ruined my baby brother."
A slow, suffocating silence swallowed the garden. Two soldiers by the fountain shifted their weight but didn't move. No one moved.
Gianna rose with a delicate hand resting on her stomach, eyes glassy with rehearsed fear. Her fingertips touched her collarbone, lingering there. "Please… he's only a child. He's been terrified ever since that cursed urn appeared. He has nightmares. About her." A pause. A whisper like poison. "About what she did."
Someone murmured, "The urn? Saints above…"
I whispered to myself, too soft for anyone to hear, "The cursed urn that held my son. The one you all destroyed."
Then Lucian stormed toward me, cutting through the crowd like a blade. The guests parted for him the way they always parted, instinctively, the way a room rearranges itself around a loaded weapon. His grip crushed my arm, yanking me forward. "You dare embarrass me in front of my men? In front of Gianna?" His voice was fire. "You ruin everything you touch."
His hand cracked across my face. Blood pooled on my tongue. I stood my ground.
Gianna's soft little gasp came next. "Babe, don't hurt her… she's still the mother of your child." Her palm stroked her belly like she was blessing herself.
Carmela arrived last, draped in jewels like a queen presiding over my execution. She adjusted her left pearl earring with a single precise turn before she spoke. "Dissolve this marriage now, Lucian. I won't have filth like that tied to our name."
This time, I lifted my head.
"No need," I said, voice cracking but clear. "The papers were filed this morning. You can have your son. I want nothing more from this Family."
Lucian froze. Confused. Insulted. Almost scared. His left hand twitched at his side, but there was nothing to crack, nothing to crush. Just the silence and what I'd said sitting in it.
Carmela slapped me so sharply my ears rang. "How dare you speak as if you get a choice? You should be grateful we tolerated you!"
Whispers exploded around us.
"She should be locked up again."
"She's unstable."
"She's out of her mind."
"She'll never survive without them."
My phone buzzed. A single sentence lit up the screen: Divorce approved.
For a moment, the world blurred. Then I smiled. A thin, dangerous curl of freedom. I wiped my lip, lifted my chin, and walked toward the gates.
Lucian's voice chased me. "Serafina! Where are you going?"
I didn't turn. "Somewhere you'll never cage me again."
He stepped forward, ready to order his soldiers to grab me, but Gianna let out a soft, trembling gasp and collapsed right on cue. The perfect distraction. Guards rushed. Guests panicked. Cameras flashed.
No one stopped me.
…
Back at the compound, the maid opened the door with wide, guilty eyes. I didn't speak. I moved past her and climbed the stairs to Matteo's room.
His scent still lived here. Sweet. Innocent. Untouched by their rot.
I packed his toys. His chewed picture books. His tiny clothes. I pressed each one against my chest, trying to remember the weight of him. My fingers found the glass locket at my throat and closed around it, and something in me settled into place. A decision that could not be unmade.
Then I removed my wedding ring and left it on his pillow.
The maid watched silently, clutching the railing like she might break. I walked past her, out to my rusted car, and slid into the seat. The compound glittered in my windshield. Cold, monstrous, beautiful in the way a coffin is beautiful. The security lights swept the perimeter in slow arcs, illuminating nothing that mattered.
"Goodbye, Lucian," I whispered. "Wait for the day I burn your empire."
My phone vibrated again and again.
"Come back right now."
"You humiliated me."
"Ungrateful bitch."
"If you leave, you'll suffer."
I lifted my phone, smiled faintly, and sent him two words: FUCK YOU.
Then I drove.
