Two days passed in a blur. When I returned to the Graystone estate, the world felt foreign. Too beautiful and clean for someone whose soul was dipped in tar and simmering with rage.
I knocked on the study door.
"Come in," my mother-in-law said, her tone slightly dismissive.
I pushed the door open and saw her writing a proposal.
[PROPOSAL FOR CO-WIVES]
Primary Wife: Serafina child-bearing
Secondary Wife: Bianca children born will be illegitimate
I stared at those lines for a long time.
Strangely, I didn't cry.
Only a hollow space opened in my chest. So I had already been erased from their future so strategically.
"Illegitimate."
I suddenly remembered an evening years ago in the Family doctor's quarters.
Nico stood inside the room, holding a practice newborn doll in his arms. His movements were stiff, overly careful. When I caught him, he laughed like a child who had been discovered doing something embarrassing and pulled me into his arms.
"I have to learn, Bianca," he said. "When our baby is born, I can't afford to be clumsy."
Back then, I truly believed him. Believed that he would love our children even more than me.
Only now did I realize the future had always existed. It simply didn't include me.
"Bianca Ferrante, I heard you disappeared for days. I had told Nico not to bind himself to a lowly girl. One day she is serving him, another day warming the bed of another man."
Her insult landed like ash on a corpse.
"Shut up."
Her pen slipped as she stared at me in shock. Carmela Graystone adjusted the pearl choker at her neck, fingers pressing into the strand as if it could steady her.
"You dare speak to me like this! I will have Nico skin you alive!"
My bloodshot eyes looked at her, emotionless.
"Years ago, you gave me an offer. Name my price and leave Nico forever. Today I am here to take that deal. I want all the northern territories signed over in my child's name."
She inhaled sharply. "You greedy orphan—"
"I am not here to negotiate." I held her gaze without flinching. "I am here to end this farce. Sign the agreement, and neither I nor the child will have any ties to Nico or the Graystone Family."
"…Fine," she said tightly. "But Nico must never know you are leaving."
She searched my face for fear and yet didn't find any.
"Let's do it this way." I leaned closer. "Seven days. That's all you have. After everything is done, I will leave Nico completely."
Nico will never know that I will take our daughter and disappear from his life forever.
I ignored my mother-in-law's astonished expression and turned to leave.
The walk to my marital home felt endless. The long corridor of the Graystone estate stretched before me, portraits of dead patriarchs watching from every wall, and not a single soldier acknowledged me as I passed.
As soon as I turned the knob, a burst of confetti exploded in my face like a cruel joke.
"Surprise, Bianca!" Nico stood at the far end, smiling softly, like a man certain of forgiveness.
Candles flickered everywhere. The house glowed with careful celebration.
And on the table were blue irises, Serafina's favorite flowers, the kind that gave me severe rashes even if I touched them once.
Earlier, this would have destroyed me.
Now I barely registered it.
"Bianca," Nico said, walking toward me. "Where have you been all this time? Just because I cancelled the wedding, you disappear and leave me worried sick?"
As soon as his fingers grazed my hand I almost lost my mind.
In a small corner of the territory he had arranged for a dilapidated chapel, asking me to decorate it myself for our wedding. His words: "Too much luxury doesn't suit you, Bianca. The simpler, the better."
I cooked, decorated, and waited till midnight only for him to message me at last:
"This time the job is too dangerous. My life is on the line. If I live, let's marry next week, Bianca."
After that I crawled through the most dangerous stretches of rival territory and sourced the antidote from a cliff-side supplier just to save him.
And my reward?
Humiliation.
"Worried sick?" I forcefully smiled. "I thought you stood me up at our wedding because Serafina called at the last moment."
"Bianca, she was attacked by Bratva operatives. What was I supposed to do? Ignore her because you wanted a white dress and flowers?" He leaned closer to me and offered a hypocritical explanation.
"She was the one attacked?"
"She is your sister and yet you are so heartless. Why can't you learn from Serafina, huh?" he pressed, frustrated. "She was worried about you even while she was injured. She kept asking if you were alright, but the first thing you do is complain."
"This is why your father is tired, Bianca. He asked me what happened to the daughter he raised. Why she keeps pushing everyone away. No matter how much I spoil you, the Family will always be above your petty tantrums, so don't ruin my mood."
This was the man who had once covered the bruises from my father with trembling hands.
The same man who held me the night my mother died, when my father brought his mistress and illegitimate daughter home before my mother's body was even cold.
And now he used my secrets to collude and stab a dagger in my back.
He stepped closer, gently coaxing me, as if I were a child throwing a fit.
"Let's celebrate, Bianca," he murmured. "I know tonight means a lot to you. First cut the cake, and then we can go to the Feast of San Gennaro like every year—"
"What… are we celebrating?"
Nico froze.
He stared at me as if I had struck him.
"You don't remember?"
"Bianca… tonight is our anniversary."
"You cried the last time I forgot," he added quietly. "You held onto my shirt and begged me not to make it meaningless."
Silence stretched between us when a sharp echo of Nico's phone tore through the atmosphere, the caller ID flashing for a second before he snatched it from the table.
[Baby rabbit]
Years ago I had shyly taken his phone and entered my name as "Love bear." That day Nico had returned from the family compound and slapped the phone against the wall, making it shatter into a million pieces.
"Are you fucking stupid! Don't you know that I hate such childish nicknames! Don't you dare touch my things again!"
After that he threw all the couple's gifts I gave him straight into the trash.
But with Serafina, he didn't mind it at all.
The difference between love and indifference was clear.
"Nothing important. I will come right now," he muttered on the phone.
The candle on our anniversary cake fluttered and went out, just like the last three years where I cooked him a lavish meal and waited the entire night only to wake up and chew the cold food alone.
"Bianca, I don't think that childish festival you visit every time is too crucial, right?" he added, already slipping on his coat. A soldier appeared at the door, keys in hand, and Nico rolled the unlit cigarette between his fingers once before pocketing it. The decision already made. "There is some emergency regarding the southern shipping route, so I need to leave immediately. You—"
"Alright," I agreed quietly.
It was at that moment Nico froze. He tried: "You don't mind?"
"No," I said quietly.
Nico studied my face, his eyes narrowing slightly, like he was searching for the familiar cracks. The plea, the tremble, the question he was used to silencing.
"You understand… this is for the Family, right?" he added slowly.
"Don't overthink. I will be back soon."
He brushed past me so fast the air stung my cheek. The table hit my side, sharp pain bursting through my abdomen, and yet he didn't stop. The silent gasp left my lips as I doubled over in searing pain.
I used to think he ignored me because he was busy.
Now I know.
He simply didn't think of me at all.
My palm rubbed small circles on my belly. "Don't worry, baby. I will take you to see the fireworks. From now on I will fulfill the responsibility of both mother and father."
The carnival lights blurred, and in the glow the memories rose. A past version of us. Two teenagers sharing zeppole at the Feast, Nico brushing powdered sugar from my lips as he whispered: "If you like it, I will buy you hundreds more, Bia."
Him tugging my hand through these very stalls when we were twelve, lifting me onto his shoulders so I could see the fireworks.
I stared at the places where our laughter once lived and felt detached, like a stranger passing through.
"Look, sweetheart… your first festival—" My words were drowned by thousands of fireworks erupting all across the sky before my smile froze.
The night sky shone with [HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERAFINA]
And on the ground I saw Nico Graystone kneeling with a smile. In his hand was my mother's diamond ring, the one I thought I had lost forever.
I remembered how I panicked, sobbing into his chest, hating myself for losing my mother's only blessing to me.
His past words still echoing in my ears: "Just a silly ring. I will buy you hundreds more, Bianca. Just don't cry."
Now it glinted between his fingers as he held it up to Serafina. A birthday present amidst cheers.
This was his "emergency."
My fingers drifted to the hollow of my throat where my mother's locket once hung, but there was nothing there. My hand dropped. My jaw set.
My palm drifted instinctively to my belly as Serafina stepped onto the Ferris wheel, her lips locked with Nico's.
"Sweetheart… let's go," I whispered. "Mommy can't breathe here."
The fireworks kept bursting, bright enough to blind, as I stepped back until the noise dulled into nothingness.
Seconds, minutes, and hours passed until a sickly sweet voice called out, knocking the pastries from my hand onto the ground.
"Oh my, so you came alone, sister?"
