Katarina De Luca POV:
The command hung in the air, sucking all the oxygen from the room. A dull ringing started in my ears. My blood felt thick and slow in my veins.
Aria’s face was a mask of pure, unadulterated glee. She was waiting for the explosion. The tears, the screaming, the satisfying drama of a wife scorned.
Alessandro just stood there, arms crossed, watching me with the detached curiosity of a scientist observing a specimen under a microscope.
But I gave them nothing.
I blinked, a slow, deliberate motion that pushed back the hot sting of tears. My spine straightened, a small, unconscious reclamation of my shattered dignity.
My eyes never met Alessandro's again. I turned and walked calmly toward the enormous desk. My movements were measured, graceful, as if his words had been nothing more than a mild annoyance.
I placed the encrypted ledger on a clean corner of the mahogany, my fingertips brushing against the cool, polished wood. There was no sound.
The gesture felt strangely ceremonial. A farewell. To my work, to my value, to the life I had so carefully constructed.
Then, I turned and walked toward the door. My silence was a weapon, and I could feel it unnerving them more than any outburst would have. It was a language they didn't understand.
My hand was on the doorknob when I stopped.
I looked back, my gaze traveling over Alessandro's shoulder to land, for the first time, directly on Aria.
There was no anger in my eyes. Just a vast, empty coldness. The look one gives an inanimate object.
She flinched, a flicker of fear in her triumphant eyes, and instinctively pressed closer to Alessandro.
I said nothing. I simply allowed the corner of my mouth to lift in a smile so faint, so chilling, it barely qualified as one. Then I turned and left.
I closed the door behind me, shutting them in with their sordid victory.
The hallway, usually a comforting space, felt garishly bright. I took a few steps, my composure holding by a thread, and then I saw her. At the far end of the corridor, a young maid was polishing a vase, her movements jerky, her eyes darting toward me.
When our gazes met, she quickly looked down, but not before I saw the emotion in her eyes. It wasn't contempt. It wasn't fear.
It was pity.
And that pity, that single, unasked-for expression from a servant, was a deeper cut than Alessandro's cruelty. I had always been the untouchable Mrs. De Luca, a figure of respect and fear. Now, I was an object of compassion. A fallen queen.
The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow. The argument hadn't been contained within the study. The sound had bled through the walls. The entire estate knew.
I was no longer the impeccable mistress of the house. I was a joke. The wife who had been publicly dismissed.
My pace quickened. I had to escape the prying eyes. Down the next hall, more servants were suddenly busy, their heads bowed, their peripheral vision locked on me.
From queen to clown, all in the space of one evening.
I finally reached the sanctuary of my bedroom suite. My hand trembled as I turned the key in the lock. The heavy click echoed in the silence.
I leaned my back against the door, and locked the world out.
