The color drained from his face.
He quickly set the boy down and stormed toward me, grabbing my arm so tightly that pain shot through my bones. The soldier standing six paces behind him shifted his weight but didn't move. No one intervened when the Underboss put his hands on his own wife.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded, his voice shaking. "You got rid of our baby? Are you out of your mind, Adriana?"
His grip was brutal, but I didn't flinch.
I only looked at him coldly.
"What do you think I'm talking about?"
Then I yanked my arm free and slapped him across the face with all the strength I had left.
The sound cracked through the hospital corridor.
Dante's face turned to the side from the force of it.
For a moment, he just stood there, stunned, his expression caught somewhere between shock and disbelief. No one slapped the Underboss of the Valente Family. Not soldiers, not rivals, not even the Don himself. But I did.
I stared at him and said, word by word, "We're done, Dante. I want a divorce."
Dante remained frozen, as if he couldn't believe I had actually hit him.
Serafina was the first to react.
She rushed to his side, cradling his face with both hands as if he were the one who had been wronged. Then she turned to glare at me, her eyes red and full of righteous anger.
"Adriana Bellandi! Look at what you've done to him! You've gone too far!"
"Too far?"
I let out a cold laugh.
Without a second of hesitation, I raised my hand and slapped her too.
The sound rang sharply through the sterile hallway.
Serafina screamed, stumbling back as she clutched her cheek in disbelief.
I looked at her, my voice icy.
"If that's too far, then what do you call tearing apart someone else's marriage? What do you call letting your son call another woman's husband Dad?"
Serafina's face went pale.
Before she could answer, Matteo rushed in front of her, spreading his arms wide as if to protect her. His small fist knotted in the cuff of his sleeve, knuckles white, eyes locked on the floor even as he shouted.
"Don't hurt my mommy!" he yelled, his little face twisted with fury. "You ugly witch!"
I looked at him and laughed bitterly.
"A witch?"
My gaze shifted back to Serafina.
"If I'm the ugly witch, then your mother is the mistress who lured away someone else's husband."
"Enough!"
Dante's furious roar cut through the hallway.
He stepped forward, his eyes burning with anger.
"Why didn't I realize before how crazy you are?"
By then, our argument had already drawn a crowd. Nurses, orderlies, visiting families. People gathered around us, whispering to one another.
"Is that the mistress?"
"She even brought the child?"
"Shameless."
"Disgusting."
The words spread through the crowd like sparks catching dry grass. Even here, even inside a hospital the Valente Family kept on retainer, the whispers moved faster than any enforcer could silence them.
Dante's face flushed red with embarrassment. Loss of face. In front of civilians. The one thing a man in his position could not afford.
Unable to contain his anger, he kicked a potted plant near his feet. The pot crashed to the floor, soil spilling everywhere.
"Adriana, nothing ever happened between me and Serafina!" he shouted, pointing a trembling finger at me. "She's right. You're completely out of control! I've been too soft on you, and this is what you've become!"
I looked at him, almost amazed by how shameless he could be.
Even now, he was still lying.
I took out my phone and opened the photos Serafina had sent me.
Then I turned the screen toward the crowd and zoomed in so everyone could see.
"Everyone, take a good look," I said, my voice cutting cleanly through the tense silence.
"This is my husband, half-naked at this woman's place in the middle of the night."
I enlarged the image again, focusing on the red marks on his neck.
"And these marks on his neck?"
I lifted my eyes to Dante, my smile cold and mocking.
"Don't tell me they're mosquito bites."
The hallway erupted.
