Marco Rovello and his childhood sweetheart had never gotten along, neither of them willing to give an inch.
On the day of our alliance-marriage, she decided she couldn't stand to see Marco happy, so on the way to the church she had men take me in the back of a car.
Then she played the footage in front of the assembled Families during the reception.
At my bedside, Marco's eyes went red with grief, and he lunged toward the door, grinding his teeth.
"She can't beat me, so she takes it out on you! Gioia Ferraro, just wait. I'm going to tear the skin off her today!"
But half an hour later, a message synced to the tablet he'd left on the chair.
The sender was pinned to the top of his contacts, the profile picture Serafina Volpe.
A whole screen of filthy words stabbed into my eyes.
Serafina: 【You used "settling the score with me" as an excuse, then pinned me to the wall and kissed me. Is that how you defend your girl?】
Serafina: 【But the way you looked at me just now, eyes red like you wanted to devour me? That's addictive.】
Marco replied: 【Gioia is innocent. She's given up so much for me. I really do love her. We can't keep going down this wrong path.】
Serafina fired back instantly: 【Fine. Then I'll go spend the night with my man.】
The next second, Marco sent a frantic new message:
【Don't you dare. Wait for me at the usual place.】
【As for Gioia, I'll treat her well for the rest of her life. I don't want to hurt her, but it seems like… I really can't quit you.】
……
The screen went dark.
I clutched the edge of the blanket, teeth biting into my lower lip.
Hurried footsteps came down the hallway, and I shoved the tablet back under the pillow.
I picked up the phone from the nightstand and dialed the Feds.
The door to the room swung open.
Marco walked in carrying an insulated food container.
He saw the number on my phone screen, threw himself at me, snatched it away, and pressed the button to end the call.
"Gioia, what are you doing! You can't bring the Feds into this!"
I said coldly, "Give me the phone. I want Serafina behind bars."
"Have you even thought this through!"
Marco wrapped his arms around me.
"Once the law gets a case, everything that happened to you goes on the record. That footage will get played over and over as evidence!"
"Every Family will hear of it, every street will hear of it, and they'll all look at you like you're something dirty! I can't let you go through that!"
"But she had them do this to me!"
I shoved him away. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I be the one hiding! I want her to pay!"
Marco knelt at the edge of the bed and gripped my wrist.
"Can't you just leave it to me? I already gave her a brutal lesson."
"I'll make the rest of her life worse than death. Just trust me, all right?"
I looked at him, and suddenly he felt like a stranger.
Our second year together, on my birthday.
Serafina had dumped a full glass of red wine all over my white dress.
Marco had shot to his feet and flipped the table in front of him.
Plates shattered across the marble floor, and in that private room every conversation in the club died at once.
"Serafina, what the hell is wrong with you!"
Serafina said it was an accident.
Marco grabbed a bottle of beer and poured it straight over her head.
"That was an accident too. Get out!"
He smashed the bottle against the floor. No one moved. No one dared.
From that day on, I'd believed he would always keep me safe behind him.
"Did you go hit her?"
Marco buried his face in the crook of my neck, his shoulders trembling, and didn't answer the question.
"Gioia, as long as I'm here, I will never let anyone hurt you again, not even a little. We won't go to the Feds. Let me handle this, okay?"
I lowered my head, about to speak.
But then I caught a faint scent of lemon sea-salt perfume.
Serafina was the only one who wore that brand.
His fingers drifted up to the inside of his collar, resting there a moment too long.
My gaze followed them downward.
Deep inside Marco's slightly parted collar, there was a dark red mark.
