The third year Marco Ricci kept me locked away in his family’s remote estate was the year I finally learned to obey. He came to pick me up with his pregnant mistress, Sofia. I naturally took the designer handbag from Sofia’s hands and held the car door open for her. “From now on, you will take care of Sofia,” Marco’s voice was ice, completely empty of emotion. “She and our coming heir… they are your new family.” I nodded obediently. After he orchestrated the car crash that stole my father’s life, the Don of our family, he had now “graced” me with two more “family members.” Once we returned to the mansion that was once mine, I started waking up at five every morning to study old Italian recipes that were good for pregnant women. At eight, I would wake Sofia and accompany her to her private Pilates class. At ten, I’d prepare delicate pastries and fresh juice, listening as she and the other mob wives giggled on the terrace, praising me as a “well-trained dog.” … The days bled into one another, until Sofia finally gave birth to the Ricci family heir. When the new family portrait was hung on the wall, Marco stared at the three of them, so perfect and close in the photo, and his voice trembled slightly. “Aurora, why didn’t you make a scene about being in the picture?” A scene? In this mansion, the only things I had learned were how to be docile, and… how to drive a normal person insane. … Hearing Marco’s question, I just calmly wrung out the cloth in my hands. “Sir, I don’t like having my picture taken.” He frowned, his eyes burning into me, as if trying to figure out if I was lying. I quietly wiped a speck of dust from the portrait’s frame, adjusting it slightly until it was perfectly, flawlessly straight. Sofia stood on the staircase, a flash of triumph in her eyes. She pounced into Marco’s arms like a cat, standing on her toes to kiss his lips. “You’re home.” “I tried putting the baby to sleep by myself today, and guess what? He actually fell asleep.” Marco’s eyes instinctively shot to me. I immediately nodded, a sincere smile on my face as I praised her. “Yes, Madam is truly amazing. She put the young master to sleep with no trouble at all.” Marco’s brow furrowed even deeper. But I didn’t have time for his guessing games. A nourishing bone broth was simmering on the stove for Sofia. I hurried into the kitchen, put on the oven mitts, and carefully brought out the soup. Sofia sat at the dining table, her smooth legs brushing against Marco’s suit trousers. Marco smiled at her fondly, but the smile froze the moment his eyes landed on me. I carefully ladled the soup into Sofia’s bowl, waiting patiently for it to cool to the perfect temperature. Sofia gave me a gentle smile. “Aurora, you should sit and eat with us.” Marco pulled out a chair for me, his voice soft. “You’ve worked hard taking care of the baby. You should rest.” I lowered my eyes and smiled as I refused. “It’s my honor to serve Madam and the young master. I’m not tired at all.” Sofia’s lips curled in satisfaction. She wrapped her arm around Marco’s and purred. “Aurora is just so good at taking care of people. Darling, you have to remember to give her a raise.” I stood obediently by the table, remembering the last time. All Marco did was accidentally brush his hand against mine, and Sofia had declared the soup was too salty. As punishment, she made me kneel on the gravel path in the courtyard under the scorching sun until dark. My knees were scraped raw and bloody, and a layer of skin peeled off my entire body. I knew what she was doing. She was putting me in my place. Marco Ricci, this man, was no longer mine to touch. After the meal, Sofia pushed the choicest piece of meat left in the tureen towards me. I didn't understand her meaning at first and moved to scrape the leftovers into the trash can as usual. Suddenly, Sofia shrieked. “Aurora, if you don’t want it, you could have just told me!” “I know you’ve been weak, so I saved the most nourishing piece of meat from the soup for you.” “That’s prime veal! How could you just waste it like that?” Marco, holding the baby, looked over with a slight frown. I immediately bent down in a panic, picked the piece of meat out of the filthy trash can, and shoved it into my mouth. “Thank you, Madam, for your generosity.” Marco’s eyes were wide with horror and concern. He rushed over, not even thinking about the baby in his arms, and reached to pry my mouth open. “Spit it out! Now!”
My stomach churned violently. I fought back the overwhelming urge to vomit, swallowed the piece of meat, and then looked up, smiling gratefully at Sofia. Marco’s pupils constricted, his face a mask of disbelief. After all, the old Aurora DeLuca, the Don’s only daughter, was a notorious germaphobe. I wouldn’t even use utensils that someone else had touched. So, when I discovered that Marco—the man my father had raised from nothing—was keeping a mistress, I told him to get the hell out of my life without a second thought. But he refused to let go. In just a few short weeks, he engineered an “accidental” car crash that killed both my parents, allowing him to seamlessly take over the entire DeLuca family. My parents’ funeral was a rushed affair. The very next day, Marco moved Sofia into my father’s house. I hated them. I took the old dagger from my father’s desk, ready to send that fucking pair to hell. But after I accidentally slashed Sofia’s expensive handbag, Marco brought in the family’s private doctor, who wrote me a certificate declaring me “mentally unstable.” He locked me away in this remote estate in Sicily, where he planned to grind away all my sharp edges and teach me my “place.” And he and Sofia? They shamelessly enjoyed the vast empire and connections my father had built with a lifetime of blood and wisdom. My fingers trembled uncontrollably, but I managed to steadily take the wailing baby from his arms. “Shh… shh… it’s okay, baby…” My gentle soothing worked. The baby cried himself out and fell into a deep sleep in my arms. Marco looked at me, his mouth open as if to say something, but no words came out. I avoided his gaze and carried the baby back to the nursery. A sliver of light shone from under the door. Sofia swirled a glass of red wine, contemptuously tossing a bottle of industrial-strength disinfectant at my feet. “Eating from the trash is so filthy.” “Aurora, you need to get yourself clean. Then I might feel safe enough to keep using you.” I picked up the bottle and bowed my head gratefully. “Thank you, Madam.” Sofia didn’t leave. Instead, she watched me with a smirk. I understood immediately. I went into the tiny servant’s bathroom and poured the entire bottle of disinfectant into the tub. Shamelessly, I stripped off my clothes, picked up the steel wool brush used for scrubbing floors, and started scouring my own body. My skin broke and bled, turning the water in the tub a horrifying shade of pink. The disinfectant seeped into the open wounds. I had to bite my lip until it bled to keep from screaming. My entire body felt like it was being stung by a thousand hornets, pierced by a million tiny needles. Just as I was about to pass out from the pain, Sofia finally spoke, her voice dripping with mock pity. “Once you’re clean, get dressed. I’m taking you somewhere.” I didn’t have time to tend to my bleeding wounds. I just threw on my clothes and followed her. Marco was leaning against the staircase, smoking a cigar. The moment he saw me, he instinctively stubbed it out. “Don’t eat out of the trash again.” “Aurora, if you just behave, no one will punish you.” Before I married him, Marco was just a nobody in the family, always smoking to deal with his stress. When he was trying to win me over, I told him I hated the smell. He quit in two weeks, using the money he saved to buy me bouquet after bouquet of roses. After we were married, there were always fresh roses in our bedroom. He even planted a rose garden for me himself. “If Aurora likes them, I’ll plant them all over the estate for you.” Sofia stood in the living room, dangling a set of car keys, a flicker of impatience in her eyes. “Aurora, it’s time to go.” I gave Marco a polite nod, indicating for him to move. His frown deepened as he grabbed my wrist, his grip like iron. “Aurora, you were never like this before.” Before? Did he mean when I was naive enough to fall in love with him? When I convinced my father to hand over the family’s core businesses to him, while I chose to be a doting housewife? Did he mean when I used to greet him at the door every day, take his coat, and have dinner ready for him? Or did he mean the nights I spent tangled in his arms, laughing and whispering how much I loved him? Too bad. We could never go back to that.
Sofia clicked across the floor in her high heels. Just before Marco could pull me into his arms, she linked her arm through his. “Darling, why don’t you drive us?” He nodded, and I automatically moved away from the passenger seat. The scenery outside the window blurred past, and a knot of dread tightened in my stomach. This was the road to the DeLuca family’s private cemetery. Before the car even came to a complete stop, I threw the door open and scrambled out. The neat rows of black marble tombstones were gone. In their place was a newly planted vineyard. In the distance, a few workers were watering the young vines. I stumbled towards them, my throat raw. “Excuse me, wasn’t this the DeLuca family cemetery?” “Why is it like this now? What happened to the people who were buried here?” An older worker looked at me, confused, then his face cleared with understanding. He pointed to a small hill nearby. “It used to be a cemetery, yeah. But Mr. Ricci tested the soil and found out it was perfect for growing grapes, so he’s making wine now.” A young girl weeding nearby looked up, her eyes full of envy. “It’s true. I heard Mrs. Ricci has a taste for a special kind of wine, so Mr. Ricci spent a fortune to buy this land for her.” A few yards away, Marco guiltily looked away. Sofia, however, was smiling. She reminded me sweetly, “Don’t worry, Aurora. So you wouldn’t have trouble finding your parents’ graves, I had the workers pile up all the broken pieces on top of the hill.” My mind went blank. My legs felt like they were filled with lead. I ran up the hill without looking back. At some point, the sky had opened up, and a torrential rain began to fall. The raindrops hit my skin like tiny stones. I collapsed onto my knees in the mud, completely drained of strength. The entire hillside was covered in shattered tombstones. I couldn’t make out any of the faded names. I caught a glimpse of a familiar family crest out of the corner of my eye and started clawing frantically at the sharp pieces of stone with my bare hands. A sharp pain shot through my fingers, and the wounds on my body split open again. An agonizing pain spread through me. I cried until my voice was gone and my vision was blurred. I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Papa, Mama… It’s all my fault. I’m the one who let the wolf into our home… The rain fell harder, and a thick fog rolled in. I heard Marco’s worried voice from behind me. “Aurora, where are you?” Sofia found me first, the hatred in her eyes finally on full display. Her sharp nails dug into my wounds as she grabbed my throat and shook me. “Aurora DeLuca, why the hell did you have to come back?” “If you were dead, I’d be the real Mrs. Ricci, and Marco would only have eyes for me!” I couldn’t breathe. Sofia dragged me like a rag doll to the edge of a steep slope. Through my blurry vision, I saw Marco getting closer. Sofia whispered tauntingly in my ear. “Aurora, who do you think he’ll choose this time?” Before I could react, Sofia threw her arms around me, and we tumbled down the hillside together. She used her body to pin me down, and just before we hit the bottom, she twisted us around, using me as a human shield. A tearing pain ripped through my shoulder blade. I forced myself to look down and saw a tree branch as thick as my wrist sticking straight through my shoulder. The taste of blood filled my throat. As my consciousness faded, I saw Marco holding Sofia, his touch so gentle. He wiped the mud from her face like she was a fragile porcelain doll. It was just like that time, years ago, when a rival family launched a surprise attack. He had chosen to protect Sofia without a moment’s hesitation, leaving me buried in the rubble of an explosion. My legs were crushed by the debris that day. I almost lost them. Tears mixed with the rain on my face. My voice came out as a broken, hoarse whisper. “It hurts… it hurts so much…” Marco’s eyes finally found me. He took half a step towards me, but then Sofia went limp in his arms, her fingers hooking around his pinky as she whimpered. “Marco, my leg… it hurts…” A single, perfect tear fell onto the back of his hand. He immediately looked away from me, scooping Sofia up in his arms. “Aurora, just hold on. I’ll go get help right away.” As I watched him walk away without a backward glance, I tightened my grip on a sharp piece of a broken tombstone. Just before everything went black, I thought I saw my parents. They were stroking my hair, their touch full of love. “My Aurora, you’ve done so well.” And I cried my heart out, “Papa, Mama, I swear I’ll get revenge for you…”
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