A New One Every Three Days

Alessio ran a hand through his hair, growling with impatience.

"Is now really the time for this? You claim we were in love for six years. Is it so strange that I'd remember something like your blood type in a crisis?"

But I had just had surgery. My body was still healing. How could I possibly donate blood?

And even if I could, why should I have to bleed for the mess he made with his flings?

"I just had surgery. I can't donate. Find someone else."

Fury twisted Alessio's features.

"Colette, all I hear is how much you love me, but when it comes to a simple blood donation, you refuse and make up pathetic lies!"

"I never thought you'd be the kind of person to watch someone die! No wonder I can't remember ever loving you!"

He was right. If he had ever truly loved me, he wouldn't have spun this web of lies to deceive me, and he wouldn't be so blind to the pale, drawn look on my face.

He certainly wouldn't be forcing me to donate blood for the woman he was screwing.

A nearby monitor shrieked. The paramedic, wasting no more time, pushed the gurney into the emergency room.

Alessio tried to drag me toward the donation room, but I dug my heels in, refusing to budge.

In a fit of rage, he slung me over his shoulder.

"Colette, willing or not, you're doing this. I'll owe you. Hell, I'll even marry you on our so-called wedding day if that's what it takes!"

In that instant, all the fight drained out of me.

Fine. We would call it even for the time he saved my life.

Watching my crimson blood flow into the bag, a chill settled deep in my bones.

After the donation, Alessio and the nurse rushed to the operating room.

As he walked away, I said softly to his retreating back,

"Alessio, we're even now."

Stepping out of the blood donation room, a wave of dizziness hit me. My vision went black, and I collapsed.

When I woke up again, the doctor looked ready to scold me, but his words dissolved into a sigh.

"Take care of yourself. In your condition, you can't donate blood again for at least six months."

I smiled faintly and said okay.

As the doctor left, a young nurse beside her couldn't help but whisper,

"Director, why didn't you tell her we couldn't get ahold of her emergency contact? What if she thinks we didn't even try..."

"She won't misunderstand. That young woman knows the score. It's just a damn shame she's mixed up with a man like that."

I picked up my phone. The doctor had made over a dozen more emergency calls to Alessio on my behalf.

Not a single one was answered.

Instead, I had a new text from him:

【Colette, can you stop the drama? Just stay in your lane, will you?】

In that moment, I was almost glad he hadn't answered.

I couldn't imagine the venom he would have spat at me.

I didn't reply. I lay in the hospital bed for a full day before I found the strength to get up.

The sun was bright outside. I went to the clinic's rooftop garden for some fresh air and ran right into Alessio's men.

Each of them held a cigar and a bouquet of fresh flowers.

Thinking they were there to see me, I instinctively turned to leave.

But they circled me, their eyes raking over my patient gown with amusement. They began to taunt me.

"Well, look what we have here. Heard Alessio's shacked up in the hospital with his new piece, so you decided to play the tragic heroine?"

"It was a little blood. Is the whole damsel in distress act really necessary?"

"I gotta hand it to you, though, the makeup's real natural. Just like those third-rate actresses who think a few tears will land them a leading role..."

Alessio's men had always thought I, an outsider, was beneath him.

If he hadn't defied everyone and forced them to call me the "future Matriarch," they wouldn't have given me the time of day.

Now, playing along with Alessio's game, they could finally say what they really thought.

Alessio, who had come down to meet them, froze when he saw me, then scowled.

"Colette, do you have to be so damn dramatic?"

"I already promised to marry you. And you're still bribing doctors and faking sick just to watch me? Is this fun for you?"

"Do you have any idea how suffocating you are?"

"Let me be clear, Colette. You pull one more stunt to spy on me, and I'll lock you in the manor until you learn what it means to be a Rizzo woman."