An Eye for an Eye

"Daeleen is just my first love. She just came home after finalizing her divorce abroad. You're the only person I love, Louise," Samuel explained.

That was the explanation he gave me after I caught him secretly meeting Daeleen in the garden. Over the past decade, Samuel had risen from a low-ranking Soldato to the youngest Capo in the Sterling family.

As he became busier, he slowly started to forget about our anniversaries and birthdays. He even forgot about Christmas, which we had promised to spend together every year.

Or perhaps he never forgot about them. Perhaps he just used work as an excuse so that he did not have to waste his time on me. Anything else was much more important compared to me, after all.

"You need to be more understanding, Louise. You're the wife of a Capo, a man who will one day become a Don on the West Coast. Please don't distract me with such trivial matters, okay?" Samuel said.

For the sake of his career, I chose to become much more understanding and tolerant.

I was Samuel's wife. I had believed that our decade-long relationship could not possibly be less than that of his first love, who had abandoned him and married abroad because she looked down on him when he was still a lowly Soldato.

And yet, in just a single month, Samuel had fallen in love with Daeleen all over again. The very same Capo who claimed to be too busy to stay by my side even when I was undergoing surgery had now become a lapdog of Daeleen's that she could summon at will.

"Louise, you can go ahead and have dinner by yourself. Daeleen just got back, so I'm going to pick her up."

"Louise, I won't be home for the next few days. Daeleen isn't used to her new apartment yet, so I'll be staying with her for a while."

"Louise, can you make your best cheesecake? Daeleen wants to try it. I want to bring it to her."

Daeleen, Daeleen, Daeleen. Her name appeared every single day in the messages sent between Samuel and me.

"Samuel, have you forgotten about your aspiration to become Don? You've been running around all day for Daeleen.

"What about the Sterling family? Now that everyone knows that your first love is back, it might get extremely dangerous for Daeleen," I asked.

Daeleen knew nothing about how Samuel had fought his way up to his current position, but I did. He had always been a ruthless and merciless man, which led to countless rival families always keeping an eye on him in the shadows.

Samuel ignored my warning and ridiculed me for it. He said I was only uttering such words because I was jealous of Daeleen.

"No one would dare to touch Samuel Sterling's woman. You should just mind your own business, Louise."

Later on, Daeleen was abducted and murdered by the Wood family, which was one of Samuel's enemies. I thought that once Daeleen was gone, Samuel would finally return to my side.

Sure enough, the moment he heard about Daeleen's death, he called me and told me to wait for him at home. I rubbed my pregnant belly and told myself.

"As long as I tell Samuel about the baby during his birthday next month, he'll love me again. I'm sure that he will love our child, too."

But I never would have expected that Daeleen would not let me go even in death. Stealing Samuel away from me was far from enough. She even took away my eyes.