Dumped at Noon, Settled by Night

Giovanni silently held a glass of water to my lips. "Rebecca, why can't you just behave?"

He sighed and frowned at me the way a parent might look at a stubborn child.

"How long has it been?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"Three days," he answered, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

I did the math in my head. There was just one more day until Angelo would be here.

Relief loosened every last thread of tension in my body, and my vision went black.

…

When I came to, the hard wooden floor in the servant's room had been replaced by a soft mattress. Giovanni was sitting at the bedside with a glass of water in his hand. He let out a breath of relief when he noticed my eyes open.

"This was just a lesson," he said gently, holding the glass to my lips. "As long as you don't try to hurt Rosa again, I won't leave you."

I let out a bitter smile and tried to push myself up with shaky arms. "I told you I didn't hurt her."

I braced myself against the mattress to get up, but the moment my feet hit the floor, I was hit by a wave of dizziness and crumpled to the ground.

Giovanni didn't help me up. He snorted coldly and slammed the glass of water down on the nightstand. "You still haven't learned your lesson. I've brought Rosa back with my parents' approval. To keep you from trying anything else, I've injected you with a muscle relaxant.

"It lasts for 24 hours," he said as he stared at my pale face. "I'll administer the injection to you myself every day until Rosa delivers the baby safely."

If he really meant to keep me drugged for the next 8 months, I would probably be crippled by the end of it.

My whole body trembled with rage at the thought.

Giovanni noticed my distress, and he paused for a moment before realizing something. "You haven't eaten in days. Your blood sugar's crashing."

He lifted me into the bed, then rummaged through the medicine box for glucose tablets.

Just then, Rosa's voice sounded from the doorway. "Gio… My stomach hurts…"

Giovanni stopped what he was doing and hurried to the door to steady her. "Where does it hurt?"

She leaned into his chest and glanced in my direction. "Maybe it's a reaction to that coffee from the other night. Becca looks so weak. You should take care of her first."

"You're being ridiculous!" Giovanni barked as he guided her away. "The baby's still at risk. You come first. She just needs some sugar, and she'll be fine."

With that, he summoned a housekeeper and escorted Rosa out of the room.

I was force-fed nearly half a cup of glucose water before sleep dragged me under again.

I didn't know how long I'd been out before someone shook me awake.

Giovanni stood at the bedside. He looked strangely uneasy. "You've slept enough. Rosa's been throwing up everything she eats. She says the only thing she can keep down is your cake."

She was only a month pregnant, yet she was already experiencing morning sickness.

I gave a weak, mocking smile. "Aren't you afraid I'd poison her again?"

His expression darkened instantly, and his hand shot up.

I flinched and turned my face away, bracing for impact. But the pain didn't come.

Instead, his palm lightly ruffled my hair as it came down on my head.

"Don't say things like that," he murmured with a flinch of annoyance in his voice. "I know you're not that kind of woman."

I jerked away from his touch.

He stubbornly caught my hand. "I was too harsh before. After calming down these past three days, I finally see that you did all those things because you love me."

"First of all, I didn't do anything to Rosa. I just don't love you anymore!" I spat.

He shook his head and spoke to me as if he were humoring a child. "If you didn't love me, why would you get jealous of Rosa carrying my child?"

I snorted at his delusions.

Giovanni went on. "After Rosa has the baby, we'll have our wedding properly this time. We'll adopt the child as ours. I know you won't mistreat your own child. Now stop sulking and make that cake. Don't starve our baby."

I was too exhausted to argue. I just wanted to make it through the day.

"I can't stand up," I said honestly. "I can't bake it."

His gentle expression gave way to disappointment. "You're unbelievable."

He grabbed my arm and hauled me to the kitchen. "Don't test my patience. I don't want to send you back to the confessional."

I forced myself to stay upright despite the dizziness and trembling. I somehow managed to make the cake and handed it off to the housekeeper to deliver it to Rosa.

Back in the room, I finally let out a shaky breath and began mentally listing what I needed to take with me when I left. My papers, my mom's necklace…

Just then, a high-pitched shriek split the air.

Before I could react, the bedroom door burst open. Giovanni's face twisted in rage as he dragged me to Rosa's room.

"You've broken my trust again!" he snapped.