Love on Loan

Ava leaned against Bruno, her voice sickeningly sweet.

"Bruno, should we call the family doctor to take a look?"

Bruno glanced at me with a frown. After a moment's hesitation, he said impatiently, "It's just a scratch. Stop making a scene."

"Liliana, can't you do anything without making a mess?"

He turned and led Ava and Carla upstairs to rest.

I didn't answer. I went to find the first-aid kit to treat the wound myself.

The woman in the mirror was pale, the blood on her forehead having clotted into a dark red line.

Outside, the nannies' undisguised mockery cut through the door. "A fallen princess from a ruined family, still putting on airs. She's worse than a maid!"

I curled up on my narrow single bed, the cut on my forehead still throbbing dully.

Yes, the last princess of the Rossi family. The same woman Bruno had sworn to love for the rest of his life ten years ago, his eyes red with emotion.

Now, it all seemed like a joke.

At three in the morning, the door was roughly shoved open.

Bruno's tall frame filled the doorway, the family doctor trailing behind him.

Before I could react, he yanked me up so forcefully it made me wince.

"Sit still. Don't move."

"It's bleeding, and you don't even have the sense to clean it?"

He gestured for the doctor to come forward and examine my cut.

"Tomorrow night is the family gala. You're not planning on letting the Don see you in this pathetic state so he'll take your side, are you?"

"I'm telling you, you'd better act like a proper Mrs. Marino and stay out of trouble."

The doctor silently cleaned my wound while Bruno stood by, watching over me like a prison guard.

"Bruno," my voice was quiet, but I suddenly had to ask, "Why did you marry me?"

He froze for a second, then mockingly gripped my chin.

"Because the Rossi family came to us begging for a hundred million dollars."

In the darkness, I laughed silently as tears streamed down my face. I should have known long ago I would never get the answer I wanted.

He might have had many reasons for marrying me, but love was not one of them.

For ten years, he's resented my parents for breaking us up, never knowing that I was the one who left because I was misdiagnosed with a terminal illness.

By the time I could have told him the truth, he already hated me to the bone, and he had someone else by his side.

Or maybe, I was never the only one for him.

After the doctor left, I pulled the signed divorce papers from under my pillow and placed them on the bed.

It wasn't the first time I had brought up divorce, but it never worked.

With the Rossi family bankrupt, I was little more than a prisoner in Bruno's estate, forced to care for his child.

I had no way to come up with the hundred million dollars he demanded for my freedom.

He knew that perfectly well and had never taken my request seriously.

He was also certain that I could never leave him.

This time was no different.

Bruno looked at me impatiently. "Liliana, are you ever going to stop this?"

"This time it's for real," I said, my voice firmer than I felt.

"As for the hundred million, I'll find a way to get the money and pay you back. Even if you don't believe me, I won't..."

Before I could finish, Ava's coquettish whine drifted down from upstairs.

"Bruno, where did you put my silk nightgown?"

Bruno immediately let go of me. Without even a glance at the papers, he ripped them to shreds. "Stop daydreaming. Just be a good Mrs. Marino."

"Who do you think would give you a hundred million dollars, besides me?"

The door slammed shut.

The scraps of paper on the marble floor looked like pieces of my shattered life.

The next day, I forced myself to put on makeup, covering the cut on my forehead before arriving at the family gala, only to be seated in a corner in the very last row by Bruno's assistant.

The men at my table were all low-level soldati, and there were even a few new recruits.

This was a blatant humiliation.

"Well, if it isn't Mrs. Marino."

A Capo's wife tittered as she passed, her hand covering her mouth.

"What are you doing at the soldati table?"

I sat down in silence as the whispers started behind me.

"I hear Bruno's about to have another kid. A boy this time. That Ava is really something, no wonder he dotes on her."

"I know, right? The actual wife is stuck at the soldati table. It's pathetic."

I clenched the napkin in my lap, my knuckles turning white.

Bruno walked over from the main table, his expression dark.

"Who arranged this seating?"

"Miss Ava said that since the madam has been feeling unwell lately, it might be better for her to sit farther away, so as not to upset the Don," a steward replied respectfully.

Bruno frowned, seeming like he was about to say something, but just then Ava linked her arm through his.

"Darling, the Don is looking for you."

For a moment, panic flickered in Ava's eyes, but she quickly recovered her polite smile.

When she looked at me, her gaze was openly triumphant.

Bruno glanced at me once more, but in the end, he didn't change the seating arrangement.

I followed Bruno to pay my respects to the Don. After a few words of kind concern for me, he turned and saw Ava. His eyes instantly turned cold.

"Not just any woman can step through the doors of the Marino family. Next time, don't bring women with no standing here."

Ava's face went pale. Just then, Carla threw herself at her, calling out sweetly, "Mama."

Ava's expression softened considerably. After all, she had given Bruno a child, and was now carrying his first son and heir. No matter how much the Don disliked her, he would tolerate her for the child's sake.

The Don shot Ava a cold, warning glare before calling Bruno away to discuss family business.

I was about to leave as well when Ava's hand pressed down on my shoulder, her voice a low sneer.

She leaned in, speaking in a whisper only I could hear.

"A woman who can't produce an heir doesn't deserve to stand by Bruno's side."

"Liliana, how about we make a bet and see who gets the last laugh?"