Too Late to Say I Love You

Stefan's gaze fell onto my box, and he looked at it curiously. "What did you buy?"

I paused in my footsteps. As the Don of a Mafia family, Stefan was very cautious, even when it came to his wife. Fortunately, I was prepared. I opened up the box to show him a small mound of jewelry. "I was getting my jewelry maintained at the jeweler's."

Stefan's expression relaxed when he saw the box's contents. He put his hand around my waist and said domineeringly, "Those things aren't worth your time and money to maintain. I can buy you better ones." He was so close to me that I caught the scent of roses on him. It was a scent that did not match him at all, and I guessed Trixie must have started using a new perfume.

I pushed Stefan away gently. He was taken aback when he realized I was rejecting his advances. He looked at the box of jewelry and asked, "Where's your sapphire ring?"

When I heard his question, I replied stoically, "It's in the drawer. That ring is new, so it doesn't require any maintenance." Stefan grunted a reply and did not pursue it further, but I smiled and asked, "Why are you asking about it?"

Stefan was indifferent and replied calmly, "Isn't that a ring you've always wanted? Besides, you always wear what I give you until I replace it." He rubbed my finger and acted like he was interrogating a subordinate. "So, why aren't you wearing the ring?"

As I wondered how to answer his question, his phone pinged with a notification. Stefan glanced at the message and released my hand as he grabbed his coat to head out the door. "I have something to attend to tonight. You should have an early night." With that, he turned to leave.

"Stefan."

He stopped and turned back to look at me. "What is it?"

"Will you be home tonight?"

Stefan was taken aback for a while before laughing softly. He strode toward me and leaned down to kiss the corner of my eye. "What a clingy little kitty you are! Don't worry. I'll make sure I'm home tonight to satisfy you." He left right after that.

The moment he closed the door, I wiped my eyes in disgust. It felt horrible to be kissed by lips that had just been on another woman. However, I had gotten the information I needed. I instantly packed up the rest of my expensive jewelry and clothes to pass to my friends, so they could help me sell them for gold as well.

To avoid catching Stefan's attention, I kept several cheaper items with me, as well as the wedding dress I had worn when I got married. It was luxurious and eye-catching, once the envy of many women, but it had now lost all its glory after being locked in the closet for years.

That night, I got everything done within an hour for fear that Stefan would suddenly return home. However, he did not come home in the end. The only sign of him was a cold message on my phone.

Stafan: [Family meeting. Have an early night.]

It still hurt to see the message, but I did feel very relieved. I walked numbly to the bathroom to brush my teeth, only to see condoms in the dustbin. Seven or eight of them had been thrown in the bin, and I stared at them before finally putting on a face mask with indifference and returning to my room. I had decided to leave, so it did not matter to me how many women he slept with or how many times he slept with them.

I slept so well that night that I did not notice Stefan had returned. When I woke up, I found a muscled arm on my waist. I tried to push him away, but he pulled me into his arms right away. Stefan whispered huskily into my ear, "Are you awake?" I grunted an affirmative, and he laughed softly.

He slowly removed my robe as he kissed me gently on the neck. "We didn't get to do it last night, so let's not waste any time today." It felt extremely uncomfortable, but all I could do was allow him to caress my body. I could feel his fingers move from my abdomen to my lips, then finally land beside my teary eyes.

He laughed softly. "You're so beautiful, just like a baby deer." I lowered my eyes, hoping that time would pass quickly. That was when Stefan's phone rang. He frowned with annoyance from being interrupted, but when he saw the caller ID, he headed to the balcony to pick up the call.

I could see his expression gradually soften as the call went on, which made the hickies he left on me seem like a joke. I laughed self-depracatingly as I stared at the empty ceiling.

When Stefan returned to the room, I was already sitting by the side of the bed, fully clothed. He frowned. "It was just a call. Why did you put on your clothes so fast?"

"I'm not feeling good today. Let's do this another day."

Stefan agreed and put on his clothes to head to the study. "All right. Get some rest. We have an important dinner to attend tonight."

It was supposed to be a lie I made up to reject his advances, but I ended up with a fever that night, which must have been caused by being drenched in the rain. I leaned exhaustedly against the car window on our way to the dinner venue.

Through the reflection of the window, I could see Stefan looking out of his side of the window. He had a sharp nose, and he looked much colder and more distant than before. The aura about him was intimidating, so different from the young boy I had once saved from the hands of a junkie in an underground casino.

I laughed at myself as I pulled over a blanket from beside me to cover my body. That was when a pair of black, lacey underwear slipped out from the folded blanket. It fell out of the blanket softly, but it hit me hard in the heart. My fingers stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Stefan's tone was calm with a tinge of nonchalant concern.

"Nothing." I bent over to pick up the underwear to slip it into my purse. I did it quickly, as if nothing had happened, and I did not question him about it. It was pointless to question him, as he was the Don of the family. If he wanted to, he had a million ways of shutting me up, but if he were in a good mood, he might reward me with a white lie to comfort me.

"Don Gallo, Donna Gallo, we're here."

Someone opened the door. The night breeze blew into my face, but I still felt suffocated. My legs felt weak as I got out of the car in my heels. When I looked up, I was blinded by the bright lights of a car in the distance. It was dizzying.

"Why is there a celebrity here? Everyone attending tonight prefers anonymity. What if she attracts the media over?"

The guests started frowning unhappily, especially several big shots who had long-standing business ties to the Mafia. They started berating the security personnel and demanding that they remove the woman in the luxurious dress in front of them.

Trixie looked extremely upset. She backed several steps away and turned to grab the car's door handle, but Stefan stopped her. "She's not going anywhere. She's my guest."

Everyone looked up in disbelief as I burst out with a laugh and watched coldly by the side.

"This is a private event, Don Gallo! It would be disastrous if the guest list tonight and our internal meeting got leaked!"

"He's right, Don Gallo. We didn't come all the way to attend this dinner just to risk unnecessary danger."

Stefan remained stoic while everyone continued objecting to this, but he shielded Trixie behind him and swept a glance over everyone present. "Don't worry, everyone. I guarantee you all that nothing from this event will be divulged. You might not trust her, but don't you trust me?"

He did not speak loudly, but his words were warning enough to everyone. The guests decided to let it be in the end, and they entered the venue without another word. They could only whisper their unhappiness in a very low voice, as no one dared to offend Stefan, the host of the dinner.

Soon, only three of us were left standing outside. When Trixie noticed me, she quickly pulled her hand away and turned to thank Stefan. He grunted a reply and said nothing else except for her to enjoy the dinner.

Stefan put his arm around mine the next second and said softly, "Let's go inside." He acted as if nothing had happened and that he and Trixie were ordinary friends, but I knew the truth. Witnessing this was even more chilling than my discovery of her underwear.

However, it was all right. I would be gone after three months, and once I was, it did not matter whether they wanted to make love in the car or in the house.