Chapter 6

Alessia's POV:

Back at the estate, I didn't even bother going upstairs.

I stood in the cold marble foyer, pulling out my phone, my fingers moving with a steadiness that felt entirely alien.

A hotel room downtown.

That's all I needed.

I refused to spend another night under his roof.

I hauled my single suitcase downstairs.

The house was eerily quiet.

Marco was out, probably still comforting his weeping mistress.

But Bianca, it seemed, was very much present.

I saw her heading for the garage, a triumphant smirk twisting her lips.

Maria, the head maid, scrambled after her.

"Miss Sugden, please, you mustn't! You don't have a license.

Mr. Bellini would not want you driving his cars."

Bianca casually shoved the older woman aside.

"I'll have whatever I want soon enough," she purred.

She slid into the driver's seat of Marco's silver Aston Martin, the engine roaring to life.

Just as I stepped out of the front door, her eyes met mine through the windshield.

The smirk vanished, replaced by a mask of pure, unadulterated hate.

She floored the accelerator.

There was no time to think, only to react.

I hurled myself to the side, the motion clumsy and desperate.

The car's fender clipped my leg, sending me tumbling into a bed of thorny rose bushes.

A sharp, searing pain blazed from my knee to my hip.

My hands and knees were scraped raw.

"Are you crazy?" I screamed, pulling myself out of the dirt, thorns clinging to my dress.

Bianca leaned out the window, her hair wild.

"Yes," she admitted, her voice giddy, a manic light in her eyes.

"And I regret not hitting you harder."

The words stole my breath.

She put the car in reverse, the tires screeching against the pavement.

Suddenly, a black sedan screeched to a halt behind her.

Marco.

He was here.

Bianca slammed on the brakes.

Her expression shifted in a blink, the madness replaced by panicked concern as she scrambled out of the car and rushed to my side.

"Lia! Oh my god, are you okay?"

I got to my feet, my body shaking with adrenaline and rage.

Without a word, I swung my hand and slapped her hard across the face.

The sharp sound cracked through the quiet courtyard.

She burst into tears, her hand flying to her cheek, a perfect picture of victimhood.

I pointed a trembling finger at the car.

"She tried to run me over."

Bianca immediately spun her story, her voice a pathetic wail as she turned to Marco.

"She came at the car! She tried to attack me! I got scared!"

Marco's eyes, which had been wide with shock, narrowed into slits on me.

He believed her.

Without a flicker of doubt.

Instantly.

"What the hell have you done now?" he bellowed, striding purposefully toward me.

"Are you trying to terrorize a pregnant woman?"

Maria tried to intervene, stepping forward cautiously.

"Sir, I saw it.

Miss Sugden-"

"Silence!" he roared, and the maid flinched back as if struck, her face paling.

He turned his furious gaze back to me, his eyes raking over my scraped knees and torn dress with utter disgust.

"You're not dead, are you?" he snarled, his voice laced with contempt.

The words hit me with the force of a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs.

A laugh, high and chilling, bubbled up from my chest, unbidden and brittle.

"I was blind," I whispered, looking at the monster he'd become.

"Utterly blind to ever love you."

I slapped him, too.

The sting on my palm was deliciously satisfying.

His face contorted with rage.

He shoved me backward, hard.

"You're unhinged," he spat.

He turned his back on me, scooping the weeping Bianca into his arms and carrying her inside, cooing promises of comfort and safety.

He didn't give me a second glance, not even a flicker of acknowledgment.

Maria rushed to my side, her face pale with concern.

"Mrs. Bellini, your leg..."

I looked down.

A thin trickle of blood was making its way down my shin, staining the pristine white of my sock a stark crimson.

"We're divorced," I told her, my voice final and steady.

"I'm not coming back."

I picked up my suitcase, turned my back on the ruins of my marriage, and walked away, never looking back.