Only My Blood Could Inherit

Chapter 2

The next morning, the family attorney avoided the guards at Moretti Estate and came in through the back entrance.

I sat in the study, looking at the thick codicil to the will on the desk.

Before Dominic Moretti died, he had entrusted the family's final safeguard to me. He had seen Cassiano's selfishness for what it was and set down one condition: only a child born to me would be eligible to take control of the Moretti Family Trust.

If I walked away from this marriage, Cassiano would lose more than half of the family's holdings.

"Mrs. Moretti, are you certain you want to sign?"

The family attorney handed me a pen. "Once this takes effect, Mr. Moretti will face bankruptcy liquidation."

I uncapped the pen and signed my name without hesitation.

"Take the documents with you. Don't announce anything until I tell you to."

Not long after the family attorney left, I heard a car pull into the courtyard.

Cassiano arrived at Moretti Estate with Elena.

Elena wore a loose maternity dress. One hand rested protectively over her belly while the other clung to Cassiano's sleeve. When she saw me standing on the stairs, she immediately moved behind him.

Cassiano patted the back of her hand and led her into the living room.

"Sylvia, Elena hasn't been sleeping well. Her doctor said the air outside the city would be good for the baby." He looked at me calmly. "She's staying here until she gives birth."

I came downstairs and looked at the two of them sitting close together on the couch. The sight only confirmed the decision I had just made.

"What exactly is her status here supposed to be?"

"She's a guest." Cassiano frowned. "Do you really have to make an issue of her status right now?"

Elena's eyes reddened, and her voice dropped to a fragile murmur. "Mrs. Moretti, I won't bother you. I just thought some fresh air would be good for the baby. I'll leave in a few days."

As she rose, her gaze landed on the glass display case on the first floor.

Inside lay a matching pair of engraved gold heirloom bracelets.

Cassiano had commissioned them from a jeweler during the first year of his business, using the first money he ever made. He had said they were for our future child.

Elena walked to the case and brushed her fingertips across the glass.

"Cassiano, these bracelets are beautiful. Can our baby wear them?"

Cassiano followed her gaze. He hesitated for a second.

"They belong to Sylvia."

"They're only bracelets." Elena bit her lower lip. "Mrs. Moretti is going in for her procedure soon. Keeping them will only make her sad. Why not give them to our child? They can still be passed down in the family."

I looked at Cassiano and waited for him to refuse, to tell her those bracelets belonged to our child.

He was silent for several seconds. Then he walked over, opened the glass case, and reached inside. My chest tightened with every movement.

He took out the engraved gold heirloom bracelets and placed them in Elena's hands.

"Take them. Sylvia isn't petty."

He had used those bracelets to promise me a future seven years earlier. Now he handed them to someone else as if that promise had never mattered.

Elena closed her fingers around them and smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Moretti. I'll make sure the baby always remembers your kindness."

I looked at Cassiano and suddenly felt exhausted.

To please his mistress, he had turned the promise I treasured most into a gift for her.

"Cassiano."

I said his name, and he turned with a guarded look, already bracing for me to cause a scene.

I stepped in front of him and removed the sapphire necklace from my neck, the one that symbolized my place as the lady of the Moretti household.

"Does she want this too?"

I held the necklace out toward Elena.

Elena took a step back and bumped into the couch. "Mrs. Moretti, I wasn't trying to take your things..."

Cassiano grabbed my wrist, snatched the necklace away, and slapped it down on the table.

"Are you done? She's pregnant. Won't you be satisfied until you've scared her?"

I looked at his furious face, and the bitter ache in my chest finally ebbed away.

There was nothing left.

I pulled my hand free and turned toward the stairs.

Behind me, Cassiano called, "Don't forget the hospital tomorrow."