Only My Blood Could Inherit

Chapter 3

On Tuesday afternoon, I sorted through my personal belongings in the bedroom.

I locked every piece of jewelry and every designer gown that belonged to the Moretti family in the safe. I packed only a few old clothes I had owned before the marriage into a black suitcase.

The door opened.

Cassiano came in and saw the suitcase on the floor. His expression eased noticeably.

"You don't need to bring that much to the hospital. You'll stay for 2 days after the procedure, then come home."

He walked over and took a black card from the inside pocket of his suit.

"The PIN is your birthday. Buy whatever you want. Don't deny yourself anything."

I didn't take the card.

"What if I don't go to the hospital?"

He froze for a moment. "Sylvia, don't bring up something we've already settled."

I had never agreed to anything. In his mind, once he made a decision, that meant I had agreed.

Cassiano frowned and forced the card into my hand.

"Take it. I'll be busy looking after Elena for a while, so I may not have time to stay with you at the hospital. Use the money to get away for a few days. Consider it compensation."

He always knew how to dress abandonment up as generosity.

I set the card on the nightstand and went back to folding my clothes.

Because I didn't argue or cry, Cassiano assumed I had finally resigned myself to his decision. He checked his watch, said Elena was waiting for him for dinner, and left without looking back.

A little later, the door opened again.

This time it was Elena.

She carried a glass of warm milk, and the helpless, fragile look she put on whenever Cassiano was around was gone.

"Mrs. Moretti, have some milk. You'll need your strength for the procedure tomorrow."

She came closer and looked at my suitcase.

"Are you moving out?"

"That's none of your business."

I didn't look up.

Elena gave a soft laugh. "You should've left a long time ago. Cassiano got tired of you ages ago. He says you're boring."

She set the glass down, then deliberately swept her fingers across the framed wedding photo on my nightstand.

The frame fell to the floor and shattered. Jagged cracks ran across the photograph, slicing through our smiling faces from our wedding day.

"Sorry."

She covered her mouth, but her eyes held no trace of apology.

I stood and pointed at the door.

"Get out."

Elena didn't move.

She stared at me, then suddenly let herself fall backward onto the broken glass.

She let out a scream and clutched her stomach.

Rapid footsteps pounded down the hallway.

Cassiano rushed in. The instant he saw Elena on the floor, his eyes hardened.

"Elena!"

He scooped her up, then rounded on me, his voice full of fury.

"Sylvia, have you lost your mind? You knew she was pregnant!"

"She fell on her own," I said evenly.

"She fell into broken glass on her own?" Cassiano roared. "You're jealous because she's pregnant, so you took it out on her. You disgust me!"

He carried Elena toward the door, then stopped at the threshold.

"If anything happens to her baby, I won't let you get away with it."

The room fell quiet again.

I looked at the shards on the floor and the happy faces in the photograph, now slashed apart by broken glass.

After seven years, whatever love we had left had finally rotted away.

I took out my phone and texted the family attorney.

Sylvia: Start the process tomorrow at 8 a.m.