"How can you marry him?" she asks, then immediately looks horrified at her own boldness.
I don't answer because there is no answer that makes sense to normal people. This is my family's world.
Back home, I lock myself in my bathroom and vomit until there's nothing left. Then I sit on the cold tile, phone clutched in my hand, staring at Luca's number. I wonder if Cristian is there. Did Luca take him in?
Without Cristian here, Maksim's true nature emerges more each day.
The mask of civility slips further, revealing the monster beneath.
I’ve given up telling Alessandro or Adriano.
They act like there’s nothing they can do.
My bed is made and I need to sleep in it.
When I agreed to marry Maksim, I thought I was being brave, sacrificing myself for my family like a good daughter should.
Even when I fell for Cristian, I convinced myself I could endure a loveless marriage for the greater good.
But now? With each passing day, I see more clearly what awaits me.
Yesterday, Maksim broke a man's finger for bringing him cold coffee.
Not just bent it back, but snapped it clean while the poor server screamed.
Then he laughed.
The same casual cruelty he shows to everyone beneath him will someday be directed at my child, Cristian's baby.
A wave of nausea hits me that has nothing to do with morning sickness.
What kind of mother willingly delivers her child into the hands of a monster? What happens when Maksim's "heir" doesn't look like him?
I drag myself to the bathroom mirror, studying my reflection. The woman staring back looks defeated.
"He'll kill us both.” The truth I’ve known finally really hits home.
Maybe not right away.
Maybe he'll wait until I've given him a child of his own. But the moment he suspects this baby isn't his, we're dead.
Or worse, he'll keep me alive just to make me suffer.
A new wave of despair fills me. All my plans, my sacrifices were never going to work. I was a fool to think I could outmaneuver someone like Maksim Vasiliev.
I need to find another way out. Not just for me anymore, but for this innocent life depending on me to protect them.
I've been a fool, viewing myself as nothing but a sacrifice.
I am a Dante.
My brothers didn't include me in family meetings because they pitied me.
They did it because I have a strategic mind.
And right now, that mind sees only one path forward.
I won't be Maksim's bride. I'll be his executioner.