Chapter 4

Aiden had said it proudly in front of everyone.

"Eryn is under my protection. She's smart, willing to learn, and she works harder than most people I've met."

His gaze swept across the men gathered around the table.

"So for my sake, I expect none of you to make things difficult for her. She started with nothing but a flower stall and fought for every step that brought her here."

Then he looked at Eryn.

"Maybe she isn't the most experienced person in this Family. Maybe she still has a lot to learn. But in my eyes, she's the best."

A faint smile touched his face.

"She's my greatest pride."

Aiden didn't even bother hiding the fact that Eryn's position inside the Moretti businesses had come partly from his influence.

He knew he'd broken the rules for her.

He simply didn't care.

All he wanted was to give Eryn a future.

And what about me?

What was I supposed to be?

A joke?

For weeks, I barely left the house.

I cried until I couldn't sleep, and whenever I closed my eyes, I saw the faces of those people at the Family gatherings.

Their pity.

Their amusement.

Their silent mockery.

Meanwhile, Aiden continued tending his precious irises as though nothing had happened.

One afternoon, while trimming the flowers in the garden, he said casually, "Nina, haven't you understood yet?"

He didn't even look at me.

"Your place in this Family, your money, your reputation, the respect people show you. Everything you have comes from me."

He finally turned.

"Without me, you're nothing."

My fingers went cold.

"I already told you Eryn won't threaten your position. You'll remain my wife. You'll remain Mrs. Moretti. Just be sensible."

His voice softened, as though I were the unreasonable one.

"Why can't we live peacefully?"

No.

I couldn't.

I couldn't sleep beside a husband who spent every waking moment thinking about another woman.

I started losing control.

I screamed at him. I smashed things. I caused scenes at Family gatherings.

Then I started fighting back in every way I could think of.

During one of Aiden's formal dinners with several allied families, I had photographs of him and Eryn slipped into the folders meant for the guests.

When they appeared together at a charity gala run through one of the Moretti foundations, I walked straight through security and exposed their affair in front of everyone.

I sent letters to allied families and members of the Commission. I recorded videos, collected photographs, and documented everything Aiden and Eryn had done.

But after all that effort, the only thing I received was a psychiatric evaluation.

Aiden was too good at this.

He knew exactly how to push me until I broke.

Then he recorded the aftermath.

Every scream.

Every shattered glass.

Every moment I lost control.

With his power, reputation, and intimate knowledge of every weakness I had, destroying me was almost effortless.

Eventually, I was removed from every Moretti business connected to my name.

My access to Family accounts was frozen.

People who had once called me Mrs. Moretti stopped answering my calls.

And in the end, Aiden personally had me committed to a private psychiatric hospital.

I told Sabrina all of this calmly.

By then, her eyes were already red.

"What happened after that?" she asked, wiping away tears.

I looked down at the old box in my hands.

"After that, I found out I was almost five months pregnant."

I was still in the hospital when the doctor discovered it.

When Aiden heard, he came for me himself.

For the first time in months, he compromised.

He brought me home.

That night, he sat beside me and held my hand.

"Nina, I know I made mistakes. But you shouldn't have taken things that far either."

His voice was unusually gentle.

"Look at what happened to your parents. They've aged years because of this. Every time they go out, people whisper about our family."

He paused.

"You're not a child anymore. Can you stop fighting me?"

Then he guided my hand to my stomach.

"Think about the baby."

His eyes stayed on mine.

"Think about your parents."

My tears fell silently onto my hand.

This time, I gave in.

By then, I was too exhausted to fight anymore.

Everything that had happened had hollowed me out.

Most days, I wandered through that enormous house filled with flowers like a ghost, staring blankly at walls and waiting for time to pass.

Aiden divided his week with almost insulting precision.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday belonged to me.

He came home, sat beside me, spoke to the baby in my stomach, and sometimes rested his hand against my belly as if we were still an ordinary married couple waiting for our first child.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday belonged to Eryn.

Those were the days he became someone I barely recognized.

Aiden had suffered from stomach problems for years, yet he followed Eryn from one new restaurant to another because she wanted to try them.

Coffee shops, dessert cafés, crowded little restaurants, ice cream parlors.

Whatever she wanted, he went.

The man who once considered ten wasted minutes unforgivable would sit through one ridiculous romantic movie after another because Eryn liked them.

The man who had spent his entire life treating power and the Family business as the only things worth his time suddenly discovered that he could waste entire afternoons doing childish, meaningless things.

As long as he was doing them with her.