Chapter 3

They worked on my mother for four hours.

When the doctor came out, his mask was still on.

"She's stable for now."

"But she needs the advanced treatment protocol. Without it, we can only do so much."

I nodded. My throat was too dry to speak.

The apartment sale closed that same evening.

Fire-sale price. The buyer barely hesitated.

The moment the funds hit my account, I called the hospital's financial counselor to authorize the treatment.

She glanced up at me from her desk.

"Just you, then? No other family?"

I said mm.

"Your husband?"

I didn't answer.

In that moment, my skin burned. I couldn't look up.

I was married to the Don of the most feared family on the Eastern Seaboard. A man whose name made federal judges recuse themselves.

Yet I couldn't get thirty thousand dollars to keep my mother breathing.

That night, I went back to the estate to get my documents.

The moment I pushed open the front door, I heard a woman's laughter in the living room.

Serena Kovac was sitting on the sofa.

In front of her was a bottle of Dom Pérignon, two flutes already poured.

Dominic was handing her a glass.

When she saw me, Serena jumped to her feet immediately.

"Amber! You're home."

She said it sweetly.

But around her neck hung a diamond pendant.

I recognized that pendant.

Last month, on my birthday, I'd lingered at the Cartier counter for a moment too long.

Dominic had said:

"The markup on those things is obscene. That's not your style."

Now it was on Serena's neck.

Dominic frowned at me.

"Why are you back?"

I looked at him.

"This is my home."

Serena's expression froze for a second.

Dominic set the champagne flute down.

"Serena closed her deal with Paramount today. I brought her back to grab some contracts."

"And to celebrate, while we're at it."

While we're at it.

My mother lay in the hospital with tubes in her body. I'd sold my father's apartment to scrape together the money.

And he was here, in our home, celebrating with another woman.

Serena ducked her head, voice soft.

"Amber, please don't misunderstand."

"Mr. Valenti was just worried I'd be nervous for my first big signing, so he encouraged me."

She touched the pendant at her throat.

"This was a token for the deal. It's not what you think."

I walked over and looked at the writing on the champagne bottle—a custom engraving.

It read:

To Serena — First victory down, limitless future ahead.

The handwriting was Dominic's.

He'd once told me even a birthday dinner out was unnecessary. Said that kind of sentimentality was pointless for people like us.

I didn't cry. I didn't yell.

I just went to the study, opened the safe, and collected my documents.

Dominic followed me in.

"Who exactly are you putting on this face for?"

I gathered my passport, my birth certificate, and my important papers into my bag.

"Move."

He blocked the doorway.

"Amber, you're becoming completely unreasonable."

"Serena is twenty-four. She's alone in this country with no family. As her patron, is it so wrong for me to look after her?"

I looked up at him.

"My mother is alone in the ICU too."

"Have you looked after her?"

He was caught short.

His expression quickly turned cold again.

"Your mother's situation is different from hers."

"How is it different?"

"Serena still has a future."

After those words left his mouth, the room went silent.

Dominic seemed to realize it himself.

But he didn't apologize.

He just turned his face away and said quietly:

"What I mean is—every dollar has to factor in return."

I looked at him.

My chest felt as though something had been carved out of it with a blade.

My mother had no future.

So she wasn't worth it.

I had no future either.

So I didn't deserve it.

I picked up my bag and walked past him.

In the living room, Serena was sipping champagne from her flute.

Seeing me, she seemed to gather her courage and said softly:

"Amber, honestly? A woman really should be more independent."

"You can't rely on a man for everything."

I stopped.

Dominic stood behind me. He said nothing to stop her.

I looked at Serena, and I actually laughed.

"Did he teach you that line?"

Her face flushed.

I nodded.

"Then remember it well."

"The day he decides you have no return on investment either, you'll hear that exact same speech."

I looked at her a moment longer, then added:

"And Serena? When that day comes, you won't have ten years of the family's financial architecture stored in your head."

"You'll just have nothing."

Serena's smile froze. Her eyes darted to Dominic.

Dominic's voice cut in—the same tone I'd heard him use with soldiers who spoke out of turn at sit-downs.

"Amber. That's enough."

I didn't look back.

On my way downstairs, a sharp, dragging pain pulled through my lower abdomen.

I braced myself against the elevator wall and stayed there a long time.

My palms were drenched in sweat.

My phone rang.

It was the hospital.

"Ms. Marchetti, your mother's condition has deteriorated again. Please come back immediately."

My vision went black. I nearly collapsed right there in the elevator.