Chapter 1

Elena’s POV

The third time Don Marco Vitale caught me in bed with another man, I didn’t panic, scramble for my clothes, or try to explain myself like I had before.

His consigliere, Chiara Bellini, stood in front of me.

“Donna, this is the third time you’ve done something this disgraceful.”

“You’re an embarrassment to every woman in Sicily,” she said mockingly. “You’ll be expelled from the Vitale family. As for Luca, your son with the Don, you’ll have nothing to do with him anymore.”

Marco looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes.

“The first time, you said you didn’t even know the man.”

“The second time, you said you had no idea how you ended up at the hotel.”

“What’s your excuse this time?”

He expected me to cry and beg again, to drop to my knees and plead my innocence.

But I said nothing.

I simply signed the divorce papers and disappeared from his world.

So why, after I gave him exactly what he wanted—giving up my assets as Donna and custody of Luca, and disappearing without a fight—

did he lose his mind?

...

Chiara pulled out her phone and quickly took a picture of the divorce agreement.

“Don, I’ve already sent it to the family lawyer.”

“They’ll immediately prepare the divorce filing, the custody transfer for Luca, and...”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over me.

“After what Donna has done, she has no right to any of the Vitale family’s assets. Everything currently under her name will also be reassessed.”

Marco stared at me, his brows drawn tight.

It was as if he were waiting for me to do what I’d done before—slam my forehead against the floor until I bled, sobbing that I was innocent and that none of this was true.

Instead, I said calmly, “I’ll move my things out as soon as possible. As for visitation with Luca—”

“You don’t deserve to be a mother,” he cut in, his voice low. “You’re never seeing him again.”

I didn’t look up. I only smiled.

“I was just about to say that I don’t want visitation either.”

Marco’s expression darkened instantly.

“Good,” he forced out through clenched teeth.

Still, he couldn’t help looking at me again, as though he couldn’t understand why I had suddenly become so decisive.

For the past four years, he and Luca had been my entire world.

Even hearing Luca talk too much about “Aunt Chiara” had been enough to upset me for hours.

“Bitch.” Marco sneered. “You’d abandon your own flesh and blood for some man you’re screwing behind my back.”

“Then what was the point of everything you did to get into my bed and have my child in the first place?”

I listened without feeling the slightest urge to defend myself.

The first time he caught me “cheating” with a man at a hotel, my mind had gone completely blank.

I desperately tried to explain that I had never betrayed him.

The Vitale family’s doctors dragged me by the hair into a small room and examined me.

The examination proved my innocence.

The man had left behind nothing but a view of his back on the hotel’s security footage, so Marco reluctantly believed me.

But he still took my son away.

I had to make an appointment with Chiara a week in advance just to see Luca once a month.

Chiara always followed right behind him. I even had to watch her expression before daring to hug my own son.

If I bought Luca toys or clothes, I had to report them to Chiara first.

Otherwise, they would never reach him.

I was devastated.

Not long afterward, I was caught “cheating” a second time.

By then, I had already been stripped of all my power and wealth. I had no choice but to find a job in Sicily to support myself.

Then, during a business trip, I stumbled into a hotel in a daze.

When I woke up, a fat, sleazy man was lying beside me, practically drooling over me.

I called the police.

Once again, the Vitale family’s doctors subjected me to a rough examination.

They told Marco I hadn’t been sexually assaulted.

But Marco remained convinced that I simply hadn’t had the chance to “commit the crime.”

After that, Marco declared that I had no right to be involved in anything concerning Luca.

Whenever something happened at Luca’s school, Marco sent Chiara instead.

He ordered me to stay home and “stop embarrassing myself.”

When Luca pointed at me and called me a “bad woman,” Marco stood beside him without saying a word.

And now, the third time...

I was done playing this game.

I was giving them exactly what they wanted.

So why was he suddenly asking why I didn’t even want my own son anymore?