Chapter 3

Elena’s POV

Luca stood beside me and muttered under his breath, “You should’ve let go...”

My eyes reddened as I stared at him.

“I told you. Your grandmother left this to me.”

“Do you even know whose fault it is that your grandmother ended up in that nursing facility?”

Luca froze, then took a step back.

“I don’t know any grandmother. I only know some old woman who keeps wasting Dad’s money and the Vitale family’s assets...”

Blood rushed to my head.

“Aunt Chiara said she stays in such an expensive room and wastes so much of Dad’s money even though she’ll never get better. She’s nothing but a burden on the Vitale family!”

“Say that again.”

I roared at him.

It was the first time I had ever spoken to him like that.

Luca flinched at the sight of me.

He bit his lip, then gathered his courage.

“That damn old woman, why— Ah!”

I shoved him.

He stumbled and landed hard on his butt.

After a stunned second, he burst into tears.

“Dad! Dad!”

I stood there, my palm numb.

As I watched my son kick his legs and cry on the floor, the words “damn old woman” echoed over and over in my head.

A corner of the ruby had already chipped off.

I clenched it in my palm, and its sharp edge dug into my skin. The pain cleared my head a little.

Marco rushed in.

The moment he saw Luca crying on the floor, he bent down and picked him up.

“Luca, what happened?”

Luca threw himself into his arms, sobbing so hard he could barely breathe.

“Dad, she pushed me! Make her leave! I want Aunt Chiara...”

Marco held him and looked up at me.

There was nothing but cold disapproval in his eyes.

“Elena, have you lost your mind? You hit a child!”

“I didn’t hit him,” I said quietly. “I pushed him.”

“What’s the difference?”

I looked down at the cracked ruby in my hand and the pearls scattered across the floor.

When Luca was born, my mother had dragged herself through her own illness to help me care for him.

She made little clothes for him and stayed up night after night looking after him.

“There is a difference.”

I met Marco’s eyes.

“He did something wrong. I was disciplining him.”

Marco paused and looked down at the boy in his arms.

Luca curled against his chest, his sobs quieter now.

“I didn’t do anything wrong... Aunt Chiara said that old woman keeps wasting Dad’s money...”

Marco pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Why are you arguing with a child?” He glanced at me. “Chiara handles my personal finances now. She was simply stating the facts from a financial standpoint. Luca overheard her. Stop making such a big deal out of it.”

“You know how much she does for this family every day.”

His gaze fell on my bleeding palm.

Eventually, his voice softened.

“I brought Luca here today so the two of you could talk. But about that matter—don’t tell him yet. It might affect him.”

I said nothing.

I didn’t know what Luca and I even had left to talk about.

In the past four years, all the time Luca and Marco had spent talking to me combined wasn’t even half the time either of them spent talking to Chiara.

When I was pregnant, someone had slipped medication into my food that could have caused a miscarriage.

To make sure Luca was born safely, I endured the pain without any anesthesia and spent twenty days in the hospital.

And this was how Luca treated me?

I picked up my bag and walked out of the storage room.

In the living room, Chiara was crouched in front of Luca, soothing him softly.

I walked past them without expression.

Behind me, Luca suddenly wailed.

“Why is that bad woman ignoring me?”

He stomped his foot, furious and hurt.

He was used to me coming to comfort him with red eyes after every tantrum.

He was used to hearing me say, “Luca, don’t be mad. Mommy’s sorry.”

So when I didn’t even look at him, he thought he was the one being mistreated.

Marco said nothing.

But I could feel his icy stare on my back.

Just as I reached for the door, an enraged shout came from behind me.

“Stop!”