Chapter 3

Last month, I saw a reservation text on Salvatore's phone for a high-end apartment in the west city.

The time was the day after our wedding. The text specifically noted "maternity-grade service."

I thought Salvatore wanted a baby for our honeymoon. I started taking folic acid a month early.

Even if it meant giving up hard-won performance, I'd decline drinking engagements, preparing my body for a healthy pregnancy.

Now I realized, stupidly, that someone was already in that position.

My eyes swept her belly. It was starting to show.

Elena was still an intern, an ungraduated college student. To keep family gossip from hurting her, Salvatore rushed to hide her away.

"What? You can't stand that I have a baby in my belly?"

"If I told you Salvatore signed a family share transfer before deciding to marry you, giving everything under his name to my baby, so I wouldn't be alone?"

Elena pressed on, provocation growing with every word.

My father's face went iron.

"You shameless girl! Bullying our Victoria is unacceptable. Tomorrow I'll go to your school gate and shout that you seduced a married man! This old man will fight!"

My father only said one sentence, but Elena's body swayed backward.

"Salvatore... my belly hurts..."

The rain grew heavier, from drizzle to tear-sized drops.

Salvatore rushed over and held Elena.

"Victoria, control your father's mouth and apologize to Elena! One more bad word about her, and don't blame me for getting physical!"

"If something happens to Elena, how do I explain to her father?"

I looked up into his eyes. "Salvatore, explain to whose father?"

"Elena's father, of course. Elena is devoted to me. Is there a problem calling her father 'father'?"

"Victoria, stop playing word games. I'll say it one last time. Have your father apologize to Elena, and get in the car."

Two sentences, like the sudden downpour, extinguished all seven years of expectation.

For this pickup, my parents prepared four hundred thousand in gift money.

Our family statuses were indeed worlds apart.

So my parents saved their whole lives to give Salvatore "face."

But now Salvatore was calling a stranger "father" and "mother."

I clenched my fists and didn't back down.

"And if I say no?"

Salvatore looked down at me, brows knotted.

"Fine."

"Everyone get out. Tear down Victoria's house. Tear it down until Elena is happy. Consider it payback for Elena!"

At Salvatore's command, his men got out and dismantled my small courtyard gate in minutes.

Farm tools and ironware sat in the passage by my door. Several men picked them up and smashed the glass and back wall.

The home I'd lived in for twenty years became ruins in minutes.

My mother was so frightened she trembled all over and collapsed.

"Stop! You can't tear it down! This house can't be torn down..."

My father rushed to stop them. His second sentence—"If a mudslide comes, it can't be stopped, we'll all die"—hadn't left his mouth when Salvatore threw a stack of cash in his face.

"I can't owe poor people money. Consider this compensation."

"Salvatore! Stop!" I walked to my father.

But before I could say a second sentence, everyone's faces went pale.