---- Chapter 5 Isabella POV: "Just the caterer for the charity gala next month," | said without missing a beat. The lie came so easily now, it felt more natural than the truth. "Confirming the menu." His face relaxed into a smile, his suspicion erased. "My perfect hostess," he said, his voice filled with a proud, possessive warmth. "Always thinking ahead." He walked over and wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Bella. You know that, right?" My entire body went rigid. His touch felt like a thousand spiders crawling on my skin. | had to fight the urge to physically recoil, to shove him away. He mistook my stillness for something else. Anger. "Damn it, what did my mother say to you?" he growled, his arms tightening. "She's always criticizing. Don't listen to her." He was misdirecting his own guilt, turning my discomfort into a weapon against someone else. "She didn't say anything," | snapped, my voice harsher than | intended. The mask was cracking. | took a deep breath, forcing myself back into character. "I'm ---- just tired, Gio. It's been a long week." It was a plausible lie, a safe retreat. He let me go, his frustration palpable. The ride home was silent. Rain began to streak down the windshield, the city lights blurring into long, weeping trails of color. | caught my reflection in the window-a pale, drawn face with dark, hollow eyes. | looked like a ghost. | looked like a woman who had been slowly poisoned over the course of a year. | wondered if Gio was even capable of real love, or if everything was a transaction. He didn't love me. He owned me. | was his most valuable asset, the one that legitimized his entire life. A beautiful, loyal wife was the ultimate symbol of a Don's power and stability. Society expected women like me to stay. To endure the humiliation for the sake of the family, the money, the power. To accept a fractured love because half a loaf was better than none. But | didn't want half. | wanted it all, or | wanted nothing. The next day, the doctor he had called came to the house. Dr. Evans was an old family friend, his loyalty bought and paid for by the Morettis generations ago. He took my blood pressure, listened to my heart, and asked a series of gentle questions. "It's stress, Isabella," he concluded, his eyes kind but unseeing. "A classic psychosomatic response. You need to rest." ---- Gio stood in the doorway, the powerful Don, trying to command a solution. "Give her something. A sedative. Anything to make her feel better." He thought he could buy my peace of mind, just like he bought everything else. | smiled faintly. | already had the cure. It was a one-way ticket, booked under a name he wouldn't even recognize. | was going to be a photographer. It was a silly dream I'd had in college, a passion | had packed away like a box of old clothes when | married him. Now, it was the only thing that felt real. | was going to capture the raw, brutal beauty of the world, not just be a pretty object within it. "l'm taking tomorrow off," Gio announced that evening, his voice laced with false sincerity. "We'll spend the day together. Just you and me. I'll have Sofia clear my schedule." The hypocrisy was breathtaking. As if on cue, his burner phone, which he'd foolishly left on the kitchen island, began to buzz. Sofia's name flashed on the screen. He snatched it up, his thumb jabbing the ignore button. "Don't you need to get that?" | asked, my voice deceptively sweet. He shot me a dark look. "It's not important." The phone buzzed again. And again. A frantic, insistent rhythm. "Gio," | said, my voice soft with feigned sympathy. "It sounds ---- important. You should go. I'll be fine." | was pushing him, daring him, giving him the rope to hang himself. He looked torn, his loyalty-or what passed for it-being tested. He wanted to maintain the facade with me, but the other part of his life was pulling at him. He finally cracked. "It's a security issue at the penthouse," he lied, grabbing his keys. "I have to handle it myself. I'll be back in an hour." | watched him walk out the door, a man rushing to his pregnant mistress while his wife faded away behind him. The moment he was gone, my burner phone vibrated. A new message. It was a picture, sent from Sofia's number. It was an ultrasound. A tiny, grainy image of a life growing inside her.