He Died for Her and Made Me Mourn a Lie

That night, I heard a knock. Soft. Hesitant.

The door creaked open, and I didn't turn.

He walked in like the floor might break under him.

He carried a tray: soup, bread, and the same tea I drank when I was pregnant. He set it down carefully on the nightstand, then spoke in that calm, calculated tone. Still playing the brother card.

"I shouldn't have hit you. I'm sorry. You just… shocked me. That baby… it was my brother's last memory… I didn't know how else to react."

I didn't speak.

I didn't blink.

I stared ahead, eyes locked on the wall, mind already a thousand miles away from this estate.

"You have to understand," he went on, voice gentler now, "I'm trying to protect Dominic's memory. He loved you. I see how broken you are, and… I just want you to feel safe. To feel seen. Even if I'm just his brother."

I turned my head just enough to look at him.

Cold. Detached.

"Don't pretend you care now. It's too late."

He flinched. Just a twitch in his jaw. I didn't move. Didn't touch the food.

I watched him watch me, like he was waiting for the old Seraphina to show up and cry into his chest and forgive him with some half-broken smile.

But that girl was gone.

Dead in a freezer room Ginevra locked.

He sat down beside me. The bed dipped, and he placed a blanket around my shoulders like that would undo the bruise on my face or the scream I never let out. Somewhere in the compound, a guard's radio crackled and went silent.

"You used to love it when my brother tucked you in," he murmured.

I said nothing. Because every word he spoke now sounded like poison covered in silk.

That night, I woke to screams. Loud. Gut-wrenching. Over-the-top.

I already knew what it was before I even stepped into the hallway.

Ginevra.

Staging her next act.

I walked out and saw her on the floor outside my bedroom. Makeup smeared, her white slip torn at the strap, red scratches raking down her neck and arms like a scene from a slaughterhouse photograph.

Blood. Not deep enough to be dangerous. But just enough to look like she'd been attacked.

She wailed louder when she saw me.

"Why are you doing this to me?!"

Dominic came running. His eyes landed on her collapsed form, and the panic took over in seconds.

"Ginevra, what the hell? What happened?!"

She clung to his legs like some dying saint and sobbed harder.

"She… she attacked me! I… I was only trying to check on her. I know she hates me because Alessio looks like Dominic and she can't handle it. I was trying to help her move on. I just… I wanted to give her a hug and she snapped!"

She looked up at him, crocodile tears shining like diamonds. Her fingertips drifted to her collarbone. "I'm dying, Dominic. I have months left. And she wants to break me before I'm even buried. If she wants you so badly, fine. Let her have you. Just let me die in peace."

She screamed like she was being stabbed.

I didn't say a word. Dominic looked from her to me, and then his face twisted into pure rage.

He stood, his steps fast, and suddenly he was in front of me.

Chest heaving. Eyes wild. His father's signet ring catching the hallway light as his hand curled into a fist at his side.

"What the fuck did you do to her?!"

I didn't flinch.

"She has four months left to live, Seraphina! Four months! She's been nothing but kind to you. She's been trying to make peace and you what… you beat her?"

I laughed. A bitter, hollow sound.

The kind of laugh that said I'm done being quiet.

"You're both pathetic."

And I slapped him.

Hard. Not just for tonight. For every lie. For every gaslight. For every moment he let Ginevra live in my skin, wear my perfume, and erase my name like I was nothing but a prequel to her reign over this Family.

He stared at me like I just shattered his illusion.

"You used to be kind," he whispered. "You used to be human."

I stepped closer, voice cutting through the silence.

"And you used to be mine. But now you're just hers."

He opened his mouth. His face softened. Like he was about to admit something. Like he wanted to say what he'd been holding back since the day he let me cry over his faked death.

But Ginevra made a sound behind him. A weak cough and a dramatic collapse.

She hit the ground like a timed performance and let out a cry.

"Dominic… please… I can't breathe…"

That snapped him back.

"Shit. Ginevra? Stay with me, baby, stay with me."

He lifted her in his arms, shouting for Tomaso, for the driver, for a medic.

I stood still.

Watching. Letting him run toward the woman he traded me for.

His mother appeared in the hallway seconds later, her hair tied in her usual tight bun, the pearl rosary looped around her left wrist catching the dim light. Eyes flaming with hate. She didn't ask what happened.

She just marched straight to me, eyes full of judgment.

"You are evil," she spat. "I should've known. You always wore the mask well, Seraphina. But I see it now. You're cruel. Heartless. A murderer."

I tilted my head, silent.

"I should've never accepted you into this Family. You don't belong in the Santoro name."

I stepped forward and whispered, "Then take the name back. I never needed it to begin with."

Then two of Dominic's soldiers grabbed me, one by each arm. I kicked, cursed, twisted. Didn't matter.

They dragged me down the hallway, my feet scraping against the marble floor. The night staff pressed themselves against the walls as we passed.

No one stopped them. No one even looked.

At the hospital, they shoved the doors open and pushed me into the room.

Hard. Like I was trash being dumped. And Ginevra was there. Hooked to an IV. Pale as paper.

Eyes closed like some tragic angel.

Then came Dominic's voice. "Kneel."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Kneel. On the salt."

I looked down and saw it. A large square patch of ground covered in coarse, jagged sea salt.

I almost laughed.

Almost.

"You've lost your mind," I whispered.

"You assaulted my wife," he snapped. "You made her collapse, and you're going to reflect on that. You're going to stay on your knees and think about what you've become."

He stepped closer. His voice dropped.

"And when she wakes up, you will apologize."