My Dead Child Was His Greatest Debt

After ten long months carrying his child, my water broke.

On the way to the hospital, the girl I had taken in off the streets called my husband.

She confessed that she had secretly admired him for a long time but didn't want to destroy our family, so she decided to end it all.

My husband abandoned me on the overpass, cut the wheel hard against oncoming traffic, and rushed back to comfort her.

I bore the pain in my abdomen and walked five kilometers along that overpass before a cab finally slowed for me.

By the time I reached the hospital, my blood had already stained half of my body.

The doctor told me I had arrived too late; my baby was already gone.

It felt as if my heart had been ripped from my chest. I called my husband.

But he said, "Let's dissolve the marriage first. We'll bind ourselves again once she's stable."

"Our child is gone. There's no use dwelling on it."

"But we can save another innocent woman."

I remained silent for a long time, then quietly whispered, "Okay, then we're both free."

The girl who had knelt in rags rose to take a seat in the Amato bloodline, while I, feeling disheartened, left for a distant territory far from their reach.

But luck found me. I bound myself to a kind man and found happiness in a new famiglia.

Three years later, I crossed paths with the man who had cast me aside.

He grabbed me by the neck, fury in his eyes, and shouted, "You bound yourself to another? Didn't we swear we'd remarry in time? Are you that desperate? Can't you live without a man?"

——

"Adriana, you vanished for three years and now you can't resist crawling back? You're here for money, aren't you?"

"This is an important night for the Family, and I'm warning you, stay away. Otherwise, you won't see a single cent."

I stood frozen at the entrance of the members' club, the harsh words of the man crossing the floor toward me cutting through the low hum of made men and their liquor.

I stared in shock, unable to move, until I finally recognized him: the man who had once called himself my husband, Marco Amato.

And walking beside him, draped in the polish of borrowed money, was Bianca Lennox.

Once, Bianca had worn patched clothes. She had knelt before me, begging for the charity that would put a roof over her head.

I, moved by pity, had helped her, seen to her every need.

Little did I know the outsider I had sheltered had been circling my place at that table all along.

Now, after years of silence, she stood before me in silk that cost more than the life she'd left behind, nothing like the girl I had once lifted out of the gutter.

It seemed that after edging me aside, she had worked her way straight into Marco's bed.

Marco cursed me once, then again, and still it wasn't enough to ease his temper.

He sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. "Back then, I was only showing a little mercy to someone in need, and you disappeared out of spite."

"I thought you had more dignity than this. Why show your face tonight of all nights?"

"Adriana, take a good look at yourself. You're nothing but the lowest of the low now."

He flicked the lapel of his jacket and lifted his chin. "Since you left me, life's been miserable, hasn't it? Now you see what money's worth. Now you understand a husband with standing is the only thing holding you up?"

"Too bad, it's too late. The moment you walked off out of spite, you gave up any right to sit at my side."

"Let me make this clear in front of everyone: even if you knelt here right now, I'll never bind myself to you again."

I shook my head quietly, my voice barely a whisper. "You're mistaken. I'm here on business."

Marco looked me up and down, his gaze heavy with contempt. "Business? Can you even afford to breathe the air in a room like this?"

"If you need money, just ask. Stop hiding behind these ridiculous excuses to make yourself look like something."

Bianca sneered beside him, her words sharp. "Adriana, Marco and I are about to be bound before the Family. You showing up without shame is really putting us in an awkward position."

Her smile held a half-second too long, and she touched the corner of her mouth. "Besides, Marco's operation is only growing. You may not care about your own standing, but we have to think of the impact."

Marco pulled a thick fold of cash from his jacket with a flick of his wrist and threw it in my face.

"That should keep you fed for a few days. Now keep quiet."

He took Bianca's hand and turned away, leaving me standing in stunned silence.