The Don Who Never Meant What He Said

The Hale family had once been in crisis, and my mother sold the Star of Florence to carry us through it.

On her deathbed, retrieving that diamond remained her unfulfilled last wish.

When Raphael learned of it, he won the diamond back at the Sotheby's auction.

I cried then, I was so moved, and I told him I'd make it up to him one day.

His face stayed calm, but his eyes were full of love.

“I don't want one day. I want you to make it up to me now.”

“Scarlett, I want you to be my Donna.”

He had placed the diamond solemnly in my palm and said our love would last like the diamond, forever, never fading.

And now he said:

“You agreed to be my Donna, and that's the only reason I gave you this diamond.”

“Now that you want a divorce, you've lost the right to take it with you.”

He paused and gave a cold laugh. “You don't think you're still worth thirty million, do you?”

His words were a hammer, and they smashed what was left of my dignity to dust.

I bit down and fought the tears with everything I had.

I couldn't cry. I would not cry in front of this heartless man.

“Thirty million. I'll pay you back.”

“I don't want it!” Raphael cut me off. “Scarlett, you think I miss thirty million?”

“Remember, you're the one walking out. This is all your choice. And this diamond, I'll be giving to my Donna.”

With that, he set the box in Daphne's palm.

It was just like the day he said he'd marry me.

“Thank you, Don, I'm so happy!”

Daphne wrapped herself tight around Raphael from behind, and mouthed at me without a sound.

“A dead woman's keepsake. So damn unlucky.”

Blood rushed to my head, and I lunged to take it back.

“Don't you dare insult my mother, give it back!”

The instant I touched her, Daphne shrieked and let herself fall backward.

At the same moment, the box flew out of her hand and out the window.

I threw myself at the sill and looked down. The box had fallen off the cliff. It was gone.

My mind went blank, and the world dropped into a dead silence.

It was a long while before I could hear Daphne's crying again, and I turned to look.

She was holding up her scratched arm, weeping prettily.

“Raphael, it hurts so much.”

Beside her, Raphael came back to himself and shoved me away with one hand.

“Scarlett, are you done? When did you turn this vicious?”

“You'd hurt Daphne, and you don't even care about your own mother's only keepsake?”

I hit the floor hard, and from the impact an unfamiliar, vicious pain tore through my lower belly.

I looked at Raphael's face, twisted with rage, and out of habit I waited.

I waited for his thoughts.

A minute passed. Other than his heavy breathing, I heard nothing.

Every drop of blood in me turned to ice in an instant.

Right now he wasn't saying the opposite of what he meant. What he said was what he thought.

I had waited ten years for the moment his words matched his heart.

And this was how it came.

Shaking, swallowing the pain, I tried to explain. “I didn't push her. Daphne fell on her own and lost the diamond.”

“Enough!”

Veins stood out on his forehead. “You lose your mind and now you slander Daphne. If you hadn't rushed at her, how would the diamond have—”

Something panicked flickered in his eyes. And I heard his thoughts again.

[I ruined it, I ruined everything, now even the diamond Scarlett cares about most is gone!]

[I don't have a single way left to keep her!]

[No! I can't let her leave, whatever it takes, I won't let her leave!]

He turned and shouted at the bodyguards. “Take the Donna to the basement. Let her clear her head.”

Two burly men pounced on me and dragged me all the way down to the basement.

Raphael ignored my struggling and gave a cold laugh. “You hurt Daphne. Sit there and think about what you've done.”

The sharp pain in my belly grew worse and worse.

A hot, red stream slid out from between my legs.

I lost my nerve completely.