Prologue
“I thought your business is a decent business, Giovanni. Non questo tipo di affare nauseante!” (Not this kind of sickening business!) She shouted at her husband who was casually seated in his study, doing his ‘usual’ work. “That business you’re talking about is what feeds you, keeps you sheltered and clothed you. Vi suggerisco di stare attenti con le vostre parole, mia cara,” (I suggest that you’ll be careful with your words, my dear) Even though he said it in a calm way, she knew he was trying to hold back his anger. It was a good thing he didn’t bothered looking at her, she might’ve trembled and been speechless. “I should’ve known! I should’ve known before I married you!” She was hysterical, her hands firm on her hips. She thought he wasn’t involved in any of those kind of businesses. She thought he was decent. She really thought he was, or maybe she hoped. This wasn’t the life she wanted to have. No wonder, she had bodyguards 24/7 even if she was just meeting up with her friends or attending family occasions. Why did she act so clueless about everything?
“You should’ve known what, Alena?” He fixed the documents he was reading and clasped his hands together on his desk as he looked at her straight in the eyes. She looked back at him and she felt a shiver go down her spine. This went beyond her principles and it’s scaring her. She was strongly against any of this and she made that clear to him since the very first day they met. He lied to her, he manipulated her, he brainwashed her—what else could he have done to her? This was too much to process all at once but she knew very well what she would do in this situation. “I should’ve known that you were a liar and are involved in this! You acted so well, Giovanni. If I only knew or…If I only gave it some importance, noticed every detail, I would’ve left you a long time ago, Giovanni! You knew that I don’t want any of this and yet, here you are! Non sei diverso da quelle persone se è quello che stai pensando. Sei disgustoso come lo sono,” (You’re no different from those people if that’s what you’re thinking. You’re as disgusting as they are) She stormed out of his study and went straight to their room to pack her things. It pains her to realize that the man she married and entrusted her life with was the person she never ever wanted to meet or even worse, marry. She knew that this business her husband has doesn’t guarantee safety. It was a very risky business that only gave them a lifetime warranty of danger.
She locked the door as soon as she got inside. She grabbed her suitcase and started packing. She only took the things she bought for herself when they weren’t married or when she haven’t met him yet. The things she paid for with her own money from her decent job. She also took the jewelry she got from her grandmother the day she got married. She will never take any of the gifts he had given her or the things she bought using his money. She never thought that the money she was spending was all made from doing the dirtiest things on earth a person could ever thought of. Just thinking about that disgusts her so much and makes her want to vomit for a lifetime.
When she was halfway through with packing, her husband pounded on the door. “Stop what you are doing, Alena!” He shouted from the other side of the door. “Stop and what? Live a miserable life with you? Spend that dirty money you get from that damned business of yours? Sul mio cadavere, Giovanni!” (Over my dead body, Giovanni!) She closed her suitcase and opened the door. She intentionally bumped him so she could get out. She quickly made her way downstairs as Giovanni followed behind her. “I won’t change my mind, Giovanni. You know how much I hate this,” She said calmly as she headed outside of their house. She didn’t hear any response from him until she called her driver who pulled up in front of her immediately. Before she could get in, Giovanni left her with a message that made her whole body tremble.
“Go and run away, Alena. No matter where you go, I will find you. And once I find you, I will drag you back to where you belong and you wouldn’t be able to do anything but be a good wife to me and live the rest of your life here, with me,” He grinned at her with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. She looked at him one last time. “Good bye, Giovanni.”
