Don Begged, Donna Walked Chapter 05
Suddenly, Adelaide let out a sharp cry beside him.
The paring knife had cut her finger.
Anger flared up at once. “Caterina, don’t push this too far. How could Adelaide hurt me when she’s right here with me?”
There was no reply from the other end.
His restlessness mounted. “Are you just playing another trick to make me come back? Is today some special occasion?”
A vague memory tugged at him. It was, wasn’t it?
He strained to recall, but his mind went blank. “Is it your birthday?”
A soft chuckle came over the line, as if she no longer bothered to keep up the pretense.
“You forgot… I stopped celebrating my birthday a long time ago.”
Right.
She hadn’t marked her birthday ever since she lost the baby.
He’d forgotten again.
Still, her feeble voice gnawed at his nerves.
“Where are you? I’ll send someone to pick you up.”
Silence.
She must still be upset.
He would soothe her properly once he got back.
His tone softened.
“Relax. You’ve been behaving lately, and you even apologized to Adelaide. I know you’ve grown more sensible. There’s no need for you to compete with her for my attention. I made a promise to your mother. I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life, no matter what. That will never change.”
An even softer murmur of assent drifted over the line.
Then the call went dead.
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
“Boss,” the driver glanced back from the rearview mirror, “we’re reaching the airport entrance. Shall we go straight in, or turn for home?”
…
After hanging up, my body grew colder by the second.
My mind drifted back to the first time I met Vincenzo.
I had gone into the slums with my mother to paint.
He was going door to door, humbly begging neighbors for help, trying to arrange a simple funeral for his grandfather who had just passed away.
As I stepped out of the car, he collapsed right in front of me—he hadn’t eaten for three days.
I begged my mother to save him.
She paid for his grandfather’s proper burial, took him away from that place, enrolled him in a city school, and covered all his expenses.
From that day on, Vincenzo put me above everything else, almost obsessively.
He knew I was betrothed to Sebastiano Moretti, but he kept his feelings locked away and never crossed the line.
After graduation, countless powerful families offered him top positions and huge shares. Without a second thought, he chose to join the declining Vitale family.
His only reason was simple.
It kept him close to me.
He was exceptionally talented and quickly rose through the ranks.
Many clans tried to poach him with staggering offers, but he always turned them down.
Ugly whispers spread around the circles.
People said the Vitale heiress kept a loyal hound at her side.
I was never blind to his feelings for me.
But back then, my marriage was never mine to choose.
If fate hadn’t torn everything apart, he would have stayed right behind me, silent and faithful, for the rest of his days.
Just like my mother.
She had lived a quiet life.
Quietly facing the endless stream of illegitimate children showing up at our door, quietly enduring every insult.
She would lock herself in her art studio for days on end.
Her canvases were filled with bold, vivid colors, but her eyes were always empty.
I once resented her silence and her refusal to fight back.
I thought she had indulged my father, turning our family into a laughingstock.
Now, after ten years stuck in this same mire, my spirit worn thin, my love burned out, I too had learned to retreat into silence.
At last, I understood.
It was the helplessness that comes from seeing the truth clearly.
When you know shouting, fighting and pleading will never win back someone who no longer loves you.
In the end, silence becomes the only choice.
My eyelids grew too heavy to lift.
My awareness of the world faded away little by little.
The last sliver of light slipped out of sight.
Mom, I’m sorry.
I finally understand now…
Rushed footsteps came to an abrupt halt beside me.
Then a heart-wrenching scream tore through the air.
“Caterina—!”