Chapter 5: A Gift for the Wedding

Since I hadn’t heard from Dominick for days, it was clear that his dedication was to the wedding.

Before, he was never one to take initiative unless the matter was of urgency. Gia was his one and only exception.

Gia bombarded me with photos of a wedding gown inlaid with hundreds of Miranth Gulf pearls and a one-of-a-kind diamond ring.

With a blank expression, I quietly saved every one of the photos she’d flaunted in my face.

“Archibald, print these out and place them in a box together with the divorce papers,” I instructed the butler.

Not one of Dominick’s men, Archibald, the butler, came from my family, who raised me from a child. He never left my side when I parted ways with my family.

He had been my constant companion over the years. In a way, he was a father to me.

Dominick’s call came in shortly after Archibald took off. He sounded pretty amused.

“Luna, I’m really sorry for ditching you the other day. I’ve set up a trip for you five days from now to make it up to you. What do you say?”

His wedding to Gia would take place five days later.

I stayed silent for a long time before murmuring, “Will you be coming along?”

Dominick sighed. “I can’t. I have critical business to attend to, but I’ll head straight to you once I’m done.”

I chuckled. “Critical business? Define ‘critical’.”

My line of questioning tested Dominick’s patience, and his tone changed. “You should know that I can’t stand women who ask too many questions, Luna.

“The matter is final. Get some early rest.”

Without giving me a chance to respond, Dominick hung up.

The trip was no treat or request for my input. It was a direct notice and an order filled with betrayal and lies.

I looked out the window. The snow piled up outside, blurring my view.

The heavy silence in the ward amplified the faint throbbing of the heartbeat in my belly.

I caressed my small bump, an indescribable pang of sorrow overwhelming me.

‘As you wish, I will be gone in five days, Dominick, and I’m never coming back.’

Three days later, I was discharged to make my way to my residence. By then, Dominick’s wedding was two days away.

As the wedding approached, Gia’s excitement spilled over, and it was evident in her endless calls to brag.

Unable to stand the harassment, I blocked her number.

From this point forward, I wanted nothing to do with Dominick or Gia, or anything related to them.

Clearly, my indifference didn’t sit well with Gia, so she started a rumor that I’d ripped into her for taking up too much of Dominick’s time.

When Dominick called to confront me, I was packing my bags.

“Gia could use a vacation, so I brought her along for the ride. Why are you being so petty?

“Luna, apologize to Gia for your rude behavior right now!”

“Apologize?” I paused as if I’d heard the most absurd joke ever.

“Why should I?”

“Because she’s in tears!” His angry growl boomed on the other end of the line.

In all honesty, I barely ever saw Dominick losing his marbles. Though his methods were brutal, he had always gotten his point across without raising his voice. Besides, he had always treated me with respect.

Pushing back the resentment, I tried to keep my voice steady. “I don’t care if you believe me or not, Dominick, but I have never said anything insulting to her. She won’t get an apology out of me.

“It’s ridiculous to say that I’m jealous of her hogging your time. It’s one thing if you’re with another woman, but Gia is your sister. Why should I be jealous?

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re more than a brother to her or that she’s not a sister to you?”

“What are you talking about?” Dominick yelled.

For once, I called him out on his relationship with Gia, and it rattled him.

The typically cool-headed Don lost his reason.

He snapped, “Luna, don’t play games with me. I know that you can’t stand Gia.

“You’re jealous of her.

“If you don’t make things right with her, I won’t be as forgiving.”

Was that so?

In the past, whenever I was crossed, no matter how trivial the incident, Dominick would swear, “Nobody gets to upset you and gets away with it.”

He was true to his word back then. Those who spoke ill of me had their tongues ripped out, and the touchy-feely ones had their hands cut off.

Dominick once considered me his most prized possession. Yet now, he threatened to use his methods on me.

I laughed bitterly at myself. Love sure was fleeting, with the line between a lover and an enemy so thin.

Despite knowing his cruel ways, I would never bow down to Gia.

However, I had never expected Dominick to throw a low blow. Instead of punishing me himself, he gave the power to the household staff.

The next day, I got up without a wake-up call and was not served any breakfast.

“Where’s breakfast?” I uttered coldly while staring at the empty table.

“Don Costa made it clear that Ms. Gia Costa is the Donna of the household. Only she is entitled to preferential treatment,” the maid stood there, announcing smugly.

As I kept my head low in silence, the staff snickered, their eyes reflecting none of the fear they had held for me.

“Oh, we bet that you’d stay in favor for at least a decade, but Don Costa got tired of you in just three years. You’re pretty useless.”

“Right? Had we known, we would’ve wasted our time sucking up to you. Don Costa’s going to get rid of you in no time.”

“That’s enough. Ms. Costa will be back any minute. We need to hurry and tidy up the place for her. Don’t forget to tell the kitchen to make all her favorite food.”

The maids bustled around me. One of them even bumped hard into my shoulder while brushing past.

I grabbed her arm and slammed her hard against the wall.

“W-What are you trying to do?” Startled by my retaliation, the maid cried out.

Instead of replying to her, I lifted my hand to slap her.

“As you can see, I’m putting the staff in place.”

With my payback catching the maids off guard, they hung their heads low and bit their tongues.

Just as I was about to turn away, I spotted Dominick standing at the door, his arm linking Gia’s.

His expression was stiff, and he stared at me, clearly unamused.

“Don Costa, you’re back.”

The maid I’d slapped pushed me aside and rushed toward Dominick. She held her swollen cheek and cried dramatically.

“We followed your instructions not to prepare breakfast for Donna Costa, but she came down hard on us and hit me.”

The others chimed in. “That’s right. She started smashing things. We tried reasoning with her, but she threatened to hurt us unless we put poison in Ms. Costa’s food.”

“Poison?”

Dominick and I widened our eyes in shock.

He could not believe my alleged malice, and I was appalled by the sheer cruelty of the staff who had addressed me so sweetly before.

I refuted, my head cocked in the direction of Dominick, “That’s not what happened. They are lying. I have said nothing of that matter. They were the ones who insulted me—”

My words came to a halt as Dominick narrowed his eyes at me dangerously.

It was a look I’d never seen before.

“You don’t trust me?” My eyes welled up.

Averting my gaze, Dominick uttered, “I’m not an idiot, Luna.

“I know my staff better than anyone. They wouldn’t dream of insulting you, much less raising their voices at you.”

I stared at him in stunned silence before bursting out in laughter.

‘You’re as cocky and self-assured as always, Dominick.

‘That was the case before when you loved me. Now that everybody in the family is speculating on your relationship with Gia, I’m no longer a Donna to the staff.’

I turned on my heel with a sigh when Gia said, her voice full of fragility, “Luna, are you still upset that I went with Dom on his business trip? I’ve assured you repeatedly that there is nothing between Dom and me. Why won’t you believe me?

“After the fuss you’ve caused, I dare not imagine what everyone thinks of me or Dom as the Don. We have done absolutely nothing.”

With the subject brought up, Dominick furrowed his brows. “I only intended to give you a little punishment. I didn’t expect you to take things so far, to the point of harming my sister.

“In that case, you can reflect on your behavior in the sub-basement. You’re free to go when you stop imagining things.”

I stopped in my tracks, unable to believe my ears.

Was he holding me captive all because of Gia?

No.

I snapped back to reality, realizing that he was trying to stop me from finding out about the wedding two days later.

The imprisonment was a better way to keep things on the down low than sending me away on a trip.

Dominick’s intention was lost on the staff, though. Assuming that Dominick had given up on me, the maids looked at me with greater disdain.

Also missing the plot, Gia said pretentiously, “Isn’t that too harsh on Luna, Dom?”

Dominick ignored Gia’s plea and summoned the men to take me away.

I stood there without putting up a fight, my eyes zeroing in on Dominick callously.

“I have one last question for you. I’ll go once I get an answer.”

Dominick was taken aback, possibly due to my overly flat tone.

“Speak.”

“Is Gia a family member or a lover to you?”