Page 198 of Punishing His Runaway Bride
So Ezio had carried so much these years... My heart clenched tight. I'd misunderstood him. I thought I didn't matter that much to him...
She looked at me, corner of her mouth lifting.
"He could have married me. We could have easily become New York's king and queen together! But because of you, this bitch, he threw everything away like a madman! Even when I tried to trap his heart with a fake pregnancy, it didn't work!"
So the miscarriage that made Ezio feel guilty and tolerant all along was fake, too! This cunning woman had been deceiving Ezio all along.
"Fuck! These five years, I thought staying by his side would make me the new lady of the family. Who knew you'd come back and I'd lose everything! Ha, doesn't matter. He thinks being strong enough means he'll never lose anyone again. But he doesn't know—"
She paused, voice suddenly going very quiet, so quiet it was like telling a secret only she knew.
"No matter how powerful he is, he can't protect you. Because I'll hide you away, hide you where he'll never find you. Unless—he agrees to my terms."
"You think he'll marry you if he agrees?"
"He will," she said, voice carrying a strange calm. "Because he won't dare gamble."
She turned toward the warehouse door.
"Bianca," I called after her.
She stopped, turned to look at me.
"Doing this will only make him hate you more."
She was silent for a moment.
"Hate?" She laughed, that smile especially piercing in the dim light. "Olivia, you think I care if he hates me? I care if he marries me. I careif the Colonna and Visconti alliance happens. I care if after five years of time, five years of humiliation, I get what I'm owed."
She looked at me, that fire in her eyes burning brighter.
"As for whether he hates me? Let him hate. Hate is still a way of remembering. At least he won't look at me like a painting on the wall anymore."
She pushed open the door and walked out.
The metal door closed behind her with a dull sound. Then the sound of chains—she was locking the door.
Footsteps gradually faded.
The warehouse fell quiet, so quiet I could only hear my own breathing.
The rope on my wrists was very tight. My fingertips were starting to go numb. I tried struggling once. The knot didn't budge.
I leaned against the chair back, tilted my head up, looking at the broken skylight overhead. Light leaked through there, thin as a thread, barely illuminating anything in the dark warehouse.
Stay calm, Olivia. Think of something.
He'll come.
Bianca was right. He'll come.
She'll use me to threaten him, use Leo to threaten him, take everything she can take.
But I knew one thing—
He wouldn't lose me again.
Before that, think of something. There has to be a way.
