He Defended My Killer,Not Knowing I Was His WifeChapter 1
On the day I was eight months pregnant, my husband, Dante Valente, abandoned me in the death zone at the border of the two powerful families.
It wasn't an ordinary road.
It was a gray area, a long-standing battleground between the Valente and Morano families—no surveillance, no patrols, not even "laws."
There, human life meant nothing.
The reason I was forced out of the car was a phone call from Serafina Morano.
"Dante, I feel terrible… I have a fever…"
The voice on the other end of the line was weak, almost broken.
Dante's face changed instantly.
This man, who could decide life and death with a single word at the committee negotiating table, this advisor who made countless families bow their heads, became like a madman when he heard her voice.
"Don't be afraid, I'll be right there."
He finished speaking without even glancing at me.
The car screeched to a halt at the side of the road.
Before I could react, he had already unbuckled his seatbelt and looked at me coldly.
"Get out."
I froze. “Dante, we’re almost at the ancestral home, your mother—”
“I said, get out.”
His voice was utterly devoid of warmth.
I instinctively protected my stomach.
“I’m eight months pregnant, and the doctor said I could give birth prematurely at any time.”
Dante glanced down at my abdomen, his eyes as cold as if he were looking at a commodity.
“You know how this child came to be.”
“I married you only out of a sense of responsibility.”
“Don’t use it to threaten me.”
“It disgusts me.”
In that instant, my heart felt like it had been pierced by a bullet.
I always knew he didn’t love me.
But I never imagined that in his eyes, I wasn’t even human.
Just a vessel to maintain the bloodlines of our two families.
That night, he initiated it.
But the next day, he said I schemed against him.
I forced him into marriage with my body.
Now, he’s not even willing to maintain the last shred of pretense.
“You're not far from the ancestral home, walk back yourself.”
He finished speaking and started the car again.
The phone was still pressed to his ear.
His voice suddenly softened.
“Serafina, don't be afraid, I'll be there soon.”
The headlights flashed, and the black sedan disappeared into the rain.
As if it had never stopped.
I was alone, left behind at the border.
The wind swept across the wasteland, cutting my face like a knife.
This was the gray zone.
No rules.
No protection.