He seized my jaw, fingers digging in, and tried to force the food into my mouth. The grip was the grip of a man accustomed to making people do what he wanted. Not a husband's hand. A capo's.
I wrenched free, but I understood his resolve now.
Despair closed over me like water. I blinked back tears and picked up my fork. "I'll eat."
Once this meal was finished, everything would be over.
In the dead of night, the pain tore through my abdomen. Blood seeped from between my legs, spreading across the sheets in a slow, dark stain.
Omero called out toward the door, and Dr. Pastore walked in at once, as though he had been waiting just outside. He was already rolling his sleeves, wiping his hands on a cloth with a thoroughness that had nothing to do with hygiene.
The agony had blurred my vision, but I still heard Dr. Pastore's careful, measured words: "Boss, the lady's previous miscarriage already damaged her body. If we don't intervene now, she may never conceive again."
Silence. The room held its breath. Then Omero spoke. "It doesn't matter. Do as I told you. When I take a woman someday and she bears children, I'll give one to Penelope to raise in her old age."
"Understood, Boss."
So it was true. He thought I was filthy. He had never wanted a child with me.
The last ember of hope inside me turned to ash.
Dr. Pastore was still working to save me when one of Chloe Volpe's attendants burst through the door. "Boss, the Don's daughter-in-law has been suffering from stomach pains today. She's requesting Dr. Pastore come examine her."
Omero's expression changed instantly, open concern written across every line of his face. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed Dr. Pastore by the arm and pulled him toward the door. A man who wouldn't lift a finger to save the child in my womb moved like the compound was on fire for Chloe Volpe's stomachache.
Ruby Ferraro, my attendant, threw herself at Omero's legs and clung on. "Boss, if you take Dr. Pastore now, the lady will die!"
"La Principessa only has a stomachache. Any Family doctor can see to that. But my lady is hanging by a thread..."
"Please, Boss, have mercy on her..."
"Insolent wretch! La Principessa is the Don's daughter-in-law. Who are you, a servant, to decide her care?"
Omero's mind was already gone from this room. He kicked Ruby aside and tossed an order at the household staff without looking back. "Make some broth. Keep her alive."