He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 02
Once the observation period ended, Elena was discharged.
She returned home to find the living room lights on.
Dante sat on the sofa, his phone in his hand. His black coat was draped over the armrest, a smear of dark blood on one cuff that he hadn’t quite managed to clean off. He looked like he’d just come from the command center.
At the sound of the door, he looked up and set his phone aside.
“Bianca said you went to the clinic. What for?”
“To terminate the pregnancy.”
She had barely spoken the words when the phone on the coffee table buzzed.
Dante glanced at the message, and the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile.
Elena recognized the profile picture.
It was Bianca.
She remembered asking him last winter, so carefully, if they could get a private phone, just for the two of them.
He had frowned.
“During the truce, every unfamiliar number has to be routed through secure comms. If you need something, call the command center. The man on duty will patch you through. I can’t break line protocol for household calls.”
She had believed him.
Then Bianca took over secure communications as the Ferraro family’s official liaison. Dante gave her preliminary screening authority over all incoming calls; only internal bosses and the heads of allied Families could bypass her.
From then on, Bianca decided which of his wife’s crises were worthy of being passed on to the head of the Family.
Dante replied to the message before looking back at Elena.
“What did you say?”
Elena looked at his face and felt the sudden, wearying urge not to repeat herself.
It didn’t matter how clearly she spoke; her words had to pass through Bianca first. How much of the truth Bianca chose to relay, and how she chose to rewrite it, all depended on her mood.
“Nothing.”
She turned to go to the bedroom, but Dante rose and wrapped his arms around her from behind, his forehead resting against the curve of her shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
Elena stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you upset because I didn’t come to the clinic?”
His tone was casual, as if he were placating a child who didn’t understand the rules.
“Yesterday was the ten-thousandth day since Bianca and I met. Her entire family was there, plus bosses from several districts. It was also her first official appearance as liaison. I couldn’t just leave and make our allies think the truce was compromised.”
Only then did Elena understand.
He’d seen her messages as a play for attention. Bianca had probably watered down “termination” to a routine checkup.
“I’m not upset. Tomorrow I’m going to find a committee witness—”
“The districts have been unstable,” Dante cut her off, his voice turning colder. “Don’t be like Bianca, trying to strong-arm people with your emotions every time something happens.”
He let her go and went back to the sofa, lowering his head to straighten his cuff.
“I have meetings all night. I already made time to come back and check on you. You’re the wife of the Don, not some little girl who needs to be coddled. Stop making a scene.”
He picked up his keys and left.
Elena stood frozen in place and let out a single, humorless laugh.
To him, her every reaction was just “making a scene.”
He hadn’t even taken her threat to end the marriage seriously.
Early the next morning, Elena met with a lawyer familiar with both civil divorce and the Family’s internal protocols.
The lawyer drafted two documents. One terminated their marriage. The other relinquished the privileges of the Don’s wife and permanently removed Elena from the De Luca family protection roster.
Elena asked for none of the Family’s money and made no claim on any of its businesses. She kept only her engineering license, her salary, and the assets she had owned before the marriage.
Once both parties signed the withdrawal document and it was entered into the records of the Five Families Committee, Dante would have no authority to order her back. The committee, recognized by all five local Families, served as the final arbiter for truces, identity withdrawals, and internal judgments.
The lawyer drafted the documents that afternoon.
Elena read through them line by line, sealed them in an envelope, and delivered them to Dante’s command center herself.
She hadn’t even reached the stairs when Bianca came out to meet her, a smile playing on her lips as she blocked the path.
“Elena, are you here for Dante? He’s in a meeting with the bosses, but I can give it to him for you.”
Elena handed her the envelope.
“Please make sure he gets this.”
Bianca opened it right there, pulled out the papers, and skimmed them, her hand flying to her mouth in mock surprise.
“If you want Dante’s attention, threatening to leave the protection roster isn’t the way. He hates it when people use Family rules against him.”
“At the last gathering, I deliberately let some guy ask me out just to see if Dante would get jealous. He was furious. I had to talk him down for ages before he let me keep running secure comms. Take it from me—don’t try this.”
Elena said nothing.
Bianca sighed.
“Fine, I’ll take it in. But if he gets angry, don’t blame me.”
She turned and went upstairs.
A few minutes later, she returned with the papers.