The moment the car threw her through the air, Elena had only one thought: *Finally. A reason good enough to see my husband.*
But even after she woke up in the emergency room of a private clinic with twelve stitches in her temple, Dante, the head of the De Luca family, still hadn’t come.
Elena called his encrypted number. She heard the sound of a running shower, and then Bianca’s breathy laugh.
“Dante’s in the shower… Oh, wait. He’s handling Family business.”
“The clinic called about a car accident? You sounded fine, so I told him it wasn’t urgent.”
“You’re not actually going to cry, are you? I’ll be sure to remind him once he’s out.”
Elena’s nails dug into her palm, her grip tightening on the phone.
She thought of her birthday, when Dante had shut down an entire stretch of coastline to celebrate Bianca’s new role as liaison between their two families. Bianca had even put a birthday hat on her hunting dog. The next day, the tabloids ran with it: *Dante Throws Lavish Fireworks Display for Dog’s First Birthday.*
She thought of the night her appendix had ruptured. It was three in the morning, and she’d driven herself to the clinic alone. Dante never answered his phone. A thunderstorm had knocked out surveillance in the harbor district, so he’d stayed at an ally’s safe house to oversee Bianca’s security himself.
It wasn’t as if she’d never asked him about it.
Every time, Dante said the same thing. “I grew up with Bianca. She’s in charge of secure communications now. Don’t make this sordid.”
Five years of marriage. Five years of making excuses for his coldness.
It wasn’t that he lacked warmth.
He just refused to give any of it to her.
Elena walked to the nurses’ station, retrieved her phone, and typed a message.
[I’m at the clinic. I’m terminating the pregnancy.]
A long time passed before the screen finally lit up.
One word.
[Received.]
A child would mean their name in the De Luca family records, binding them both forever to a system where a wife’s emergency calls could be screened and ignored.
Elena stared at the word on her screen and signed the consent form for the procedure.
He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 03 Elena took the documents and flipped to the last page. A signature was already there. *Dante De Luca.* The handwriting was heavy, the stroke unbroken, as if the person signing hadn’t bothered to read a single word. Bianca watched her, a smug little smile
He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 03 Read Post »
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
He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 02 Read Post »
He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 01 The moment the car threw her through the air, Elena had only one thought: *Finally. A reason good enough to see my husband.* But even after she woke up in the emergency room of a private clinic with twelve stitches in her temple, Dante,
He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 01 Read Post »
