He Let Me Bleed So I Let Him Go Chapter 04
Bianca shrieked and scrambled backward.
Dante finally exploded. He turned to the men guarding the door.
“Get her outside. She doesn’t come back in until she’s ready to apologize to the Ferraro Don’s daughter. Anyone who hesitates can hand over his district tomorrow.”
The men exchanged uneasy glances.
But an order from the Don was not a negotiation.
They moved forward and grabbed Elena by the arms.
“Our apologies, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me that,” Elena said through gritted teeth.
They practically lifted her off the ground and dragged her toward the door. As she struggled, her nails scraped long, white lines into the dark wood.
The club door was shoved open.
They threw her down the steps.
Her knees slammed into the concrete, the impact so hard she doubled over in pain.
Dante followed her out and stood over her, his shadow falling across her.
“Apologize. Or no one from De Luca lays a hand on you tonight. No one takes you home.”
This was more than just locking his wife out.
The head of the Family was personally suspending her protection, placing her in the sights of every enemy they had.
Elena couldn’t believe he would do this, so publicly, just to protect the Ferraro family’s pride.
She opened her mouth to speak, but a sharp, tearing pain ripped through her abdomen.
She looked down.
A dark red stain was spreading across her light-colored pajama pants. Blood trickled down her legs, dripping onto the pavement.
The light over the door made the red stark and undeniable.
She couldn’t hold on any longer.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was a faint whisper, almost lost in the night air. “I was wrong.”
Dante glanced down at her, then turned and went back inside the club.
The door clicked shut behind him.
Elena curled up on the freezing ground as her consciousness began to slip away.
Finally, someone came running out of a side door.
“She’s bleeding! Call the doctor! Get the car!”
When Elena woke again, she was back in the clinic.
The doctor was flipping through her chart, her voice grim.
“You just had major surgery two days ago, and then you were manhandled like that. Your chances of carrying a pregnancy to term again may be very low. Do you understand?”
A single tear slid from the corner of Elena’s eye and disappeared into her hair.
Just then, the door opened.
Dante walked in.
“What are you talking about?”
The doctor took off her glasses.
“You’re her husband? How could you let a woman who just had—”
“Doctor,” Elena interrupted softly. “I understand. Thank you.”
The doctor looked from Elena’s face to Dante’s, then said nothing more. She gave a few brief instructions and left the room.
It wasn’t as if Elena had never said anything.
When she found out she was pregnant, she had sent him a message. When she decided to terminate, she had told him. When she started hemorrhaging, the clinic had called him again and again.
He never knew.
Or rather, he had never cared enough to find out.
She turned her head on the pillow to face him.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Bianca?”
Dante frowned, but his tone was matter-of-fact.
“My mother’s heart condition is acting up again. Allies from out of state are arriving over the next few days, and the De Luca family cannot show any sign of internal instability. As soon as you’ve recovered, go to the estate. Handle the medical arrangements and the dinner reception.”
“Bianca is there more often than you are, and she’s better at putting my mother and our allies at ease. But you are still the Don’s wife. Responsibilities like these should not be handed off to the daughter of the Ferraro family.”
Elena froze.
For the past three years, every time his mother, Carmela, had a health crisis, Elena had put her own work on hold to manage her care, often staying at the estate for days at a time.
How had that become *Bianca is there more often* in his version of reality?
She remembered sitting by Carmela’s bedside, and the first thing the older woman would ask upon waking was always, “Why didn’t Bianca come?”
Bianca would send flowers, and Carmela would smile. “Bianca knows how to make this family feel at ease.”
Elena arranged the doctors, the medication, the meals. She stayed by the bedside for three days without sleep. Bianca showed up once, at the very end.
When Carmela woke, she took Bianca’s hand and told her she’d worked so hard.
In the De Luca house, Bianca was the cherished daughter, the one who could hold the alliance together.
Elena was just the outsider, expected to serve without complaint and ask for nothing in return.
Enough.
The committee’s confirmation would be finalized soon.
From now on, Bianca could have all those responsibilities.