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ella
14th. I stood on the freezing stone steps of the private pickup zone, watching
rest. Marco, my husband
my status as his wife. I pulled my sleeve down, concealing the jagged scar on my wrist-a permanent reminder of his "family law"-and slipped into the anonymit
When the polished brass doors parted, I stepped into the foyer. The black-and-white marble floor was littered
een-inlaid with a mother-of-pearl ph
deep, gravelly voice drifted from the l
e it!" Elena, my five-year-old
its neck. My breath hitched, the air suddenly turning to glass in my lungs. Three months ago, I had tried to buy that
to Adriana Rizzo-my hal
r than Mommy," Elena chirped, her innoce
umb fingers, the brass clasp clinkin
culated ice, flared with raw, undisguised annoyance. My early return from
tone flat, devoid of an
unicorn. "It's October 14th, Dante." My voice trembled, a
of the date. Adriana's party starts in an hour, and we are already late." He did
move toward me. She clung to Dante's leg, looking at me a
tired," Dante di
gar smoke lingering in the air. The heavy bronze door clicked shut, l
r. In her place, a strange, freezing calm washed over my veins. The girl who had been traded as collateral was d
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