He Broke Every Rule for Her, Except When It Came to Me Chapter 02

He Broke Every Rule for Her, Except When It Came to Me Chapter 02

Before dawn the next day, they dragged me to the Undercroft for the ancestor rites, wounds and all.

I stumbled forward, fell, and grunted in pain before I could stop myself.

Every eye in the room snapped toward me.

One of the family wives seized the moment.

“She dares make noise before the dead! She has no respect left for this family’s founders!”

The steward came forward with the Discipline Strap immediately.

I looked at Damiano on his own instinct—he sat at the head of the room, unmoved.

Crack! Crack!

Twenty lashes across my palms.

My hands went numb past feeling.

And then, of all moments, the offering table crashed over—a cat leapt off it, scattering candles and relics everywhere.

Someone shouted, “Who dares bring a cat into the Undercroft?”

Bianca went pale, rushing forward to scoop the animal up.

“I’m sorry, I—”

The same woman who’d just condemned me turned her fury on Bianca instead.

“Someone take her for punishment—”

Before the sentence finished, Damiano spoke from his seat.

“An animal doesn’t understand these things. No one needs to be punished for an accident.”

One sentence, and every charge against her simply dissolved into air.

I went numb. Cold to my core.

I’d made one involuntary sound and been beaten for it. Bianca’s cat had knocked over sacred relics and she walked away untouched.

The absurdity of it. The cruelty of it.

When everyone finally left, I tried to stand, and the world went black. I collapsed.

Somewhere far away, someone was shouting.

“Where’s the doctor? She’s going to pass out completely!”

“The doctor was already here—but the Don pulled him away. Said Miss Rossi’s cat was frightened and needed to be checked.”

In that fog, my heart went utterly still.

Apparently my life was worth less than her cat’s.

It was a maid, in the end, who couldn’t stand to watch, who quietly told Lady Sofia and finally got a doctor sent my way.

I didn’t wake up until the third day.

Knowing I only had a few more days left before I could finally leave, I started packing up my things—and then my phone rang.

My grandfather.

“Elena, sweetheart, your grandmother and I made your favorite apple pie. We’re driving up to celebrate your birthday.”

I hung up and ran for the front gate.

From a distance I could already see them—two old people standing outside the estate walls, surrounded by bags of homemade preserves and jam, beaming the second they saw me.

I reached to open the gate for them, and a gate soldier stepped in front of me.

“Ma’am, your family’s visitor clearance hasn’t cleared yet. House rules—they can’t come in until it’s approved. Please wait.”