He Broke Every Rule for Her, Except When It Came to Me Chapter 06

He Broke Every Rule for Her, Except When It Came to Me Chapter 06

Two days later, Damiano finished a long day at the shipping office and came home to the Don’s wing.

The second he walked in, the silence hit him.

He always kept late hours, and no matter how late, there had always been a lamp left burning for him. Mine.

My habit, all those years.

The room had felt colder and colder every night since I’d been gone.

He flipped the light on.

Full brightness flooded the room, and the image of me walking out with my suitcase surfaced in his mind unbidden.

He pulled out his phone, opened our message thread.

Our last exchange was a week old.

[Are you coming home for dinner tonight?]

Nothing since.

Something felt off.

I used to tell him little things-what I’d seen that day, whatever nonsense crossed my mind.

Lately, nothing. Dead quiet.

He texted me.

[House rules-women aren’t permitted more than three days away.]

One second. Two. Thirty minutes. Nothing.

A flicker of irritation.

He shoved it down, told himself I was sulking.

The next day, in the living room, he sat with the paper and lifted his coffee cup.

One sip and his brow furrowed.

“Who made this coffee?”

A maid stepped forward nervously.

“I did, Don. Is something wrong with it?”

“The taste is off.”

She blinked, confused. The steward came over to explain.

“You’ve always been drinking the coffee the missus made-she got up at 3 a.m. every morning to fetch

spring water from the back hill herself, because she knew exactly how you liked it.”

“With her gone these past few days, this coffee’s been-

Damiano’s fingers stilled. He was quiet for a beat

“Tell my mother the Donna is excused from Morning Audience for now. Dinner too.”

The steward hesitated. “Don, aren’t you and the Donna already”

Before she could finish the word divorced, Bianca appeared in the doorway.

“Damiano, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? I made croissants this morning, just for you.”

She opened the container, held one up to his mouth.

He turned his head away.

“I already ate. Go ahead without me.”

She blinked, then smiled it off.

“Okay. Whenever you’re hungry, then.”

He didn’t answer. Just dropped the paper and went upstairs to change.

At noon, in his office at Vitale Shipping, Damiano stared blankly at a folder without reading it.

My silence had left something gnawing at him.

Finally he picked up his phone and texted me.

[Whatever you need, just say it.]

Then he called his assistant.

“Is Elena’s grandfather still at the hospital, or back at the precinct? If she reaches out to you, get him released immediately.”

The line went silent on the other end.

“Don… her grandfather passed away several days ago.” A pause.

“Her grandmother couldn’t handle the grief. She passed too.”

Bang. The air in the office seertied to vanish.

He shot up from his chair, knuckles white, the composure on his face shattering in an instant, his voice

cracking.

“What did you say?”

The assistant forced himself to continue

“The old man was already fragile the arrest and questioning were too much for his heart. His wife collapsed from grief right after.

Silence swallowed the room whole.

Damiano stood frozen, blood running cold through his entire body.

He hadn’t actually wanted the old man locked up.

He’d only meant to teach them both a lesson, planned to have him released in a few days.

But instead…

He sank into the couch.

That day, watching me pack my bags-a bad feeling had been crawling up his spine even then.

“Find the Donna. Now!”

That evening, exhausted, he came home to find a maid on a stepladder, carefully taking down our five-year-old wedding portrait from the wall.

The floor was scattered with picture frames, keepsakes, dishes I used to use.

His face went dark, the temperature in the room dropping with it.

“What are you doing? Who told you to touch her things?”

The maid startled at his sudden fury, dropping what she was holding.

“Lady Sofia told us to pack it all up, Don. She said you and the Donna were already divorced, so you wouldn’t

be needing any of it anymore.”

Damiano stood frozen, disbelief written across his face.

“What did you just say?”