He Thought I Was Finally Learning. I Was Already Leaving. novel Chapter 9

It wasn’t as if I had never fought with Adriano over things like that. 

I had. More than once. But every time, he answered the same way-calm, dismissive, certain he was the reasonable one. 

“Serafina, don’t be petty. It’s only a drink.” 

“She works for me. If I reward her, that’s my business.” 

“You’re my wife. Act like it.” 

Back then, I swallowed every slight because he always wrapped it in the same excuse: this is for your own good. For a long time, remembering it made me angry. Now it only made me tired. I could hardly 

believe I had once been so easy to control. 

After I told him I hated bergamot, Adriano went still. 

Then panic flickered across his face. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I remembered wrong. Then tell me what you like.” 

I checked the files on the desk and said without looking up, “There’s no need.” 

But Adriano didn’t know how to stop once he decided he wanted something back. 

After that morning, Adriano kept sending gifts. 

First came a pearl-grip Beretta in a lacquered case, the kind of thing meant to look elegant and dangerous at the same time. Then a bottle of black orchid extrait so dense it sat in my throat like smoke. A few days later, an ivory crocodile evening clutch arrived, all gold hardware and sharp corners, beautiful in the way expensive things often are when no one has asked whether they should exist. 

Every few days there was something new, always costly, always carefully packaged, and never once 

anything I would have chosen for myself. 

I found myself wondering how a man could run an empire and still fail at the simplest act of listening. 

I got my answer at the end of the week. 

We were packing the last of the files when Adriano stepped in front of me holding a velvet box, looking almost pleased with himself. 

“This one,” he said, “you’ll like.” 

He started to open it, but I stopped him. 

“It’s the rose-gold watch from Laurent Veyne’s winter collection, isn’t it?” 

He blinked, then smiled in surprise. “See? We do know each other. How did you guess?” 

“Because Viviana posted it on her private account two months ago and called it the one thing she still 

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