Shattered Vows: Call Me Auntie Now novel Chapter 8

Dante didn't come home that night.

When Quinn returned to the villa, she collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep.

In her dreams, she was thrust back to being fourteen years old.

She was crouching in her crude, makeshift art studio on the balcony, beaming with joy as she watched over the painting she was going to submit for a competition.

Her stepsister, Yasmine Yates, violently kicked the door open and stomped on the painting, completely destroying it.

"An illegitimate brat thinks she can paint? You think you deserve to compete against me?!"

Her tone was incredibly arrogant, vicious, and downright cruel.

With a lazy swipe of her arm, Yasmine knocked all of Quinn's brushes and expensive paints onto the floor, turning the room into a disaster zone.

"You little bitch! You're just as cheap as your mother! You were born to be trampled beneath my feet!"

"Don't you dare insult my mother!"

Quinn tackled her, viciously grabbing Yasmine by the hair and clawing her face with her fingernails.

While the two were brawling, her stepmother, Cynthia Yates, stormed in. Without asking a single question, she slapped Quinn hard across the face.

"You filthy bastard, how dare you hit Yasmine! Beg for forgiveness!"

Blood tricked from the corner of Quinn's mouth, but she kept her chin held high, absolutely refusing to yield. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

Cynthia dragged her by the arm, threw her into the dark storage room, and locked the door from the outside.

"Stay in there until you admit you're wrong! You're not getting a bite of food!"

Quinn curled up on the cold floor, her stomach cramping from severe hunger, tears streaming down her face.

The dream shifted.

A fifteen-year-old Dante appeared. Tall and broad-shouldered despite his youth, he carried an air of unmasked, aristocratic arrogance.

He marched into the Yates estate with a cold face and demanded, "Quinn hasn't been to school in three days. Where the hell is she?"

Intimidated by the formidable status of the Hayes family, Cynthia pulled a sour face but obediently ordered the maids to release Quinn, immediately allowing her to return to school.

When Quinn walked out, she was covered in dirt, the glaring handprint still visible on her cheek.

Dante frowned, his eyes locked onto her bruised face. He didn't ask what happened; he simply grabbed her hand and led her out of the house.

The moment he pulled the front doors open, blinding sunlight spilled over her, entirely dispelling the agonizing darkness that had consumed her.

Dante stared at her for a long time. Standing up, he placed a luxury designer shopping bag on her nightstand.

"This is for you."

Quinn glanced at it. It was a limited-edition designer handbag she had casually browsed online a while ago—a piece worth a fortune.

She had never been into luxury bags, but considering its exorbitant price tag, she didn't outright reject it.

To Dante, her silence was proof that his apology had worked.

"I have a morning meeting. Get some rest. I'll take you back to the hospital for a check-up in a few days."

After Dante left, Quinn lost all desire to sleep. She grabbed her phone and casually scrolled through her social media feed.

In less than a second, Vivienne's newly posted status caught her eye.

In the photo sat a limited-edition designer handbag—the exact same model Dante had just placed on her nightstand.

Next to it was a vibrant bouquet of blood-red roses, making the luxury bag look even more lavish and ostentatious.

The caption read: *Thank you, darling. Don't spend so much on me next time! Your love is worth more than all the luxury in the world. So grateful that my beginning was you, and my forever is you.*

Quinn laughed coldly. What a touching line: *my beginning was you, and my forever is you*.