I looked up at him, my tears blurring his figure. “You knew, didn’t you?” I whispered, my voice trembling. “You knew about the contract. About everything.”
He didn’t deny it. His shoulders sagged as he nodded, the weight of his confession pressing down on him. “Yes, I knew. I knew from the beginning.”
His words felt like another betrayal, another knife twisting in my already wounded heart. “And you didn’t say anything? You just… let me believe it was all real?”
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” he said, stepping closer. “And I didn’t think it would come to this. I thought Marco might…” He trailed off, his jaw tightening. “I thought he might learn to love you. But when I saw how he treated you, how he kept using you… I couldn’t stand by anymore.”
I shook my head, disbelief and anger swirling inside me. “You let me live a lie for years, Vito. You let me love a man who never loved me back. How could you do that to me?”
“I thought I was protecting you,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “At first, I thought I was doing the right thing. But I was wrong, Celia. I was so wrong.”