In His Shadow, in His Bed

For eight years, I was the ghost in Lorenzo Valenti's empire. By day, I was his executive assistant, the engine of his criminal enterprise. By night, I was the most submissive bird in his gilded cage, and the nameless body in his bed.

I loved him with a devotion that bordered on madness, a foolish flame I'd nurtured since I was a scholarship student pulled into his orbit. I believed my quiet love could one day melt the ice around his heart. I was wrong.

The day his unforgettable first love, Isabella, returned, the man I knew vanished. The rare smiles once reserved for me were now all for her. My presence by his side was erased, replaced by hers. Even when she framed me, he believed her without hesitation.

He chose her, again and again.

I submitted my resignation. He signed it without looking.

He thought I'd crawl back, broken and begging.

He was wrong.

While he was busy playing house with his "cuore mio", I was quietly packing away my life, preparing to vanish from his world forever.

For eight years, I was the ghost in Lorenzo Valenti's empire. By day, I was his executive assistant, the engine of his criminal enterprise. By night, I was the most submissive bird in his gilded cage, and the nameless body in his bed.

I loved him with a devotion that bordered on madness, a foolish flame I'd nurtured since I was a scholarship student pulled into his orbit. I believed my quiet love could one day melt the ice around his heart. I was wrong.

The day his unforgettable first love, Isabella, returned, the man I knew vanished. The rare smiles once reserved for me were now all for her. My presence by his side was erased, replaced by hers. Even when she framed me, he believed her without hesitation.

He chose her, again and again.

I submitted my resignation. He signed it without looking.

He thought I'd crawl back, broken and begging.

He was wrong.

While he was busy playing house with his "cuore mio", I was quietly packing away my life, preparing to vanish from his world forever.

...

(Amelia's POV)

"Miss Evans, your termination papers have been signed by Mr. Valenti." The personnel director's voice crackled through the phone, laced with an unfamiliar hesitance. "But it seems he didn't realize it was your file he was approving. It was in a stack with several others. Should I... bring it to his specific attention?"

"No," I said, my voice unnaturally calm, belying the frantic beat of my heart against my ribs. "Don't mention it. Let it be."

"But Miss Evans," the director persisted, his tone dipping into something perilously close to pity, "you've been Mr. Valenti's personal assistant for four years. He's never been more efficient. He relies on you for everything. Are you absolutely certain about this resignation?"

A bitter, thin smile touched my lips. In the Valenti family, loyalty was a currency that depreciated overnight.

"No