The Girl He Saved, the Woman He Lost

I was Elena DeLuca, the orphan Lucian Vestri pulled out of a massacre.

The night two mafia families turned the docks into a graveyard, my parents died taking bullets meant for him. He carried me out in his arms, brought me back to the Vestri estate, and kept me by his side ever since.

For five years, he gave me everything. Protection. Privilege. A place no one else could touch. He made me the most untouchable woman in the city.

So I was foolish enough to believe I meant something different to him.

Then I told him I loved him.

He gave me silence.

And for the next three years, he gave me nothing else.

Until the day he went to another family to formalize his engagement.

His bride was Sofia Bellini.

The woman who once watched me humiliate myself for him.

That same day, another family placed a marriage alliance in front of me.

This time, I did not cry.

I did not beg.

I lowered my eyes and said, calmly,"If my marriage can repay the Vestris and serve the family's interests, then I'm willing."

The moment I was no longer his, Lucian went mad trying to make me stay.

I was Elena DeLuca, the orphan Lucian Vestri pulled out of a massacre.

The night two mafia families turned the docks into a graveyard, my parents died taking bullets meant for him. He carried me out in his arms, brought me back to the Vestri estate, and kept me by his side ever since.

For five years, he gave me everything. Protection. Privilege. A place no one else could touch. He made me the most untouchable woman in the city.

So I was foolish enough to believe I meant something different to him.

Then I told him I loved him.

He gave me silence.

And for the next three years, he gave me nothing else.

Until the day he went to another family to formalize his engagement.

His bride was Sofia Bellini.

The woman who once watched me humiliate myself for him.

That same day, another family placed a marriage alliance in front of me.

This time, I did not cry.

I did not beg.

I lowered my eyes and said, calmly,"If my marriage can repay the Vestris and serve the family's interests, then I'm willing."

The moment I was no longer his, Lucian went mad trying to make me stay.

...

The moment I said yes, the tension in the room broke.

Everyone looked relieved.

Lucian's mother, Isabella Vestri, took the marriage file from me, closed it, and smiled. "That's the right decision. Focus on the wedding. We'll handle the rest."

Beside her sat the steward from the other family, polished and polite, speaking in smooth, practiced phrases about respectability, compatibility, and what a good match this was.

I sat there quietly, listening to them discuss the date, the guest list, the announcement.

When they left, I picked up the file again.

The edge of the paper sliced