The Wedding That Will Never Be

My fiance, Dante de Rossi, is the heir to a mafia family in Manhorne, and he loves me dearly. Yet, a month before our wedding, he says his family has arranged for him to have a baby with his childhood friend, Isobel de Luca.

Despite my refusal to agree to it, he brings it up daily and tries to push me into it.

Half a month before the wedding, I receive a pregnancy report. I find out that Isobel is over a month pregnant.

I have yet to give Dante my permission.

This is when I realize just how fragile our years-long relationship is.

I cancel the wedding and destroy everything he has ever given me. On the day of the wedding, I set off for Etolia to further my medical career. I accept a role with an international medical organization, severing all ties with the mafia.

From that moment onward, he and I no longer have anything to do with each other!

A month before my fiance, Dante de Rossi, and I were supposed to get married, he insisted on having a baby with his childhood friend, Isobel de Luca.

I refused to agree to it, but he kept bringing it up every single day and stubbornly tried to persuade me. It was as if he were presenting a business deal that had to be accepted.

Half a month before the wedding, I received an envelope from an anonymous sender. It contained a pregnancy report from a private hospital in Manhorne.

The report clearly stated that Isobel was five weeks and three days pregnant.

It was then that it finally dawned on me. Dante never truly considered seeking my permission. He'd already made up his mind and was just informing me, his fiancee on paper.

I sat by the apartment window, staring down at the busy streets as a chill sank deep into my bones.

The next day, I canceled our wedding venue reservation. I ripped up our wedding invitations and burned everything I had received from him, including the wedding ring and his handwritten wedding vows.

On what was to be our wedding day, I didn't show up. Instead, I boarded a plane to the city of Laran in Etolia. I joined an international medical center and began my new life as a medical researcher.

From that point onward, I cut off all ties with Dante.

…

"I've explained this to you countless times! Isobel can't hold out much longer. Her myeloma is now in the terminal stage. The doctor says she only has a year at most," Dante de Rossi said.

"Her last wish is to bear a child who can carry on her family name. I owe her my life. In any case, this isn't just about me wanting to repay that debt. This will also ensure the alliance between both our mafia families."

As usual, Dante was standing before me and justifying himself with that calm voice of his, but every word he said felt