After Dumping My Rich Ex, I Married the Don

"Three days from now is Elena's welcome ball.

"You're going to be there, on time."

That was the first thing Marco said when he walked in early the next morning.

His tie was gone, his collar was loose, and there was a fresh red mark on his collarbone.

When he saw me, he didn't look the least bit guilty.

I stared at the marks on his skin and felt foolish for what I'd done the night before.

"I'm not going."

He stopped and turned to look at me.

The next second, a black velvet box landed on the table.

My breath caught.

Inside was the emerald ring my mother left me.

On our wedding day, he'd said the ring was too valuable and would be safer in the family vault.

I believed him.

And now he was using my mother's keepsake to force me to accept another woman.

"After the ball, you'll get the ring back."

"My mother left me that ring."

"Which is exactly why you should go."

Marco's voice was flat.

"Elena's not well. She just got back to Marseille.

"Don't embarrass her at the ball."

I looked at him.

"You want me to tell everyone, in my own words, that I accept her as your woman?"

"Watch what you say."

"Am I wrong?

"She called you away on our anniversary, and you came home the next day with her marks on you..."

Marco's face went cold, and he cut me off.

"Elena just needs a place to stay right now.

"The Ferrante estate is huge. Are you saying there's no room for her?"

"I don't have room for her."

I turned to leave.

Marco grabbed my wrist and yanked me back.

"Lia, don't be childish."

"I told you, I'm not going."

He gripped my chin and forced me to look up.

"Ever since what happened a year ago, the Moretti family has been finished."

My fingers went cold.

"There's no one left to stand up for you.

"Lia, don't push me."

I went rigid.

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm reminding you to face reality."

His grip kept tightening.

Before everything fell apart a year earlier, I'd cut my finger while slicing fruit, and he'd chased me halfway across the estate with a first-aid kit.

Back then, he'd frowned and said, "Lia, when are you ever going to learn to take care of yourself?"

That one sentence had made me happy for so long.

After everything happened to the Moretti family, it all changed.

Now all he did was complain that I didn't do as I was told.

Marco let go.

"The night of the ball, I'd better see you there."

He turned and left.

At the end of the hallway, Marco’s brother Nico was leaning against the wall, smoking.

He wore a floral shirt with the collar hanging open, as if he'd just walked out of a private room at a casino.

When he saw Marco, he smiled.

"Did your wife upset you again, Marco?"

Marco shot him a cold look.

"Mind your own business."

Nico stepped aside to let him pass.

Once Marco was gone, Nico walked up to me, picked up a napkin, and gently dabbed at the red mark on my chin.

I turned my face away.

"Don't touch me."

He looked down at me and gave me a flirty smile.

"I just don't want people to see that and think the men of the Ferrante family can't even take care of their own wives."

I met his gaze, stone-faced.

Nico took a silver lighter out of the inside pocket of his jacket and pressed it into my palm.

"For you."

"What for?"

He leaned in, his lips barely brushing my earlobe.

"If you ever feel like burning this place down, you'll need a light."

I glared at him.

"You're insane."

Nico laughed and stepped back, like nothing had happened.

Late that night, I took the brass whistle out from the very bottom of my jewelry box.

When I was 12, I saved an injured boy at the old docks.

He was covered in blood, but he was still holding on tight to a blue-gray homing pigeon.

Before he left, he pressed the whistle into my hand.

"If you ever have nowhere left to turn, blow three short blasts and one long one.

"I'll come save you."

I blew the whistle.

Half an hour later, the blue-gray pigeon landed on my windowsill.

I tied a note to the band on its leg.

On it, I'd written, "Get me out of the Ferrante estate."

Just before dawn, the pigeon flew back.

There was a new note on its leg band.

It read, "Wait for me."