After Fifty Two Canceled Weddings I Walked Away

The fifty-first time Lorenzo stood me up at the altar, he was attending the Moretti Family's celebration for securing the North Harbor shipping route.

Sera had planned the entire evening for him.

Every guest who did not know the truth mistook her for Lorenzo's wife, the true matriarch of the Moretti Family.

"Don Moretti, North Harbor was the route Matteo wanted more than anything."

"It is only right that you and Mrs. Moretti accept tonight's toast together."

A chorus of agreement swept through the ballroom.

Lorenzo did not correct them. Instead, he let Sera take the chair at his right - the seat traditionally reserved for the wife of the Don.

I had been legally married to him for three years, yet our marriage had never been made public.

To everyone in the room, I was only his Underboss, stationed at the far end of the ballroom to watch every entrance and exit.

Crystal chandeliers glittered above a tower of champagne. Sera sat at Lorenzo's right hand.

I stood for four straight hours without so much as a chair.

When the celebration ended, I slipped out early to keep our relationship hidden and waited for him at the intersection behind the hotel.

An armored black sedan eased to the curb. The window lowered, revealing Sera asleep in the back seat.

Lorenzo looked at me with tired eyes, his tone as matter-of-fact as ever.

"A waiter dropped a glass. The sound took her back to the night Matteo was shot."

"I need to take her to the old house first. Ride in the guards' car behind us."

I lowered my eyes and said nothing.

Lorenzo's private car was reserved for members of the Moretti Family.

Two years ago, when he had just become Don, several North Harbor Capos had joined forces against him.

I spent six hours in a blizzard negotiating the cease-fire that secured his first foothold there.

By the time I left the warehouse, my shoulder wound had split open, blood soaking through my shirt.

Lorenzo was sitting inside that same car. But all he did was reach through the open window and squeeze my hand.

"You can handle this, Erin. You always have."

"The Family doctor is on his way. I have to take Sera home first. She cannot bear the sound of gunfire."

The doctor was trapped outside the city by road closures that night.

I waited alone in the abandoned warehouse for four hours, shaking so hard from the cold that I could no longer hold my gun.

When I finally made it home, Lorenzo stayed beside me all night.

He changed my dressings himself, kissed my fingertips, and told me how sorry he was.

I knew his love for me was real.

But whenever Sera and I needed him at the same time, I was always the one he left behind.

I forced a small smile and kept my voice steady.

"Are you still coming to our wedding tomorrow?"

Lorenzo hesitated.

"Sera is in bad shape tonight. I need to stay at the old house with her."

"I will not have time to prepare in the morning. Can we postpone it?"

Cold spread through my chest, but I nodded anyway.

"All right."

After a pause, I took a set of papers from my handbag and held them through the open window.

"Then sign these Family documents for me."

Perhaps guilt made him careless. Lorenzo did not even glance at the cover before taking my pen and signing his name.

The Moretti crest was stamped in black at the lower right corner of every page.

When he handed the papers back, his voice softened.

"I will bring you a chestnut cake from that bakery in Little Italy tomorrow."

"Don't be angry with me, Erin."

I looked at him.

In the end, I said nothing.

The armored sedan merged into the New York night, its taillights disappearing within seconds.

...

Lorenzo returned to the estate around noon the following day.

He shrugged off his rain-darkened overcoat and pulled Matteo's pocket watch, which Sera had left behind, from one of the pockets.

Then he stopped. His eyes found mine in the mirror as I sat at the edge of our bed.

"What did you have me sign last night?"

I looked up. A complicated emotion flickered across my face before I smoothed it away.

"You did not ask when you signed. Why remember now?"

"Sera was shaking so badly that I could not focus on anything else."

He crossed the room, crouched in front of me, and took my hands.

"Besides, you are my wife. Why would I ever think you would use a piece of paper to hurt me?"

I dropped my gaze, hiding the ache in my eyes.

"What if they were divorce papers? What if I'd had you sign away every asset held by the Moretti Family?"

His grip tightened at once.

For the first time, alarm broke cleanly across his face.

"Do not joke about that."

He cupped my face and brushed his thumb beneath my eye.

"You know how much I love you."

"If you left me, I would lose my mind."

"If I had to choose, I would rather let you take every last thing the Morettis own."

The love in his eyes was real. There was no doubt in it.

I knew he meant it when he said he loved me. I knew he meant it when he said he could not live without me.

But my question the night before had been real too.

What Lorenzo had signed was a marital settlement and written consent for an uncontested divorce.

Five years at his side. Three years as his secret wife.

Lorenzo and I were finally coming to an end.