Chapter 4

"What the fuck did you just say? What the fuck is she doing there?"

A rush of cold unease hit Rafael's chest, followed by overwhelming suffocation.

Before he could process his thoughts, his phone started buzzing violently. He snatched it up, silently praying that it might be me. But it was Natalia.

If it were before, her call might have stirred only helplessness and weary indulgence. But now, all he felt was irritation and bitter disappointment.

She could barely hide the delight in her voice as she said, "Rafael, I heard the wedding hit a snag…"

Rafael could feel his temples throb. Looking around, he could see the glee written over every guest's expression.

"Natalia, I don't have time—"

"I can step in!" she anxiously cut him off. "I'm right outside the chapel. The Holloways can't afford this humiliation, and I can—"

He hung up on her with a hard slap of his phone.

In that split second, he understood exactly how I must have felt, standing at the altar. This was what it felt like to be abandoned and left behind.

"Matteo! Cancel the wedding!" His roar snapped the stunned Matteo back to life.

"What? But Don Holloway, the guests…" Matteo's jaw dropped at the command.

"I said, cancel it! Contact every airport and port, and find Gianna now!" he snarled, tearing the ring from his finger and hurling it to the floor.

When he stormed out of the chapel, Natalia stood by the door in a wedding gown as her pale cheeks flushed pink in the morning sun.

She reached for his sleeve. "Rafael, I can—"

"Get out of my way!" He shoved her aside so hard she fell straight into the flower beds.

Wretched, she sat there in the crushed roses with disbelief written all over her face. "H-How could you…"

But Rafael didn't have a second to waste on her. All he could think about was why I'd gone to the ob-gyn.

For a pregnant lady to be at the ob-gyn, perhaps I was there for just a routine checkup. But no matter how hard he tried to shove it away, another thought kept clawing back into his mind.

"Ouch! My chest hurts!" Natalia whimpered pitifully and pressed a hand to her chest, using her favorite trick.

His steps halted briefly before he kept walking and barked. "Find her a doctor!"

"Rafael!" Natalia's cry faded behind him.

He threw himself into the car and sped toward the hospital his men had named. Along the way, he dialed my number over and over, but I never answered.

"Damn it!" He couldn't piece together where it'd all gone wrong when he'd handled everything so perfectly.

When he finally reached the hospital, the nurse I'd arranged was already there, waiting for him.

"Where is she?" Gone was every trace of his usual calm as his suit was a mess. His eyes pinned deadly on the nurse, burning holes through her skull.

"Ms. Rossetti had me give you this."

He took over the pregnancy test sheet from the nurse and skimmed through the lines. "17 weeks pregnant… Elective termination of pregnancy…"

"No way!" His furious roar rang through the hospital. No one dared make a sound under the weight of that fury.

Again and again, he punched my number into his phone.

"The number you've dialed is no longer in service." The cold, mechanical voice sounded cruelly polite in the silent hallway.

Matteo came sprinting in breathlessly. "Don Holloway, Ms. Rossetti boarded a private flight to Montrava this morning, and members of the Northern mafias picked her up at the airport!"

Hope flared in his eyes. "Get the car! I'm going to Montrava myself!"

But Matteo looked troubled. "Your father ordered a lockdown, so North Silenzio is enemy territory now…"

"Fuck enemy territory!" Rafael roared. "That's my wife! I can prove—"

He froze, realizing that he'd never given me that name. So now, I wasn't his wife, and our child wasn't his heir.

The family butler was trembling as he stepped forward and held a box. "Ms. Rossetti left this for you and said it's a wedding gift."

Rafael snatched it open to reveal the golden revolver. Its barrel was engraved with the day we first met, and it was now scored with 17 fresh hash marks.

They represented 17 unfinished weddings and broken promises, while I'd stood there waiting as he'd walked away.

Clutching the box, he collapsed to the floor, his head bowed in defeat.