Chapter 2

Elena's POV

Tears streamed down my face as I wandered the streets, feeling like a shell of myself.

Memories of the past seven years came flooding back. The 29th time Stefano and I fought, I sat by the side of the road and cried all night.

By morning, he'd finally found me, a diamond hair clip in his hand. He tucked it into my hair and gazed at me with tenderness.

"Elena, come on. Don't be mad at me. Let's go home," he'd said.

The 39th time we fought, I packed a suitcase and spent the night away, planning to catch a flight out the next morning.

Stefano had a whole lineup of designer bags brought to the airport and intercepted me outside the terminal.

"Come home."

I'd always thought he only picked fights with me because he had a bad temper. Even so, he'd always find some way to make it up to me.

I'd convinced myself that he still loved me. Why else would he go to such lengths to get me these things whenever we fought?

I never imagined those gifts were knockoffs he'd had his people pick out for me.

I sank to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

For seven whole years, I'd never once doubted Stefano's love for me. He always looked at me with such tenderness, as though he could never bear to let me go.

He used to tell me, "Elena, those things might seem dazzling to everyone else, but you'll always outshine them in my eyes."

I had never questioned his love for me, not even after he picked fight after fight with me.

…

Once I'd cried myself out, I went home to pack my things. What I didn't expect was to find Stefano at home with Martina.

They sat at the dining table, with an elaborate candlelit dinner laid out before them.

Martina looked at me and said, "Elena, I thought you weren't coming back. You sure looked like you meant it when you walked out earlier. You ruined my dinner, so Don Conti said he'd make it up to me. That's why he brought me back."

I ignored her taunt and went straight to my room to pack my things.

But no matter where I looked, I couldn't find the bracelet my Madre had left me. It was a keepsake from her, a family heirloom passed down through generations of the Santoro family.

I stormed back out and confronted them. "Did you take the bracelet my mother left me?"

Hearing that, Martina lifted her arm, and there it was. The bracelet Mamma had left me was now wrapped around her wrist.

"This one?" Martina asked. "I just said I liked the vintage style, and Don Conti decided to give it to me."

I lunged forward, desperate to get it back. "Stefano Conti! How could you give that to her? That's mine!"

But before I could reach Martina, Stefano caught me.

"It's just some worthless little trinket. Martina landed me a huge weapons deal. So what if she wears it?"

I yelled, "But it's mine! My Mamma left it to me! You had no right to give it away like it was nothing!"

Stefano shoved me to the floor. "You just never stop lying, do you? If you really were the Principessa of the Santoro family, would you have put up with me testing you again and again?"

So that was what all the fights and knockoffs had been about. He'd been testing me all along, trying to find out whether I was really the Santoros' Principessa.

Even after he'd hurt me again and again, I had never reached out to my family. And once he decided I was a fraud, I was worthless to him.

Suddenly, I remembered the first time we met. Stefano had walked toward me without hesitation and said, "You're beautiful. I promise, I'll always be the one who stands by your side."

Now, he was loyal only to those he considered more valuable.