Chapter 3

Three days after me returning to my own family, my father asked me to attend a charity gala as the eldest daughter of the family.

I wandered through the crowd with little interest, finding the whole event incredibly tedious.

However, I spotted Amy there.

She was surrounded by daughters from minor families, chatting away merrily.

I turned to leave, but someone suddenly yanked me hard.

The wine in my hand splashed all over Amy.

Her dress was instantly ruined, and tears immediately welled up in her eyes.

She sobbed:

"Why……why won't you just leave me alone?"

My mind went completely blank.

"It's not my fault that Don Romano loves me……Why do you have to treat me like this?"

Before I could even defend myself, Amy's companions started chiming in, their voices overlapping:

"Everyone knows Amy and Don Romano grew up together! If you hadn't used your family's power to force Romano into this marriage, they would have been together by now!"

"Yeah, and now you're ruining Amy's dress at a gala……I've never seen such a shameless mistress!"

"Amy told us exactly how you ruined their relationship! You're just bullying her because she's an orphan!"

Their shrill accusations drew stares from the surrounding crowd.

Hearing their words, everyone began to point and whisper about me.

A chill washed over my entire body.

I was the one who had been robbed of the husband, yet here I was, being framed.

Faced with the piercing gazes of the crowd, I was left entirely defenseless.

People around started to talk about how Amy’s Family had sacrificed themselves to protect Romano Family.

They showed great empathy to Amy and despised me as they believed what Amy had said.

I went totally despair now for I knew no matter what I said, they would not trust what I said.

Unless……someone came out and cleared it all up for me.

At this moment, I still held onto a sliver of hope for Romano.

As long as he had a shred of conscience, he should step forward and clear my name.

Finally, Romano noticed the chaos and came out of the crowd.

"Amy, what happened?"

Romano's voice rang out.

He looked at Amy with deep concern, not even sparing a glance for me.

Amy said nothing, she just cried.

One of her friends stepped forward and declared:

"Don, this wicked woman not only used her family background to destroy your relationship, but also ruined Amy's dress."

“She’s just a shameless mistress. You should punish her for Amy so that she wouldn’t dare to bully Amy anymore.”

Hearing how they described me, Romano paused for a fraction of a second.

He looked down at Amy, but she just lowered her head guiltily and cried softly.

Romano stayed silent.

After a moment, he chose to turn to me and asked:

"What’s wrong with you?"

I froze.

He hadn't denied their words, nor had he asked for my words to figure out what had happened.

He just had silently condoned Amy spreading rumors about our relationship.

Romano had accepted the narrative that I was the unreasonable one, the one who had ruined their love.

Though to him, I was supposed to be his respected Donna, his future wife.

I stared at him coldly:

“Are you really just going to assume that I bullied her?”

His eyes flickered for a fraction of a second:

"Don't be so hysterical, honey. You always get so emotional and sensitive, which just make it impossible for us to have a normal conversation."

Romano reduced my perfectly normal reaction to a shortcoming in my own character.

Through his words, I had apparently become the crazy woman.

I stared at him quietly, realizing he was truly a bastard.

Knowing that arguing with him over this stuff was obviously pointless, I decided to leave.

Right then, both my phone and Romano's buzzed at the same time.

It was a reminder text from the bridal boutique about tomorrow's fitting.

Seeing the message, a look of smug realization crossed Romano's face:

"You caused this scene just to get me to accompany you for your dress fitting, didn't you?"

He took it for granted that I was simply trying to get his attention.

Romano looked at me with disapproval, and he couldn't hide his self-satisfied smirk:

"I already told you I'd be there for our wedding. Why did you have to make such a big fuss, you little brat?"

I tried to completely ignored him, but then I heard Amy said softly:

"Don, I still have to go for a check-up on my leg injury tomorrow."

I let out a cold scoff. Romano's expression froze for a moment.

Glancing at the people around us, he said to me impatiently:

"I'll take Amy for her check-up first tomorrow. If I have time left, I'll come to accompany you."

He still thought I desperately needed his company.

Seemingly feeling that I had made a fool of him in front of everyone, Romano’s tone carried a hint of warning:

"Stop making a scene, honey. You know you're going to be the Donna. I don't want my mood ruined by you right before the wedding."

His mood didn’t matter to me.

After all, my wedding had nothing to do with him.

I simply shrugged and walked straight out of the crowd.

I didn't want to lay eyes on him for another second and any interaction with him now made me feel absolutely sick.

Finally, the wedding day arrived.

Romano stood on the stage in his tailored suit.

His gaze fell intensely on the doors of the banquet hall.

He had thought he would remain calm, but his palms were sweating with nervousness.

Although a few families hadn't sent their top leaders to attend, he was already more than content.

Only then did he realize that he had been looking forward to the day to marry me all along.

Fleeting memories flashed through his mind in a chaotic rush.

His racing thoughts finally settled on one thing: I must be quite beautiful in the wedding dress.

He had waited for what felt like a century, but the doors remained completely still.

A bad premonition crept into his mind.

Then, in the next second, the doors were pushed open.

Romano let out a breath of relief.

But the moment he saw who was walking in, his face went completely pale.