Chapter 3

I thought I would be taking a lot with me, but when I finished packing, everything that truly belonged to me could not even fill a single suitcase.

Several jewelry boxes lay scattered nearby, filled with the pieces Lorenzo had given me over the years.

After he became Godfather, he often took me to family banquets. Before every event, he would personally put my jewelry on for me, then take my hand and lead me into the ballroom.

Back then, he would always lean down and whisper, “Stay by my side, Evelyn. No one will ever dare look down on you.”

Now, those expensive pieces were stuffed into a cardboard box. The necklaces and earrings tangled together, and a few of the gemstones still had stains that would not come off no matter how much I wiped them.

I looked at them and suddenly found it amusing.

Back then, he had personally chosen the most expensive jewelry for me, afraid that someone might look down on me if I wore anything less. Now, I did not even have the right to keep them.

I moved the jewelry boxes aside and found several access cards to private clubs underneath.

Whenever Dario took me to clubs owned by the family, he always complained that the guards took too long checking people at the entrance.

Once, I had not even been waiting for a full minute when he simply shoved his access card into my hand.

He instructed the guards right in front of everyone, “Remember her face. From now on, she doesn’t need a reservation when she comes here.

“And she never waits outside!”

Back then, they could not even bear to let a single door stand between me and whatever I wanted.

Now, every card had a note from the butler stuck to it.

[Access revoked. Please return immediately.]

I placed the cards in the box with the jewelry, intending to return everything to the butler.

When Lorenzo came downstairs with Sophia, he happened to see me putting the last jewelry box inside.

He came to a stop. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

Previously, whenever I finished wearing those pieces, I would carefully wipe each one clean and put it back exactly where it belonged.

I had also kept those access cards safely in my wallet at all times. Now, every one of them was sitting in a cardboard box.

Lorenzo’s expression quickly turned cold. “You’re already rushing to return everything I gave you just because I asked you to move rooms? Evelyn, besides throwing tantrums, what else can you do?”

Back then, he could have an entire collection brought to the manor just so he could personally pick out the piece that suited me best.

Now, with Sophia standing beside him, even my returning those things was treated as another one of my tantrums.

I closed the box.

“Tell the butler to send me the bill for whatever I owe you. I’ll pay you back in full at the original price.”

“No one asked you to pay me back.”

He glanced at me, his voice turning colder. “Put everything back. And from now on, stop bothering Sophia over such trivial things.”

Sophia slipped her arm through his and gave it a gentle tug. “Lorenzo, the captain is still waiting for us at the dock.”

She smiled sweetly. “You promised you’d teach me how to pilot the yacht today. You can’t change your mind now!”

My hands stilled for a moment.

That yacht had been Lorenzo’s eighteenth-birthday gift to me. My name was engraved across the stern, and everything inside had been designed around my tastes.

When I first came to Sicily, I was terrified that my father’s enemies would find me. I barely dared leave the manor for a long time. The only place where I could truly relax was by the sea.

When Lorenzo noticed, he started taking me to the private marina and personally taught me how to pilot a yacht.

On my eighteenth birthday, he placed the keys in my hand.

“It’s yours. From now on, once we’re out at sea, even I have to take orders from you.”

For years afterward, we traveled to countless places along the Sicilian coast.

Little by little, the cabin filled with my favorite records, bottles of wine, and a long sofa where I could lie back and watch the sea.

Even after becoming Godfather, there were times when he would shut off his work phone and spend an entire day there with me.

It was because of those memories that, little by little, my heart began to lean toward Lorenzo.

However, every time I was close to making a choice, Dario would suddenly appear in front of me.

“If you choose him, does that mean you don’t want me anymore?”

Just that one sentence was enough to make me hesitate all over again.

I could not bear to hurt Dario, and Lorenzo always told me there was no need to rush.

Now, he was taking Sophia aboard the yacht that had been named after me.

He was going to personally teach her everything he had once taught only me, and he never even asked whether I was okay with it. It was as though whose name was carved into the stern had never mattered at all.

Sophia looked back at me, a victorious smile playing on her lips.

“Evelyn, you don’t mind, do you?”

I set down the cardboard box and wrapped my hand around the handle of my suitcase again.

“Of course not. I hope you two have fun.”

Then I walked past them without another word.