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He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home
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On the night of my engagement party, Luca Moretti walked his childhood sweetheart over to me. "Clara accidentally stained her dress," he said. "Let her borrow yours for a while." He added, "Everyone knows you're the main character tonight. It doesn't matter what you wear." I didn't bother objecting. The gown was already on her. I stood behind the half-closed back door in a borrowed black dress while his men laughed over their whiskey. "Luca, is your real fiancee going to lose it?" someone asked. Luca barely looked up from his glass. "Anna is going to be a Donna. She needs to learn grace." Another man snorted. "Besides, she's an orphan. Where's she gonna go without you?" Luca smiled. "She can't leave me." They didn't know I had never been an orphan. I had buried the Valenti name for five years because I wanted Luca to love me as Anna, not as the Valenti daughter. My father is the Mafia Chairman, the man every family answered to when the highest table met. That night, I took off the Moretti emerald ring, left it beside the guest book, and called home. "Papa, I’m not marrying Luca. Don't come to Chicago."
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He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 9
A month later, Luca left Chicago.Maya told me he had handed the Moretti family's daily affairs to his uncle and gone to a remote estate in Sicily. Some said he was healing. Some said the Chairman had crushed him. Others said he had finally cut Clara off.I listened and said only, "I see."Maya went quiet. "You really let him go?"I stood in my new New York apartment while movers set down the last box of books. It wasn't in the Valenti estate or under any family shell company. I had bought it with dividends from my own fund. It had a river view and clean morning light."Yes.""What now?""Build the foundation first," I said. "Then learn how to live my own life.""And love?"I smiled. "Later."After the call, the butler delivered an envelope."Miss, Mr. Moretti had this transferred as his final letter."Inside were one sheet of paper and the emerald engagement ring. Luca's handwriting was messier than I remembered.[Anna, I wrote a hundred apologies, but none of them are worthy of what
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 8
Luca's apologies began to turn specific.He sent a box to the estate. No jewelry, no check, only a black leather notebook. My name was written on the first page, followed by things he had forced himself to remember.[Anna gets cold easily and doesn't like sitting near the door in winter.][Anna doesn't like sweet cream. She switched to black coffee last year.][Anna hates waiting, but she waited for me so many times.][Anna's grandmother's lace shawl wasn't an old thing. It was a memory from her family.]On the last page, he wrote one line.[I thought I knew you. I only knew the version of you who kept making room for me.]I closed the notebook and put it back in the box. The next day, Dante returned it.That afternoon, Clara came too. She wasn't allowed inside the estate, so she waited in the outer reception hall. Dante wanted to send her away, but I agreed to see her once.Clara looked worn down, clutching her purse strap with both hands. "Anna, I wanted to apologize."I sat across f
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 7
The day Luca was discharged, Clara posted another Story. In the photo, Luca leaned against a hospital pillow, pale, his left arm in a sling. Clara stood beside him with white roses.[He's always like this, putting everyone else's problems before himself. Hope he gets better soon.]The comments called Luca gentle, said Clara was lucky, and asked whether Anna Valenti had really broken off the engagement.Clara didn't answer. She only replied with a teary little smile emoji.Maya sent me the screenshot.[Is this woman still playing innocent?]I replied, [Ignore her.][You're seriously not mad?][No.]I meant it. Once, I would have wanted Luca to see how perfectly Clara used every fragile moment. Now I understood she had never been the real problem. Luca was the one who valued her fragility over my dignity.That afternoon, Luca called from an unknown number. "Anna, I'm in New York."I glanced out the window. The Valenti estate had three security posts before the inner gate. He wasn't getti
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 6
A week later, I received a call from Chicago City Hospital.The nurse said Luca Moretti was in the emergency room with a deep glass cut on his left arm. In the registration system, I was still his first emergency contact.I could have stayed away. But in that moment, I didn't think about love. I thought of the young man who had once handed me hot coffee on a snowy night.I told myself this would be the last time.When I arrived, Luca had just been stitched up, his left arm wrapped in gauze. The second he saw me, his eyes lit up like a man pulled out of the dark. "Anna."I stayed by the door. "What happened?"He looked away. "Clara's apartment was smashed up by her cousin's men. I went over. A glass cabinet fell."Of course. Even this last visit had Clara in it.A nurse came in to change his dressing. Seeing me, she smiled. "You're his fiancee, right? He was hurt and still gripping his phone, said he was afraid he'd miss your call."Luca's fingers curled slightly.After the nurse left,
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 2
Rain tapped the windows. Maya had made me cocoa and sat across from me in silence because there was nothing useful to say.At two in the morning, Luca called while I sat in Maya's living room. "Anna, you left the ring at the registration table." Luca sounded calm, almost amused. "I picked it up. I'l
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 1
Luca Moretti brought Clara Bell into the bridal suite of our engagement party while I was touching up my lipstick.His black jacket hung over one arm, his tie was loose, and he looked as if he had stepped away from a chore. Clara stood behind him in a white satin mini dress stained dark with red win
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 3
The next afternoon, Luca found Maya's apartment.He stood outside with a white paper bag from an old pastry shop, a black Bentley idling behind him. It was the same car that had once left me waiting alone on my birthday because Clara needed a ride.Maya crossed her arms in the doorway. "She doesn't
He Thought I Was an Orphan, Until I Went Home Chapter 5
Luca truly understood I wasn't coming back on the day our wedding should have happened.There were no flowers at St. Rosalia Chapel, no white-draped chairs, no priest waiting. The administrator handed him an envelope and said the venue had been canceled a week earlier.Inside was the seating chart I
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