Chapter 4

For the next few days, Alessandro waited for my apology.

This time, however, he made sure I knew exactly what he was doing while he waited.

Alessandro normally kept his private life away from cameras. Now photographs of him and Lucia appeared in every society column connected to the Moretti family.

Lucia leaving a Fifth Avenue jeweler with his hand at her back.

Lucia dining across from him at Le Bernardin.

Lucia stepping out of his armored car wearing his coat.

They were never intimate enough to prove anything.

They were only public enough to provoke me.

Alessandro wanted me to call, demand an explanation, and prove I still cared whom he touched and where he took her.

What he didn’t realize was that every photograph made me more certain I was doing the right thing by leaving.

His mother called two days before the Moretti Foundation gala.

“Eva, you’ll arrive at the estate by noon on Sunday,” Mrs. Moretti said without greeting me. “The wives of our capos will expect the future Donna to receive them.”

“I won’t be available.”

She gave a quiet, contemptuous laugh.

“What has Alessandro done now?”

“This has nothing to do with him. You’ll need to find someone else to host.”

“You spend your days in a laboratory wiring machines to broken bodies, and somehow you believe that makes you too important for this family.”

She had never considered my research a real career.

To Mrs. Moretti, I was an outsider who wore a lab coat instead of a family name.

Lucia, meanwhile, held an ornamental position coordinating dinners for the Moretti Foundation, yet everyone treated her opinions as sacred because her father had once been Alessandro’s consigliere.

“Lucia understands our world,” Mrs. Moretti continued. “You should be grateful Alessandro is willing to teach you.”

“Then let Lucia host.”

Silence fell over the line.

“You’re throwing another tantrum.”

“No. I’m telling you I won’t be there.”

I ended the call before she could answer and blocked her number.

The following days passed quickly.

I transferred my ongoing projects to a trusted colleague, archived years of research data, and met with the Zurich relocation team.

My final obligation in New York was my award ceremony at the Grand Regent Hotel.

That night, the International Society for Neuroprosthetics presented me with its Innovation Medal.

My parents and brother had all come to celebrate.

Only Alessandro’s chair remained empty.

No one asked where he was.

When I walked onto the stage, my family rose with the rest of the ballroom and applauded until I had to blink back tears.

Afterward, while they spoke with my colleagues, I carried my flowers toward the hotel lobby.

Applause erupted from the adjoining ballroom.

The doors stood open beneath a gold sign bearing the Moretti crest.

Inside, Alessandro’s inner circle had gathered for a private reception before Sunday’s foundation gala.

Lucia stood in the center of them.

She wore a black evening gown and held an emerald brooch against her chest.

I recognized it immediately.

The Moretti Emerald had belonged to Alessandro’s grandmother. The reigning Don traditionally presented it to his wife before her first official banquet as the family’s Donna.

Alessandro had once placed it in my palm and promised I would wear it after our wedding.

Lucia smiled up at him.

“Since Eva won’t be hosting on Sunday, let me stand beside you. The family needs a woman who understands its traditions.”

His men began murmuring their approval.

“She already knows everyone.”

“Lucia was born for it.”

“Put the emerald on her.”

Alessandro frowned.

Then he saw me beyond the ballroom doors.

His expression eased, almost as if he had been waiting for this exact moment.

Then my phone vibrated. It was Alessandro’s message.

Come here and apologize. I’ll tell her no.

I raised my eyes.

Alessandro gave me a small, confident nod. He was offering me another path back to him.

All I had to do was cross the ballroom, surrender in front of his family, and admit that he had won.

He waited for me to cry.

To demand that Lucia put down the emerald.

To prove that I still wanted the place beside him badly enough to beg for it.

I silenced my phone.

Then I adjusted the flowers in my arms and turned away.

The certainty vanished from Alessandro’s face.

Behind me, the ballroom remained silent for several long seconds.

Then his voice carried clearly through the open doors.

“Wear it, Lucia.”

Cheers filled the room.

I heard Lucia laugh as the Moretti family welcomed her into the place that had once been promised to me.

But even as I walked away, I could feel Alessandro’s gaze burning into my back.

Outside the hotel, my mother joined me and slipped her arm through mine.

“Everything ready for Zurich?”

“Yes.”

“Then we should get you to the airport. Your flight leaves at midnight.”

I looked back once.

Through the ballroom doors, Lucia stood beneath the chandeliers wearing the Moretti Emerald.

Alessandro wasn’t looking at her. He was still staring at me.

I had planned to say goodbye to him tonight. I wanted to end our three years together with honesty and dignity.

But Alessandro had chosen not to attend my ceremony.

So there was nothing left to say.

I was done with Alessandro Moretti.

My phone vibrated.

Two messages from Alessandro appeared.

Come back and apologize. I’ll take the emerald from Lucia, and we can forget any of this happened.

Once you’ve learned to be the gracious, obedient woman a Don needs, I’ll marry you and make you my Donna.

For three years, every fight had ended with an apology long enough to convince him I would never leave.

Not this time.

I blocked his number and climbed into the waiting car.

By the time Alessandro realized there would be no apology, my plane would already be over the Atlantic.