Chapter 2

Every fibre in my body told me not to go to him. After everything Nico had done to me, how did he still have the audacity to summon me somewhere on his wedding day? The least he could do was leave me alone today. He had already broken my heart in front of hundreds of people. Was that not enough for him? Did he really need to hurt me again?

What had I ever done to deserve this? I turned my phone facedown on the table and stared at the half-empty glass of champagne in my hand. Usually, I didn’t drink. I had never liked the bitter taste of alcohol or the way it made people lose control. But today, I needed something—anything—that could make me feel numb for a few minutes.

Or at least keep me sane. I lifted the glass and swallowed another mouthful. The bubbles burned the back of my throat, but I welcomed the discomfort. Physical pain was easier to understand than whatever Nico had done to my heart. Around me, the reception hall glowed with celebration. Hundreds of candles flickered beneath enormous crystal chandeliers. Soft music played while guests laughed, drank, and congratulated the newlyweds. Servers moved between the crowded tables carrying trays of champagne and expensive food.

Everyone was celebrating. Everyone except me. I sat alone at a table near the corner, scrolling aimlessly through my phone. I wasn’t even reading anything. My thumb moved across the screen while my mind replayed the ceremony.

Nico’s cold voice.

“I do.”

His hand around Bianca’s waist. His lips touching hers. I locked my phone and closed my eyes.

No. I would not go to him. I knew Nico would be furious when he realised I had ignored his message. He wasn’t accustomed to being disobeyed—especially by me. But for once, I didn’t care.

Not today. I was tired of obeying his commands. Tired of running whenever he called. Tired of allowing him to decide when I could see him, when I had to leave, and how much of him I was permitted to have. I was done.

Fifteen minutes passed. Then a familiar figure approached my table.

“Hi,” Leon said.

I looked up at him. “Hi.” Leon Contini was one of only two people who knew the truth about Nico and me. The other was Adrian Vislas, Nico’s closest friend and the most trusted man in his organisation. Adrian had been sent out of the country to handle some urgent mafia business, which was why he hadn’t attended the wedding.

Perhaps he was fortunate. At least he hadn’t been forced to watch Nico destroy me. Leon glanced around before taking the empty chair beside me. His usual easy smile was missing, and the seriousness on his face immediately made me nervous.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke. Then he leaned closer to my ear.

“You should go,” he whispered. “He’s waiting for you.”

My fingers tightened around the stem of my champagne glass. Hearing those words from Leon hurt more than I expected. He knew what his brother had done to me. He had seen me standing beside the altar while Nico married Bianca. How could he still take Nico’s side after witnessing all of that? I turned toward him sharply.

“What did you just say?”

Leon sighed and glanced toward the centre of the hall, where Nico and Bianca stood surrounded by guests.

“You heard me.”

“You want me to go to him?” I asked in disbelief. “After what he just did?”

“I’m not defending him, Arie.”

“It certainly sounds like you are.”

My voice had risen slightly, and a couple sitting nearby looked in our direction. Leon shifted closer, blocking their view of me.

“I’m trying to protect you,” he said quietly.

I gave him a humourless laugh. “From whom? Your brother?” His silence answered the question. The anger drained from me, leaving something colder behind.

Leon rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Please, Arie. Just go and hear what he has to say.”

“I don’t want to hear anything from him.”

“I know.”

“He married her, Leon.” My voice cracked despite my effort to control it. “He stood in front of everyone and married her. And now he expects me to sneak away from the reception because he sent me a message?”

Leon’s expression softened.

“I know what he did.”

“No, you don’t.” I shook my head. “You have no idea what this feels like.”

“You’re right,” he admitted. “I don’t.”

His immediate agreement silenced me. Leon had never tried to control me. He had never used fear or threats to make me obey him. From the moment we met, he had treated me like a younger sister—teasing me, protecting me, and making me laugh whenever Nico’s world became too heavy. That was why his request frightened me.

Leon would never blackmail me. If he was asking me to go, there had to be a reason.

“Please, Arie,” he said again. “For me.”

I studied his face, searching for some sign that this was another one of Nico’s games. But all I found was concern.

“What happens if I don’t go?”

Leon looked toward the entrance of the reception hall.

“He’ll come looking for you.”

My stomach tightened.

“He wouldn’t do that here.”

Leon returned his gaze to mine. “You know my brother better than that.” I did. Nico wouldn’t care that his bride, her family, and hundreds of guests were present. If he decided he wanted something, he would take it. And if I continued ignoring him, there was no telling what he might do.

I placed the champagne glass on the table.

“Fine.”

Relief appeared briefly on Leon’s face.

“But I’m only going because you asked me,” I warned him. “Not because Nico ordered me.”

Leon nodded. “I understand.” I wasn’t sure that he did. Without allowing myself more time to think, I stood and smoothed my emerald dress with unsteady hands. My legs felt heavier with every step as I moved away from the celebration.

The music faded behind me when I entered the west corridor. The laughter of the guests became distant, replaced by the sharp sound of my heels striking the marble floor. The corridor was almost completely empty. Dark wooden doors lined both sides, and the golden wall lamps cast long shadows across the floor. With every step, my heartbeat grew louder.

I had no idea what Nico wanted from me. An explanation? An apology?

Or another command? At the end of the corridor, one door stood slightly open. I stopped in front of it and curled my trembling fingers around the handle.

Before I could push it open, a cold voice came from inside.

“You’re late, Arielle.”

Nico’s voice travelled through the dimly lit room, cold and controlled. I pushed the door open. He was standing beside a tall window with his back partially turned to me. The distant lights of the city glowed behind him. His bow tie was gone, and the top button of his white shirt had been opened, but he still wore the same black tuxedo in which he had married my cousin less than an hour ago.

A glass of whiskey rested in one hand. A wedding band gleamed on the other. My gaze became fixed on that small circle of metal.

It shouldn’t have hurt this much. I had watched Bianca place it on his finger. I had stood only a few feet away when the priest declared them husband and wife. But seeing it again, here, with no crowd to hide behind, made everything painfully real. Nico belonged to her now.

He turned and examined me from head to toe.

“I told you five minutes.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. Of all the things he could have said, that was what mattered to him? Not Are you all right?

Not I’m sorry. Not even an explanation. I was late, and Nicholas Contini was displeased.

“Then you shouldn’t have waited.”

His eyes narrowed. I had seen that look terrify men twice my size. Once, it would have made me lower my voice and question every word coming out of my mouth. Tonight, I had nothing left to fear.

He had already done the worst thing he could do to me.

“Come inside and close the door,” he ordered.

“No.”

The word left my mouth before I could stop it. Something changed in his expression.

“What did you say?”

“I said no.”

My heart was pounding so violently that I could feel it in my throat, but I forced myself to hold his gaze.

“I came because Leon asked me to. I’m not staying.”

I turned toward the corridor.

“Arielle.”

The warning in his voice stopped me, but only for a moment.

“Go back to your wife, Nico.”

The word wife almost broke me. My voice cracked around it, exposing the pain I had fought all day to conceal. I hated myself for allowing him to hear it. Heavy footsteps crossed the floor behind me. Nico reached past my shoulder and pushed the door closed before I could escape. The sharp click echoed through the room.

He didn’t touch me, but the heat of his body surrounded me.

“Look at me,” he said.

I stared at the door.

“Arie.”

“Don’t call me that.”

The words came out as a whisper. Nico went still.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore.” I turned to face him. “You don’t get to stand there wearing another woman’s wedding ring and speak to me as though nothing has changed.”

His jaw tightened. “Nothing has changed.” For a second, I could only stare at him. Then something inside me finally snapped.

“Nothing has changed?”

My voice rose, shaking with all the anger and heartbreak I had kept buried through the ceremony.

“You married Bianca in front of me. You held her hand. You made vows to her. You kissed her while I stood beside the altar and applauded like a fool. And now you bring me into some hidden room at your wedding reception and tell me nothing has changed?”

“The marriage was necessary.”

“And that is supposed to make it hurt less?”

“It is an alliance between our families. Nothing more.”

“She is your wife!”

“And you knew I had obligations.”

“I knew you had obligations. I didn’t know one of them was marrying my cousin.”

Nico’s expression remained controlled, but a muscle moved in his jaw.

“You should have told me,” I continued. “You should have looked me in the eyes and told me what you were planning. Instead, you let me believe—”

My voice failed. I pressed my lips together, refusing to cry in front of him. Nico stepped closer. “Believe what?”

The question struck somewhere deep inside me.

“That I mattered to you.”

My answer came out so quietly that the silence nearly swallowed it. For the first time, something flickered in Nico’s eyes. It disappeared before I could understand it.

“You do matter.”

“No.” I shook my head. “People don’t do this to someone who matters.”

“You don’t understand the position I’m in.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand.” My eyes burned as the tears I thought I had exhausted began gathering again. “I don’t understand how you could touch me, hold me, and make me feel safe while planning to marry her. I don’t understand how you could watch me help Bianca choose her wedding dress while knowing you were the man waiting for her at the altar.”

I remembered every fitting. Every fabric sample. Every time Bianca had spoken excitedly about her mysterious fiancé while my family avoided answering my questions. Had Nico known where I was during those moments? Had he imagined me standing beside her while she prepared to take my place in his life?

A tear escaped and travelled down my cheek. I wiped it away angrily.

“I hate you,” I whispered.

Nico’s face hardened, but he didn’t move away.

“You don’t.”

“Don’t tell me what I feel!”

My palm struck his chest. He barely moved, but I pushed him again, months of confusion and days of unbearable pain exploding out of me.

“I hate you for making me believe you cared. I hate you for making me stand there today. I hate you because even after everything you’ve done, some pathetic part of me still—”

I stopped myself. Nico caught my wrists before I could push him again. His grip was firm but not painful.

“Still what?”

“Let me go.”

“Finish what you were saying.”

“No.”

“Still what, Arielle?”

My tears fell freely now.

“Some part of me still loves you!” I shouted. “Is that what you wanted to hear? Does that make you feel powerful? I still love you, and I hate myself for it.”

The words left me breathless. Nico stared down at me, his expression unreadable. I pulled my hands free and stepped away from him.

“You have already taken enough from me. I won’t let you take what little dignity I have left.”

“I never asked you to give up your dignity.”

“You summoned me to a hidden room on the night you married someone else. What exactly are you asking me to become?”

He didn’t answer. I laughed through my tears.

“Say it, Nico.”

His silence was answer enough.

“Your mistress,” I said. The word tasted poisonous. “That’s what you want. Bianca will stand beside you in public, wear your ring, live in your house, and carry your name. And I’m supposed to wait somewhere in the shadows until you decide you have time for me.”

“Do not call yourself that.”

“Why? Because the truth sounds ugly when I say it aloud?”

His eyes darkened.

“What exists between us has nothing to do with Bianca.”

“It has everything to do with her now.”

I moved toward the door again. This time, Nico caught my hand. The contact sent pain through me because my body still recognised his touch. It remembered comfort where there should have been disgust.

I looked down at his fingers wrapped around mine. The wedding band caught the light between us.

“Let me go,” I whispered.

“No.”

My eyes rose to his.

“You made your choice at the altar.”

“That was not a choice.”

“You said ‘I do.’”

“For the family. For the alliance.”

“And what am I supposed to be for?”

His grip tightened. His face was calm, but something dangerous burned beneath that control.

“For me.”

The answer stole the air from my lungs. Nico moved closer, his voice dropping until every word felt like a chain being placed around me.

“Bianca will have my name,” he said. “But you will still be mine.”

I stared at the man I had once loved with everything inside me. Then I pulled my hand from his.

“No, Nico.”

My voice trembled, but I didn’t look away.

“You don’t get to have us both.”