Chapter 5

I looked up at the wedding photo that Andrea and I had taken inside Tessaria Cathedral, hanging on the wall in the foyer. I took out my phone and called Andrea. "What are you doing, Andrea?"

Andrea's deep voice carried a hint of warmth. "I'm thinking of you, Amore."

I chuckled bitterly, thinking it was such a shame that the very last thing he ever said to me was another lie.

I spent those few hours removing every trace of myself from the villa. I neatly put all the jewelry and gifts Andrea had given me in the closet. I burned everything else that belonged to me. I took only one suitcase filled with the essentials.

I placed my hand over my still-flat belly as I stood in the living room of the villa. I then looked down and whispered gently to the little one growing inside me, "I'm so sorry, but even if it's just the two of us, I'll make sure you grow up surrounded by love."

I had two hours left. I left my phone—which was still constantly buzzing with messages—on the dining table and grabbed some cash. I then walked out the door and hailed a cab to Tessaria Cathedral. I didn't go there for any particular reason other than to get one last look at what had destroyed my five-year relationship.

I got out of the cab as soon as it pulled up along the street outside the cathedral. I walked slowly down the cobblestone path and crossed through the main area, weaving through tourists, until I paused at the side chapel.

That was when I caught sight of them.

Andrea was wearing a dark gray suit, looking no different from the man I remembered five years ago. He stood beside Emilia, who was wearing a white wedding dress. He lowered his head and gently nuzzled her forehead with his nose, while Emilia wrapped her arms around his shoulders, rose onto her toes, and kissed him on the chin.

I was suddenly reminded of five years ago, when Andrea had proposed to me. That evening, Andrea had gotten down on one knee and looked up at me with a sparkle in his eyes. He had said, "I swear you're the only one I'll love for the rest of my life, Carina."

I didn't know what my expression had looked like back then, but perhaps I had looked just like Emilia did now—grinning from ear to ear as I stood on tiptoes, feeling as though I had the whole world in the palm of my hand.

In that instant, the camera shutter clicked, capturing their smiles and also pulling me back to reality.

I turned around and walked back the way I came, only to find that rain had started pattering down outside the cathedral. I dragged my suitcase along and climbed into the backseat, then looked out through the rain-streaked window.

I spotted Andrea off in the distance. Emilia was pulling him along as she ran out of the cathedral's main hall. He stumbled behind her for a moment, but the smile never left his face. He opened an umbrella and carefully protected Emilia from the rain before helping her into the black sedan I knew so well.

Andrea, as though feeling a sudden tug of intuition, looked up sharply in my direction.

Through the curtain of rain, I noticed the utter shock written all over his face the moment our eyes met.