Chapter 3

The next day, Luca ambushed me outside my office building.

He flung the ring box at me.

"Had your fun? You didn't even make this big a scene when your mother was buried."

I was so angry my chest went numb.

Luca stared at me, waiting for those words to cut me so deep I'd lose control like I used to.

But I steadied my breathing. "My lawyer already sent you the papers ending the engagement."

Luca glanced at the copy in his hand and tore it in half right in front of me.

"Who are you trying to scare with a few sheets of paper? Our families agreed to this marriage. It doesn't get canceled just because you say so. You've already had one broken engagement and made yourself a joke in front of every family. Who else would want you? I'm marrying you as a favor to the Moretti family."

Marco and Dante showed up soon after.

Marco threw a new wedding schedule at me.

"We're redoing it tomorrow. You'll also apologize to Sophia in public and promise you won't throw any more tantrums in front of the capos."

Dante leaned against the armored car, sizing me up with a sneer.

"You'd better count your blessings. Lose Luca, and the only company you'll ever have is shipping containers. Keep it up, and you'll die in that apartment with no one to claim your body."

I looked at them.

"Whether I live or die is none of your business."

Marco's face went dark.

"We're your brothers!"

I answered coldly, "Brothers? Aren't you just Sophia's two guard dogs?"

The words were barely out of my mouth when Sophia stepped out of the car.

Her eyes were red, and she was holding my veil in her arms.

"Emilia, yell at me if you want, but don't yell at Marco and Dante. They're only being harsh because they worry about me being alone. You're their own flesh and blood, but they're all I have. Are you going to take away the little care they give me too?"

The second Sophia reached me, her ankle suddenly gave way, and she sagged into Luca's arms.

My veil slid out of her arms into the dirty snow by the curb, and her heel ground a black mark into it.

Luca held her tight, Marco steadied her arm, and Dante crouched to check her ankle. They all left my veil lying in the slush.

Sophia leaned against Luca's chest, crying so hard her shoulders shook.

"Emilia must really hate me. Maybe I should drop out of the wedding. I won't be a bridesmaid, and I won't wear the family crest. As long as it makes Emilia happy, I'll even leave New York."

Dante shot to his feet.

"Emilia, happy now? You won't stop until you drive Sophia to her death, will you?"

Marco stepped forward and blocked my way. "If Sophia loses so much as a hair, there will never be a seat for you at the council table again."

Luca picked Sophia up and shot me a cold look.

"Tomorrow at ten, we do it over. You get on your knees and apologize to Sophia, and I'll think about still marrying you. Otherwise, don't ever set foot on Romano territory again."

I bent down and picked up the trampled veil.

Snow seeped through the lace and between my fingers until my knuckles went stiff with cold. I still balled it up and threw it in the trash.

"Then I won't."

Luca scoffed. "Who are you kidding with this act? When the time comes, don't kneel outside my club crying. It's disgusting."

I didn't look at him again.

That afternoon, I finished handing off my work and left all the European market files I'd put together for the Moretti family in the office.

The files didn't belong to me, but every port, carrier, and quote in them was something I'd chased down through sleepless nights.

Marco and Dante had never really looked at them. They only said that once I married Luca, their people would naturally take over all that busywork.

My flight had been moved up to the next morning.

When I got back to the apartment, Nico, Luca's right-hand man, dropped off a new schedule.

Three pages of notes, every one of them Sophia's demands.

Sophia felt insecure, so her seat at the head table had been moved to Luca's right, and I'd be sitting on the outside.

At the very end was a note in Luca's handwriting. It read, "Stop throwing tantrums.

"Bring breakfast to the rehearsal tomorrow.

"Sophia only eats the sandwiches you make yourself."

He still took me for the woman who'd cave for a box of chestnut cream rolls.

I fed the schedule into the shredder.

That night, Luca told my two brothers in the group chat, "Ten tomorrow. She'll be there."

Marco replied, "Freeze her accounts and pull her guards. She'll fall in line."

Dante added, "Someone as stubborn as her won't learn who to bow to until we break her."

They wanted to cut off every way out for me. They had no idea I wasn't going to stay in their territory anymore.