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Chapter 3

Penulis: Noontide
Leticia's POV

After every postponed wedding, James usually disappeared for days to stay with Angelina.

I assumed this time would be the same and that I would not see him again before I left.

Unexpectedly, he texted me that night.

Do not take Angie's words to heart. She is kind underneath it all.

I glanced at the message and tossed my phone aside.

It rang again.

James was calling.

"Are you still angry, Leticia?" he asked. His voice sounded rough.

"Do you care?"

The days when a few soft words from him could melt me were gone.

"You are my fiancee. You are the Buono family's daughter. Of course I care."

"If you cared, you would be here with me instead of with Angelina, James." The words came out before I could stop them.

"Leticia..." He said my name gently, the way he used to when he wanted me to forgive him. "This is the last time. I swear. I will make it up to you."

Then he added, "Let us go out tomorrow. Just you and me. I want to spend time with you."

He hung up before I could refuse.

I did not refuse anyway.

It would be the last time I saw him before leaving. I wanted one clean farewell to the past.

The next day, James arrived to pick me up.

When I opened the passenger door, Angelina was already sitting there.

I looked at him. "You said it would be just the two of us."

A flicker of hesitation crossed his face. "Angie has been recovering. She wanted to get some air, so I brought her along."

I waited, thinking Angelina would move.

Instead, James said the words that tightened something inside my chest.

"Would you mind sitting in the back, Leticia? Angie gets carsick. She needs the front seat. You understand, right?"

I said nothing. I got into the back and closed the door.

As the car drove off, I watched them through the rearview mirror. James's hand rested near the center console. Angelina's fingers naturally covered his.

They seemed to forget I was in the car.

At the park, James did not take my hand. He followed Angelina like an attendant.

"This place is beautiful!" Angelina stood in front of a field of flowers and posed. "James, take pictures of me."

He complied with every request, adjusting angles, crouching down, taking shot after shot, then handing her the phone so she could choose the best ones.

Watching them together, I laughed quietly to myself.

I was the fiancee, yet I was the extra.

Only then did James remember me. "Leticia, come take a few pictures too."

Before I could refuse, Angelina called him away.

"James, this one makes me look awful. I want to go deeper into the woods. Come retake it for me!"

James looked at me. For one brief second, he seemed torn.

Then Angelina pulled him away.

"Wait here for me, Leticia. I will be right back."

Ten minutes passed.

Then fifteen.

I walked toward the trees with my heart pounding against my ribs. I told myself I was only checking on them.

Then I heard it.

A low, familiar groan.

I stopped behind a tree.

Angelina was pressed against the trunk, her legs wrapped around James's waist. His face was buried against her neck. His hands gripped her hips with a hunger he had not shown me in months.

I watched them lose themselves in each other.

There was a hollow place in my chest like an open wound. But this time, it did not ache.

It was numb.

I called Lucas.

"Come get me."

In the end, James still managed to destroy everything. The last shred of dignity between us was torn apart in those woods.
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  • Nine Times Too Late   Chapter 10

    Leticia's POVJames looked up, confusion filling his eyes.I turned toward Lucas."My greatest mistake," I told James while looking at Lucas, "was once believing you were worth it."James shot to his feet. "Leticia, you cannot—""I cannot what?" I cut him off. "Marry someone else? James, our engagement ended two years ago. You signed the papers yourself.""I did not read them!" he shouted. "I thought it was only a transfer—""That is exactly the problem," I said, my voice going cold. "You never treated me like your fiancee."James's face went white."You never put me first," I said. "Not once.""I can change.""You do not need to," Lucas finally said.His voice was not loud, but it landed with weight.He stepped forward and placed one hand naturally around my waist, as if that space had always belonged to him."She does not need you to change, James," Lucas said, looking calmly at him.James's face twitched."The woman standing before you," Lucas said, lowering his eyes

  • Nine Times Too Late   Chapter 9

    Leticia's POVMy wedding to Lucas was held at the family estate.It was not grand. Only core family members and our closest friends attended.I no longer needed a huge ceremony to prove anything.Lucas did not disappoint me.On the morning of the wedding, he stood at the estate gates in a black suit with a white rose pinned over his heart. His hair was neater than usual, his jaw clean-shaven, and a faint sandalwood scent clung to him.He waited for me in the sunlight.For a moment, I remembered another groom who had always left me waiting in that same light.The priest stood beneath the floral arch, and we exchanged vows under the eyes of the family.Lucas held my hand and said, "I will not make you wait. Not even once."I said, "I know."Just as the priest was about to pronounce us husband and wife, the iron garden gates were shoved open."Leticia!"That voice.I had waited for it through too many nights. I recognized it instantly.James Colombo.He stood at the entran

  • Nine Times Too Late   Chapter 8

    Leticia's POVThe plane touched down on a runway I knew well. Through the window, I watched the gray sky outside without feeling anything at all.For two years, I knew James had been looking for me like a madman. Lucas kept me informed in secret.Before takeoff, Lucas's message had arrived.[Everything is ready, Principessa. Welcome home.]He did not meet me at the airport.That was part of the plan. Until the dust settled, our connection had to remain hidden.I wore sunglasses and a tailored black trench coat as I left the terminal alone.No one recognized me.Two years ago, I had left as the pitiful bride abandoned nine times.Now I returned as Leticia Buono, carrying the weight of the entire West Coast underworld behind me.During those two years, Lucas had acted openly as the Buono family's underboss while I worked from the shadows. He gathered the scattered resources and contacts of the Buono family back into one network.He stood in the light. I moved in the dark.He

  • Nine Times Too Late   Chapter 7

    James's POVI did not sleep that night. I lay on Leticia's bed with the wedding ring still clenched in my hand."She could not have disappeared on her own," I rasped, staring at Giacomo, my eyes bloodshot. "A woman controlled by her family cannot bypass all our surveillance. Someone helped her."The door creaked open.A familiar scent entered the room, and for one fractured second my pupils eased. I turned toward the doorway with a rush of hope."Leti..."Then my expression darkened.It was Angelina.She had changed out of the silk dress from the wedding and into a sheer lavender nightgown.It was the one I had bought for Leticia. Her favorite. It still carried traces of her scent.Angelina walked across the rug with a crystal decanter and two glasses, moving as if she belonged there."James, darling," she said, her sweetness so artificial it made my stomach turn. "You have been up all night. The sun is coming. If she wanted to be found, she would already be here."Do not w

  • Nine Times Too Late   Chapter 6

    James's POVArticle Ten, Clause Three read clearly: Upon execution, the engagement between both parties is immediately dissolved.My signature sat directly beneath it.My blood went cold."Leticia... knew?" I looked up, my voice trembling."Miss Buono was fully aware," Lucas said. "One month ago, she asked me to witness the agreement. She told me herself: 'This is the ninth time. I will not look back again.'"The chapel erupted.Elders whispered, family members stared, and the room seemed to tilt around me.She really meant to leave me."Impossible..." My phone slipped from my hand and struck the marble floor. The crack of the screen was sharp and final. "She loves me. She has always loved me. How could she..."Images flashed through my mind.Her cold voice when she told me to go to Angelina. Her body curled in bed from the pain. The way she looked at me in the park as I walked away.I thought she would always wait.She had waited nine times.On the tenth, she left."Won

  • Nine Times Too Late   Chapter 5

    James's POVI stood at the altar of the family chapel and straightened the cuffs of my charcoal suit for the tenth time. My eyes kept returning to the heavy oak doors.Noon.The whispers among the family members grew louder. The soft, rhythmic buzzing scraped against my nerves."She is just being dramatic," Angelina murmured as she leaned close to me.She wore a silk dress that clung to her curves, and undisguised satisfaction glittered in her eyes. "You know Leticia. She wants you to beg her to come back because of that photo.""Shut up, Angelina," I said under my breath.My tone made her shrink back.I took out my phone. Still nothing.[I will be waiting at the chapel at ten.]The message sat there alone, read and unanswered.At one in the afternoon, my father came forward, disappointment carved into his face."James. It is time. If your fiancee is not coming, we have to dismiss the guests. This is an embarrassment to the family.""She is coming!" I snapped.Leticia mus

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