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Chapter 2

作者: Eternity
The next day, Luca took me to see the new house.

It was the lake villa prepared for the alliance, with pale stone walls, electronic gates, and Moretti security. I walked toward the front passenger seat, and Luca caught my wrist. "Wrong seat, sweetheart. That's Bianca's."

Bianca stepped out onto the porch right on cue. Luca opened the door for her with a naturalness. "She's been thinking about buying a quiet place for her foundation archives. She'll come look with us."

I sat in the back. "Sure."

Luca and Bianca discussed charity auctions and political donors as if I weren't behind them. I watched their profiles and understood that I had never been in the back seat. I had been in the margin.

Bianca fell in love with the upstairs master bedroom because it faced the lake sunrise. She stood by the glass with shining eyes. "The light is perfect. My paper files wouldn't warp here."

Luca answered without hesitation. "Then it's yours. Come stay whenever you want. I'll have the designer turn it into your private archive room."

I stood at the doorway and curled my fingers into my palm. Luca had never joined one meeting about this house. Now he stood beside Bianca, planning a room that should have been ours. They looked like the real couple.

Bianca turned to me with a sweet smile. "Elena, you don't mind if I use this room, right?"

I looked at Luca. "You know this is the master bedroom for the wedding, don't you?"

His eyes stayed calm. "Master is just a word. Bianca's archives need this environment. You can choose another room. The one downstairs is nice. It's close to the garage."

I released my aching palm. "Do whatever you want."

Luca touched my head. "That's my Elena."

I moved away from his hand. He didn't notice.

After the villa, the bridal salon called Luca and said my three wedding dresses were ready for fitting. Bianca linked her arm through mine. "I'll help you check them. You shouldn't always wear black. You need something brighter for your wedding."

She sounded exactly like a caring sister.

I had just put on the ivory satin reception gown when Bianca took a call and came back looking worried. "Oh no. My gown for tonight was ruined at the dry cleaner. I have to meet a senator's wife for the foundation, and I can't find anything suitable."

Luca scanned the boutique. "Then pick one here."

The staff brought several dresses. He rejected them all. At last, his gaze landed on me. "This one works. Bianca has cool undertones. It'll look clean on her. Give it to her first."

The stylist couldn't help herself. "Mr. Moretti, this is Miss Elena's reception gown. She came in more than twenty times for the waist detail."

Luca looked at me like the problem did not exist. In his mind, Bianca needed it, so Bianca got it.

I looked at myself in the mirror and felt the pain go quiet. When hurt reaches the end, the heart becomes strangely clear.

I changed out of the dress and handed it to Bianca. "Take it. You'll look beautiful."

Luca looked surprised. Then his face softened. "That's better. I'll help you choose something nicer."

He said it, but his eyes stayed on Bianca. He crouched and arranged every fold of her skirt with careful fingers.

I had once imagined that scene for myself. I had come here more than twenty times. Luca came once, stared at casino accounts, and said staff should handle hems because they were paid for it.

Now I watched him kneel at Bianca's feet and tasted the price of my fantasy.

Everyone loved Bianca more. My parents did. Luca did. Still, I had loved him once.

When we were little and my mother called me slow in front of guests, Luca slipped a mint candy into my hand. "Slow isn't bad, Elena. You're cute when you're quiet."

I hid that sentence in my heart for years.

When Bianca refused the alliance and Luca came to me, I knew I was his second answer. I still took his hand. I wanted too badly to know what being chosen felt like.

To stay beside him, I became his assistant and learned contracts, casino flows, and informant lists. I still never became Bianca.

My phone buzzed.

[The studio is ready. Your ticket is for late on the wedding night. The car will wait near the hotel service entrance.]

I typed back.

[Okay.]
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  • No More Leftovers   Chapter 10

    One year later, Rowan and I held a small wedding in Savannah.There was no mafia convoy, no media, and no one using my wedding as a stage. Warm string lights hung across the courtyard. Aria made lemon pies, and Finn guarded the ring box.I didn’t invite my parents. I didn't know whether they knew. I didn't want to know.One hour before the wedding, my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number.[I heard you're getting married today. I wish you happiness.]I looked at it for a few seconds and did not reply.At the same time in Chicago, Luca sat in the empty penthouse. The phone screen lit his face. The message showed read, but no response came.He stared at the conversation and suddenly smiled with red eyes.Bianca had told him about the wedding. Luca locked himself in his study for the whole night.He wanted to go. He wanted to see Elena in a wedding dress and see whether she smiled at Rowan that way.In the end, he did not go. He didn't dare.He feared that if he stood outside

  • No More Leftovers   Chapter 9

    When Luca returned to Chicago, he realized for the first time how empty the Moretti penthouse was.My old bedroom remained untouched. In a drawer, Luca found ledger notes in my neat handwriting, with tiny trunk sketches in the corners.He had never noticed them before.That night, he smoked until dawn with the ruby cuff I had refused beside his hand.Vito Moretti pushed the door open and frowned at his son. "You're ruining yourself over the unimpressive Bellini daughter?"Luca looked up with bloodshot eyes. "Don't talk about her like that."Vito gave a cold laugh. "If you protected her, you wouldn't have left your own wedding exposed while you played escort for Bianca. You put Elena last, and your enemies found the empty seat beside her."Luca's fingers tightened hard.His father's words struck like a bullet that arrived late and finally tore through every lie he had told himself.He remembered giving little Elena a mint candy after Carla called her slow. She held that candy until the

  • No More Leftovers   Chapter 8

    Footsteps sounded outside.Rowan walked in with Finn, who carried a half-finished leather pouch and came straight to my side. I crouched and adjusted the thread for him. "Go slower here, or the stitch will tilt."Rowan wiped a dot of wax from my cheek. The gesture was natural, but close enough that Luca couldn't enter between us.Luca stood aside with nothing to say. He watched Rowan and me discuss leather, watched Finn hand me his pouch, and watched me smile.Something in Luca's expression broke. That day, he left in a rush. But he came back the next day, and the day after that. On the fourth day, he didn't come inside. His car sat at the end of the lane from afternoon until dark.Every time he came, he brought a different gift. A cashmere wrap made for me. A pocket watch engraved with my name. Leather tools from Paris.With every gift, he said the same thing. "There's only one. I chose it only for you."I returned everything I could return. The pieces that couldn't be returned went i

  • No More Leftovers   Chapter 7

    My mother spoke first. "Elena Bellini! You disappeared after the wedding attack and let the Morettis tear Chicago apart looking for you. How are the Morettis supposed to save face? How are the Bellinis?"Luca's voice came low. "Who is he?"I didn't answer. My mother jumped in with a sharpness that cut. "So there was another man. No wonder you ran so cleanly. You're not clever, fine, but must you be shameless too?"Rowan looked at me and then at them. His voice stayed calm. "I'll take Finn to the back. Call me if you need me."He didn't fight for me or steal my voice. He left me room to choose, and I became less afraid.Luca kept his eyes on me. "Elena, come home with me. We can talk there. You left too suddenly. What couldn't we discuss?"I looked at him and smiled. "Luca, last time I said we were done, you didn't believe me. I'll say it properly now. We're over."His face went still. He opened his mouth, and his voice came out rough. "You don't want me? You don't want your parents eit

  • No More Leftovers   Chapter 6

    A week after the attack, Savannah mornings smelled like salt, wood, antiseptic, and old leather.Aria's studio sat under a wooden sign: Harbor & Hide Restoration. I worked with a bandage hidden under my sleeve until the tremor in my hands faded. The first time I put my palms on the cutting table, my heart steadied. Leather was not like people. It had grain, temper, and scars. You followed its texture, mended the right place, and stitched slowly. I liked that kind of control.In Chicago, I was the assistant who got headaches over casino reports. Luca said I failed at everything. My parents said I couldn't match Bianca. I almost believed them.Then my first restored antique trunk was bought by a home blogger. She posted photos online, and the comments exploded.[This craftsmanship is gorgeous.][Please tell me she takes custom orders. I will wait.][Something about an old piece being saved just hits hard.]Orders came in like a tide.People were willing to pay for what I made and wait a

  • No More Leftovers   Chapter 5

    This had been meant for him. The enemies who couldn't reach him at Bianca's ceremony had found the wedding stage he should have been standing on, and Elena had been left there alone."Drive faster," Luca said.The driver slammed through two red lights. Bianca grabbed the seat belt and went pale, but Luca didn't look at her once.When he reached the hotel, the lobby smelled of smoke, lilies, and gunpowder. Guests cried against the walls while Moretti men dragged the wounded behind overturned tables.Luca ran into the ballroom and stopped under the ruined arch.The white roses were scattered across the marble. A strip of torn veil hung from the guest-book table. On the open page, the Moretti engagement ring sat in a small pool of water from a shattered vase.No Elena.He picked up the ring with shaking fingers. "Where is she?"Marco's face had gone gray. "A woman in a wedding dress was pulled out through the service entrance before we sealed the room. She was bleeding. We thought she was

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