Chapter 3

A notification popped up on my phone. It was a message from Ciro. "I'll come pick you up for dinner once I finish dealing with a few things."

He was worried I wouldn't eat properly if he left me on my own. I couldn't help smiling as I read it. Maybe choosing Ciro as my new husband hadn't been such a bad decision after all.

I wouldn't deny that Luca had once loved me sincerely. For ten years, I had believed in that love. But I had learned that even the most sincere feelings could change in an instant.

And Luca's love had never truly belonged to me alone. The moment Rosa came back into his life, I was no longer the person he chose first.

I still remembered one night at a party. I'd had a few drinks and was feeling tipsy, so I slipped away to the bathroom. When I came back, I found Rosa practically hanging off Luca.

"Luca, I want to marry you."

The moment those words left her mouth, the entire private room fell silent. Someone noticed me standing in the doorway and quickly laughed, trying to ease the awkwardness and change the subject.

But I couldn't look away from Luca. I stood there waiting for him to reject her, waiting for him to make it clear that I was the woman he loved.

Instead, he simply said in that same gentle voice, "Rosa's drunk. I'll get her some water. Keep an eye on her for me."

Looking back, I couldn't put into words what I had felt in that moment. I had already compromised and backed down for him so many times that, when I think about it now, I realized I must have been completely blinded by love.

I kept telling myself that he loved me, that Rosa was only someone he felt responsible for, and that eventually, things would go back to the way they were. But they never did.

So now, I was finally ready to let go of a love that had never belonged to me alone.

…

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Luca had flown overseas with Rosa for her treatment, and rumors spread throughout our entire circle that I had been abandoned.

Yet somehow, the day before my wedding, the invitations went out as planned. The wedding hadn't been canceled.

The church glittered beneath brilliant lights, packed with guests dressed in their finest clothes. I stood at the altar in a white wedding gown, just as I had always imagined.

The only difference was the groom. Instead of Luca, it would be Ciro.

As the ceremony drew closer, I slowly made my way toward the church entrance. I hadn't even stepped inside when I heard the guests talking.

"Everyone in our circle knows Rosa is in love with Luca. This whole thing was obviously her way of stopping Luca and Isola from getting married."

Another guest chimed in, "She had one nightmare, and Luca immediately flew overseas with her for treatment. That alone tells you how important Rosa is to him."

"I got a call from the Moretti family yesterday saying the wedding was canceled. Then, right after that, I got another call from the Castellano family saying the wedding was still happening."

Someone else shrugged. "Who knows what those two families are playing at?"

"What was supposed to be a perfect alliance has turned into this mess. The Castellano family's dignity has been completely dragged through the mud."

I stood outside and listened to every word. As much as I hated to admit it, they weren't wrong.

Luca had never thought about any of this. Or maybe the truth was even simpler. He had never cared enough to think about it. He would never understand what it felt like to have our wedding postponed for Rosa in front of everyone in our circle, leaving my family and me humiliated and disgraced.

Before the ceremony started, I received a call from Luca.

"Isola, I'm sorry. Today was supposed to be our wedding, but I broke my promise."

My voice was calm. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

Then I hung up.

The moment the call ended, panic began to creep over Luca. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, that something had changed, and that this time, it might be beyond his control.

He called me again almost immediately. "Isola, are you angry?"

So he knew. He knew I would be angry, yet he had gone ahead and done it anyway.

Maybe it was because, deep down, Luca had always believed I would never leave him. That no matter how badly he hurt me or how many times he broke his promises, I would eventually forgive him.

He believed I would keep loving him, no matter how far he pushed me. After all, in his mind, my love for him had no limit.