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The Delayed Wedding: I Refuse It

The Delayed Wedding: I Refuse It

Short Story · Mafia
By:  Ivy MonroeCompleted
Language: English
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11Chapters
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Synopsis

Tragic Love

Plot Twists

Mafia

Bias

Winning Back the Wife

Cheating

Face Slapping

The day before the holiday, I gave the household staff the week off. Agnes was still in the kitchen before she left, packing desserts into a bag while talking to herself with a smile. "Miss Vanessa finally got what she wanted this time. Mr. Moretti even booked that seaside villa in Amalfi." I was texting Vanessa, asking her to come over later to try on the bridesmaid dress. Without thinking much of it, I asked, "Got what?" "The wedding," Agnes said naturally. "Isn't Mr. Moretti taking Miss Vanessa to Italy?" My fingers froze above the screen. Two seconds passed before I looked up at her. "Whose wedding?" The smile on Agnes's face slowly froze. She looked at me as if she had only just realized something was wrong. "You... didn't know?" For a moment, I almost laughed at how absurd it sounded. "Agnes, Luca and I signed the family marriage registry three years ago. Next week is only supposed to be the ceremony." The kitchen fell silent. Agnes opened her mouth, embarrassment spreading across her face. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I thought you knew." She hesitated, then lowered her voice. "A while ago, when I was cleaning the study, I heard Mr. Moretti mention it to his lawyer. He said the marriage registry in your hands was never officially submitted to the family council." My heart sank. Three years ago, Luca had handed that document to me himself. He said the Moretti family was unstable, that we could not announce the marriage yet. Once he entered the inner circle of the Five Families, he would hold a proper wedding. So for all these years, I never pushed him. I even turned against the Castellano family for him. Thinking back now, maybe he had never planned to truly let me through the doors of the Moretti family in the first place.

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11 Chapters
Chapter 1
I went back to the bedroom and pulled the document out from the bottom drawer.The black wax seal was still perfectly intact.But beside it, where the family council's certification should have been, there was nothing.Luca's call came in while I was still standing in the bedroom, staring at that marriage registry."Baby, I have to go to Italy tomorrow," he said, his voice low and lazy, like he was coaxing me. "The wedding may need to be pushed back a few days. When I come back, I'll give you an even grander ceremony. Okay?"The rain outside was heavy.I held the edge of the document and suddenly remembered the final deadline my father had given me last month.If the Moretti family still refused to publicly acknowledge the marriage by this holiday, the partnership between Castellano and Moretti would be terminated immediately. And I would have to go home and accept the alliance marriage my father had arranged.After a few seconds of silence, I answered softly, "Okay. I have other plans
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Chapter 2
A little after eight, the lock clicked.Luca came in with the rain still on his coat. A damp chill followed him into the apartment as he tossed his black overcoat over the arm of the sofa. In his other hand, he carried coffee and a small box of desserts.Vanessa was already walking toward him in heels.She took one of the cups from him as naturally as if she had been waiting for it, glanced down, and smiled."Still a hot latte?""You were the one who said the place downstairs makes it too bitter," Luca said casually.Her eyes curved at once. "You remembered."Luca gave a low laugh but said nothing. He only set the other cup on the table."Yours. Americano."Vanessa's latte was warm, with cinnamon dusted over the foam and the pale gold sleeve she always liked. My iced Americano had been sitting long enough for the ice to melt, water beading all over the plastic cup.It had probably always been like this.I just hadn't noticed, or maybe I had never wanted to.Vanessa was still wearing th
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Chapter 3
"Then let's not pretend there's still a wedding to postpone," I said, pulling the suitcase zipper closed. "You won't even be in New York tomorrow. What exactly am I supposed to stay here for?"For once, Luca didn't have an answer ready.He watched me for a few seconds, then his voice softened. "I said postponed, not canceled. Something came up in Italy. The port permits, the council votes—everything tied to the southern route is sitting on this negotiation. I can't walk away from it."It was the kind of explanation I used to accept before he even finished saying it.Moretti had spent years trying to earn real recognition from the Five Families. Luca had fought for every shipping route, every dock permit, every private dinner where men in dark suits decided who was allowed closer to the inner circle. I knew what the southern route meant to him.But tonight, I was too tired to help him make excuses."Then handle it," I said, slipping my passport into the suitcase. "I have things to deal
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Chapter 4
After Luca went into the study, Vanessa did not follow him the way she usually would.She stayed in the living room, still holding the champagne dress in one hand. For the first time that night, there was caution in the way she looked at me. I had been too calm, and calmness had never been part of the script she prepared for me.After a while, she walked over and lowered her voice."Selene, I know you're upset," she said, "but Italy really matters this time. The southern route has been stuck for weeks, and Luca needs someone there who understands the accounts."I didn't answer.Vanessa paused, then reached into her purse and pulled out a folded confirmation slip, as if she had only just remembered it."Actually, there's one thing I need to ask you. A document is being delivered here tomorrow. It's an authorization copy for one of the southern-route warehouses, and someone has to sign for it."I looked at her.She smiled, easy and practiced. "You know papers like that can't be left with
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Chapter 5
By the time the car reached the Castellano estate on Lake Como, dawn was beginning to lift over the water.The road curved through cypress trees and wet stone walls, down toward a pale villa sitting above the lake. There were no marble lions, no men standing around with guns on display, no expensive noise meant to impress visitors. Only quiet guards, dark windows, and the kind of order that did not need to announce itself.It was nothing like Luca's high-rise apartment in New York. Moretti's wealth felt loud by comparison. Moretti liked power where people could see it—sports cars, cigars, metal cuff links, the sharp glitter of a family still trying to prove it belonged.Castellano never had to prove anything.When the car stopped in front of the main house, Alfred was already waiting on the steps with two men behind him. He lowered his head when he saw me."Miss Castellano. Welcome home."Agnes stood behind me with her old handbag clutched to her chest, frozen in place. I could not bla
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Chapter 6
That night, I sat in a suite under the De Santis name, looking at the registration papers I had signed only hours earlier. I stared at them longer than I should have.Luca had kept me waiting for three years with one "after this" after another. Lucien De Santis had taken less than a day to put everything on paper.When the door opened, I looked up.Lucien came in without his jacket, dressed only in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms. Two buttons were undone at the collar. Without the formal coat and the witnesses around him, he looked less distant than he had in my father's sitting room, but not any less dangerous.His eyes moved to the papers in my hand."Still checking if it's real?"I didn't answer.He watched me for a second, then set his watch on the bedside table. The metal clasp clicked softly against the wood.Before I could respond, my phone rang.Vanessa.I looked at the name for a few seconds before answering.Her face appeared on the screen. She was weari
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Chapter 7
After the call ended, Vanessa stood on the terrace with the phone still in her hand. The sea wind lifted the thin strap of her white dress against her shoulder, but she did not move. For a few seconds, the smile on her face stayed exactly where it was, stiff and unnatural.Luca came out of the bedroom with his shirt half-buttoned, his hair still damp from the shower. He glanced at her, then at the dark screen in her palm."Who were you talking to?"Vanessa blinked and quickly turned the phone face down on the table. "Selene. I was asking if the southern-route document had arrived."Luca did not answer right away.He had heard something on the other end of the call. Not enough to accuse her of anything, but enough to make him uncomfortable. Selene's voice had been too soft, too close to someone else. It was not the voice of a woman sitting alone in his apartment, waiting for him to come back.For a moment, the thought stayed with him.Then he pushed it down.He picked up his phone and s
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Chapter 8
I watched the color drain from Vanessa's face.She stared at me as if I had walked out of a locked room instead of down the stairs. Her hand tightened around the edge of her purse, and for a second, all the careful sweetness she wore in front of Luca disappeared."What are you doing here?" Her voice came out strained. "I told you to stay at the apartment and wait for the document."I stopped on the last step and looked at her."Do I need your permission to come home?"Vanessa's face stiffened. She reached for Luca at once, fingers closing around his sleeve. "Luca, let's step outside. I need to explain something."Luca did not move. His eyes stayed on me.I walked into the sitting room and sat down across from them. The black fabric of my dress settled over the carpet, and the emerald bracelet on my wrist caught the firelight with a cold green flash. I did not explain myself. I did not need to."What are you doing here?" I asked.Vanessa forced a smile. "Selene, Luca only wanted to meet
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Chapter 9
Luca's hand went still.His eyes moved from Lucien's face to the red mark his fingers had left around my wrist. For a moment, his expression turned ugly, but in the end, he let go.Not because he wanted to. Because even Luca Moretti knew the De Santis name was not something Moretti could challenge in a Castellano sitting room.Vanessa stood beside him, pale and silent. I could almost see the calculation falling apart behind her eyes. She had expected to walk into this house with Luca beside her, borrow my family's weight for one evening, and leave before anyone important noticed.Luca forced himself to look away from my wrist. When he spoke, his voice was cold. "Mr. De Santis, this is between Selene and me."Lucien removed his glove slowly and handed it to the man behind him. "Not since she signed the De Santis registry."The room went quiet.Luca's eyes sharpened. "Registry?"Alfred stepped to my side with a dark leather folder in his hands. His posture was as proper as ever, his voic
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Chapter 10
Luca's face went pale.He looked at me as if the last three years were rearranging themselves in his head all at once: why I had never tried to impress the Castellanos, why I did not need to recite the names of guards and servants the way Vanessa did, why I had never bothered to explain my place in this house.Because this house had always been mine.Luca was not stupid. He was only arrogant. He had convinced himself that the wedding kept being delayed because Moretti was not ready, because the timing was wrong, because one more permit or one more council dinner might finally make him untouchable. Now he was standing in my family's sitting room, realizing the door he had spent years trying to reach had been open the entire time. He had simply left the key in an apartment in New York.He had been that close to formal recognition from the Five Families.And he had spent his patience, his attention, and his tenderness on Vanessa.Vanessa said she knew the estate, and he believed her. Vane
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