Chapter 2

When I woke up, pain stabbed through every part of my body.

The doctor leaned over me and asked again how long ago I had taken the poison.

I didn't even have the strength to shake my head. All I could do was blink.

He turned to the nurse.

“Give her another dose of the antidote, and keep trying to reach Mr. Ferrara. Tell him she's in critical condition and we need him to sign the critical condition notice.”

Nora, the nurse, picked up my phone and called Matteo over and over.

The first call. The second...

After six calls, he still hadn't answered.

The last of my hope drained away. I signaled Nora to stop calling.

Just then, Matteo called back.

The moment the call connected, his impatient voice came through.

“Layla, what is it this time?

“First you won't answer my texts, and now you're calling like crazy.”

Before he finished, Isabella asked what she should wear to the wedding. He turned to her, his voice softening.

Nora paused at his sudden change in tone, then spoke up.

“Mr. Ferrara, this is the Ferrara family's private hospital. Ms. Marino has been poisoned, and we're trying to save her. Please...”

“Layla's been poisoned? What happened?”

Matteo's urgent voice cut her off before she could finish.

All the impatience from a moment ago was gone. There was nothing left but concern.

“Give her whatever medicine she needs, right now. Nothing can happen to her.

“If anything happens to Layla, your whole hospital is finished.”

Nora was about to answer when Isabella's voice cut in.

“Matteo, calm down.

“Layla was perfectly fine when we left her at the dock. Now, all of a sudden, she's been poisoned? Don't you think that's a little too convenient?”

Matteo paused.

“Layla wouldn't joke about something like this...”

Isabella sighed. “I'm not saying Layla's lying to you

. It's just that today she found out the truth about the test, and she must be really angry.

“Maybe she's just trying to get even. Give you a taste of your own medicine.

“Matteo, you're going to be the next Don. You can't let a woman wrap you around her little finger.”

Nora rushed to explain, “Mr. Ferrara, this isn't a joke. Ms. Marino is in critical condition right now.”

Now Matteo sounded suspicious too.

“Put her on. I want to hear it from her.”

Isabella continued, “Layla, don't blame Matteo for having doubts.

“You were fine when we split up, and the next thing we know, you're saying you've been poisoned. Anyone would think you were lying.

“Besides, Matteo will be Don one day. He has to be wary of everyone around him. If anyone could threaten to kill themselves to control him, how could he ever command respect?”

Nora wanted to argue, but I managed to lift my hand.

She held the phone to my ear.

“Layla, what exactly are you trying to pull?”

When I didn't answer right away, Matteo ran out of patience.

“If you keep this up, we're calling off the wedding.”

My throat tasted of rust, and every word scraped it raw.

“I'm not lying. I really did take poison.”

He scoffed. He didn't believe a word. “What kind of poison lets you talk this clearly? Licorice?”

Low laughter came from the other end of the line.

His friends were all there, waiting to see how my little show would end.

“Fine. Wait there.”

Nora and I both thought he finally believed us.

Nora reached for the phone, ready to give Matteo the hospital's address.

Then he spoke again, shattering that hope. “I'll send my driver over to sign whatever needs signing. Consider that my part in your little act.

“When you're done acting, come back to the estate on your own.”

Before, I would have shouted at him and demanded to know why he believed someone else over his own fiancée.

But this time, after a long silence, I said quietly, “The day my mother died, you told me to wait for you too.”

The line suddenly went quiet.

The night my mother was assassinated by a rival family, Isabella said someone was following her and she was too scared to sleep.

Matteo was supposed to wait with me outside the operating room, but one call from her and he was gone.

He said he'd only be half an hour and told me to wait for him.

I waited until dawn. I waited until my mother's body came out under a white sheet. But he never came.

Matteo's breath caught.

“I was wrong that day...

“But I've apologized so many times. What's the point of bringing it up again and again?”

Isabella interrupted in the background, “Matteo, I'm cold. Can I have your jacket?”

The soft rustle of fabric came through the phone.

I heard him tell her quietly not to catch a chill, his voice tender in a way I had once thought he reserved for me.

“Layla, that's enough. I'll pretend today never happened.”

He turned back to the phone, his voice hard again. “The wedding's pushed back to the day after tomorrow. You'd better be on time.

“If you don't show up, you can forget about ever having a wedding.”

Then he hung up.

I didn't have the strength to hold the phone anymore, so Nora held it for me.

The door opened, and the doctor came in with the test results.

Just then, the phone chimed with a new message.

Nora looked at the report, then at the phone.

She opened her mouth several times, but said nothing. In the end, she just looked at me, stricken.

I gave a tiny shake of my head to tell her I could still hold on.

Her eyes were red as she read the new message aloud.

Matteo had written, “Did you hear what I said?”

I managed a nod, and Nora helped me reply with one word. “Okay.”

You faked your death to test my love. Now I'll give you a goodbye that's real.

I agreed to show up at the wedding. I never said I'd still be alive.

Nora turned the phone screen toward me.

As I watched the reply go through, my hand dropped to the bed, and my heart stopped beating.

Just before my eyes closed for good, one last message from Matteo appeared on the screen.

“That's the kind of wife the Don's heir deserves.”