2

I brought the soup back to the bridal suite and sat with my parents for a long time.

Even after the soup went cold, we heard nothing from outside.

After my mother urged me for the 13th time to go check what was happening, the door opened.

Enzo came in with a well-dressed couple behind him.

"Nora, these are Chiara's parents. They will take your parents' seats at the ceremony today."

The color drained from my mother's face.

Enzo softened his voice slightly, as though trying to calm me. "Nora, this is for your own good. With a respectable and influential family standing behind you, no one will look down on you."

My mother's hands were clenched into fists, her knuckles white.

But when she heard that, her fingers slowly loosened.

She forced a smile at me, then reached for Chiara's mother's hand.

"Thank you for stepping in..."

Chiara's mother recoiled as if she had touched something filthy.

"Lowborn trash! Who gave you permission to touch me?"

My mother lost her footing, stumbled back two steps, and fell hard onto the floor.

Enzo had someone bring over a towel, then handed it to Chiara's mother.

She took it and wiped her fingers one by one.

My mother's hair had come loose and her clothes were dirty, yet no one spared her a glance.

She had made a special appointment to have her hair done and had barely let her head touch a pillow for days, afraid of ruining it.

She had spent more than half a year's wages on that dress, then spent several afternoons agonizing over the design.

She had done everything she could.

Yet beside Chiara's well-dressed parents and their circle of bodyguards, she still looked as though she did not belong.

My mother held back her tears and gave me a weak smile.

"Nora, if only we weren't ordinary people. If we had their kind of status, you wouldn't have had to endure all those tests."

I bit down hard on my lip and shook my head desperately.

The truth was, Chiara's background was even more humble than mine.

A year ago, her parents were still living in a slum, struggling to put food on the table.

Enzo had chosen Chiara as his assistant and brought her parents into the Family along with her.

He gave them new identities, a new house, and even hired someone to teach them how to speak and behave.

I had once asked him, full of hope, whether he could give my parents new identities too.

Enzo frowned and refused. "Are you asking me to deceive the advisor? If I did that, how would I be fit to be the next Don?"

Later, my mother had a heart attack. I asked whether he could help us find a doctor. We would cover the cost ourselves.

Enzo's face hardened at once.

"Nora, that's against the rules. Too many people are watching me. You should understand."

My mother worried that she was making things difficult for me, so she ended up comforting me instead. "It's all right. It isn't serious. Don't let it come between the two of you."

A week earlier, when Chiara's mother wanted a cosmetic procedure, Enzo had called in the best doctor available.

He even waited outside the door himself, saying he was afraid she would come out and find no one there.

The night my mother's surgery nearly went wrong, I broke down and demanded to know why Chiara's parents were allowed to ignore the rules.

After a long silence, Enzo answered, "You are my wife, the one who will stand beside me. You have to follow the rules because you represent me. Chiara doesn't. She is only an assistant."

I was the one who was supposed to become his wife, yet somehow that meant my parents had to obey more rules and endure even more humiliation.

Before today, he had only refused to help my mother get medical care.

Now, my parents were being hurt right in front of me, and he was letting it happen.

I was done trying to become his wife.

Hugo messaged me again.

"Ms. Sutton, I hope to see some sincerity from you at today's wedding."

This time, I answered without hesitation, "Of course."