Chapter 2

Leo finally showed up six hours later.

The door was thrown open.

He stood there, soaked to the bone.

He looked like he'd been dragged through hell and back.

His tux was a ruined mess, his hair plastered to his skull.

His eyes were full of exhaustion and despair.

"Jennifer," his voice was hoarse. "I'm sorry."

My father and the elders shot to their feet. Their hands all moved to the guns at their waists.

"Out," I said, my voice dangerously low. "Leave us."

"Jennifer…" my father hesitated.

"Out!"

The room was empty except for me and Leo.

He just stood there, looking like he’d been dragged out of the river himself.

"Is she alive?" I asked.

Leo nodded. "I got her to a private hospital. She'll be okay."

"So you saved her," my voice was terrifyingly calm. "Just like you promised."

"Jennifer, please, let me explain…"

"Explain what?" I cut him off. "Explain why you ran out on our wedding to save another woman? Explain why you let every family in Chicago watch me get humiliated?"

"Liam took a bullet for me, Jennifer!" Leo's voice cracked. "He died in my arms! His last words weren't 'avenge me.' They were 'take care of my sister.' It's a blood debt. How could I let her die?"

My voice trembled as I shot back.

"So a blood debt to a dead man means more than your sacred vow to me? To God? You have an army, Leo. You could have sent any one of them. Why you? Why did it have to be you?"

Leo had no answer.

"And why today? Of all the days, why this one? You think that was a coincidence, Leo? Really?"

"She's broken, Jennifer. She’s terrified, she’s..."

"She's smart," I said, my voice hardening. "She knew exactly when to pull the trigger for maximum damage."

Leo's brow tightened. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you really think she wanted to die?" I stared at the man I was supposed to marry, the man still making excuses for her.

"No. She wanted an audience. She wanted to force your hand. And congratulations, Leo. She won."

Just like those texts I saw last night.

Her suicide attempt was all a play for Leo's attention, a way to stop our wedding.

Leo's face went pale. "She's not like that."

"That's what every man says," I shook my head. "Leo, I need you to tell me something. Do you love her?"

Leo's face filled with panic.

He shook his head, denying it.

"It's not love. It's… complicated, Jennifer," Leo finally said. "I have a responsibility to her."

"A responsibility?" I almost laughed. "You have a responsibility to me. To our families. But you chose her."

Leo walked to the window, his back to me. "Jennifer, please, don't tell my father why I left the wedding."

I froze. "What?"

"If my father finds out her existence is a liability... you know what he'll do. He'll have her erased."

A chill went down my spine. "You're worried about her safety?"

"She's innocent."

"And I'm not?" My voice trembled with rage. "What about the humiliation I suffered today? What about our family's honor? Does that mean nothing?"

Leo came towards me, reaching out to touch my face.

I flinched away.

"Jennifer, just give me some time," he pleaded. "I need to help her get stable. Once her head is on straight, we can have the wedding again."

My heart stopped.

Have the wedding again.

Once she's stable.

He wasn't asking for forgiveness. He was telling me to wait.

He wanted me, Jennifer Rossi, to be put on pause.

To wait while he played hero for another woman.

In his world, I was a loose end he could tie up later.

"Postpone?" The word felt like poison on my tongue.

"Just for a little while. Until she's back on her feet."

"A few months?" I stood up. "Leo, do you hear yourself? You want me to wait a few months while you take care of your… responsibility?"

"She's fragile right now. She needs me."

I remembered being twelve.

My father's enemies kidnapped me, and Leo risked his life to save me.

We cut our palms with a knife and mixed our blood together.

"Whatever happens, we are always loyal to each other." That was our vow.

I remembered being eighteen, our first job together.

A traitor who had betrayed the family.

Leo was the distraction, I was the executioner. Perfect teamwork. Absolute trust.

I remembered being twenty, the night he proposed.

He knelt in the rose garden of the Rossi estate and told me I was the strongest, most beautiful woman he'd ever known.

And now he was standing here, begging me to understand about another woman.

Tears started to fall.

I couldn't stop them.

"Leo," my voice broke through a sob. "Look at me."

He looked at me.

There were tears in his eyes, too.

"I look at you, and I don't see the man who made that vow."

Leo's lips trembled. "Jennifer…"

"Do you remember our blood oath?" I held out my hand, showing him the faded scar on my palm. "Do you remember what you said?"

"I remember," he whispered.

"Then tell me, what do you call betraying that oath today?"

Leo closed his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering.

I thought he would give her up. That he would beg me to forgive him.

A secret burned on my tongue. Our baby.

But when he opened his eyes again, the conflict was gone. Replaced by a cold, hard resolve.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," he said, his voice heavy. "Right now... I'm all she has."

My world didn't just shatter. It ceased to exist.

It wasn't that he chose her.

It was the look on his face when he did it.

The righteous weight of the protector. The noble pride of the savior.

"Then go keep your promise," I said, wiping my tears. My voice was calm again.

Leo stared at me.

He seemed to expect me to scream, to beg, to threaten him.

But I didn't.

I just looked at him, waiting for him to make his choice.

And with one last, agonized look, he turned and walked out of my life.