Chapter 2

"Rendezvous? What street rat?"

My face burned.

"You're just as much of an asshole as ever, Lorenzo!" I shoved his hand off my shoulder and shot back, "I've never even held a guy's hand, so where would I get a 'street rat'? I just turned eighteen yesterday!"

Lorenzo froze.

His deep, gray eyes locked on my face.

"Eighteen?" He let out a cold laugh. "Daisy, you'll really do anything to get out of this marriage, won't you? Now you're pulling the amnesia card?"

"I'm not lying! I really don't remember the last eight years!"

"Enough," he snarled, grabbing my chin. "For the last six months, you've tried starving yourself and running away to force a divorce. Now it's amnesia?"

"You think playing dumb is going to make me let you run off to that piece of trash from the slums?"

His grip hurt, but the whole situation was just so ridiculous.

What kind of idiot was my future self?

Did I really ditch a Mafia Don to throw myself at some guy from the slums? And abandon my husband and child for him?

I was disgusted with my future self, but seeing Lorenzo, clenching his jaw, completely powerless against me… I suddenly found it hilarious.

"What are you laughing at?" His eyes darkened.

"You. You look ridiculous," I said, meeting his gaze with a challenge. "Just like that time at the shooting competition when I secretly swapped all your bullets for blanks. The look on your face when you pulled the trigger and nothing happened… it's the exact same stupid look you have right now."

Lorenzo stared, stunned.

"You… you remember that?"

I looked at him, confused. "Of course I do. I just lost eight years of memories. I remember everything before that perfectly! Especially the rare times I got to see you make a fool of yourself!"

Thinking about it just made me madder. "And that was the only time one of my pranks on you ever worked! Not like you, who put super glue on my violin strings and made me miss the city-wide performance! Or my sixteenth birthday party, when you snuck over the wall in the middle of the night and let all the balloons in my garden fly away!"

The more I spoke, the angrier I got. I glared at him. "All you've ever done is bully me! And now you're standing here playing the big Don, bruising my chin!"

Lorenzo’s expression shifted into something complicated. He swallowed hard, his eyes still fixed on me. "You really have amnesia?"

"Of course I do." I looked him dead in the eye and lifted my chin defiantly. "Look, we've hated each other since we were kids, and now I've forgotten the last eight years. There are no feelings between us. Let's just get a divorce and call off this whole arrangement. You let me go, I'll let you go. It's better for everyone."

"Divorce again…"

The dazed look on Lorenzo's face vanished, replaced by a bitter, mocking laugh.

"So that's what this was all about, wasn't it?"

"Daisy Valence! What do you take me for? Some dog you can just call over and kick away whenever you feel like it?"

His hot breath hit my face, a mix of fury and despair. "You use me when you need me, and when you're done, you try to toss me aside. In your dreams!"

"I didn't—"

Just then, a soft knock came from the door, followed by a choked sob.

"Papa… Mama…"

It was Leo.

I shoved Lorenzo away and threw open the door.

Little Leo was standing barefoot on the cold marble floor of the hallway.

He was clutching a teddy bear, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Please don't fight…" Leo sobbed, his small body trembling with fear. "Mama, please don't get a divorce. Please don't leave Papa. Leo will be good…"

It was a punch to the gut.

How could I let a four-and-a-half-year-old child look so utterly broken, so terrified of being abandoned?

Without a second thought, I rushed over and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Shh, baby, don't cry." I had no idea what I was doing, just clumsily patting his back. "Mama's not leaving. Mama isn't going anywhere."

Leo's body went stiff, and then he burst into even louder sobs.

He wrapped his arms around my neck, smearing tears and snot all over my clothes, as if trying to cry out all the years of neglect at once.

I carried him back into the room, completely ignoring Lorenzo standing off to the side.

I placed Leo on the king-sized bed, tucked him in, and softly hummed the only lullaby I knew.

It took a full half-hour.

Leo finally cried himself to sleep, his little hand clutching my finger.

I let out an exhausted sigh and lay down beside him, closing my eyes.

After a day like this, I felt like my bones were about to fall apart.

I heard the soft sound of shoes on the carpet. Lorenzo was moving around.

"If you're leaving, shut the door on your way out," I ordered with my eyes still closed. "And turn off the light."

The footsteps stopped.

"Leaving?"

Lorenzo's cold voice came from the side of the bed, laced with a dangerous amusement.

I opened my eyes, confused.

I saw Lorenzo unbuttoning his shirt as he walked toward the bed.