LOGINAfter Stefan Grimaldi's first love died, he hated me for five years. I did everything I could to please him, but he never softened. The only thing he ever said was, "If you really want to make me happy, go die. Go keep Sienna company in her grave." It cut deep every time. I told myself it would always be this way, that he would carry that hatred until one of us was gone. I was wrong. When assassins came for us, Stefan stepped in front of the bullet without hesitation. He went down in my arms. With the little breath he had left, he looked up at me and said, "Annie, if there's a next life, I hope I never meet you again." At his funeral, his father stood over the casket, barely holding himself together. "Stefan, I was wrong. I never should have forced you to marry Annie. If I had listened to you back then and let you marry Sienna, none of this would have happened," he said. His mother turned on me, tears streaming, her eyes filled with blame. "This is all your fault. Every time, Stefan ended up in danger because of you. What have you ever given him besides disaster?" I kept my head down and said nothing. They were not the only ones with regrets. I regretted marrying Stefan too. On the night of the full moon, I climbed to the top of the church tower and jumped. I woke five years in the past. This time, I was done.
View MoreAfter that day, Stefan stopped coming to see me. Yet items began appearing at the front of my shop.They were foods I had loved since childhood: my favorite pastries, the fruit I used to ask for without thinking. He left them without a word or showing his face, as though the offerings spoke for him when he did not know how to begin.I had not realized he remembered any of it.One afternoon, a gang war broke out near the shop.I gathered the children who had been playing nearby and rushed them into a hiding spot. The space was small, and once they were inside, there was no room left for me.I moved from cover to cover alone as gunfire swept across the street.Then a stray bullet tore toward me.I shut my eyes, muttering, "This is where it ends."Something slammed into me and threw me sideways. When I opened my eyes, Stefan stood between me and the source of the shot.The bullet had struck his abdomen. Blood soaked through his shirt and ran over his hands. I caught him before he
After I left, I did not go straight to Rodona. I went home instead.My hometown was where my parents had built their lives from nothing. It lacked the capital's noise and Rodona's character, but the countryside held a quiet that settled over me like something I had forgotten I needed.The driver who picked me up from the station smiled at me in the rearview mirror. "You dress too nicely to be from around here, miss."I smiled back and left it at that.My parents had spent their entire lives in this town. Returning felt, strangely, like being held.I used what they had left behind to open a flower shop. I set aside another portion for the church, enough to help them start a school so that children who could not afford an education might have one.Knowledge made people strong. Only the strong were safe from being ground down by those with more power.The shop kept me busy in a quiet, unhurried way. The days moved steadily forward, and somewhere within that steadiness, a full year
Hearing Marco's ultimatum, Stefan felt the opposite impulse take hold. "Annie went to you first and complained. You pressured Sienna on her behalf, and that is what drove Sienna to cut her wrists."If Annie had kept her mouth shut, none of this would have happened, and she would never have needed to donate blood. When you trace it back, Annie brought this on herself."He continued, "I'm an adult. You have kept me on a leash my entire life. You wouldn't even let the person I loved through the front door. Now you're trying to control who I marry. I'm done living like this."His parents fell silent.Elena spoke first, her voice careful and low. "Stefan, after all this time, has Annie truly not moved you even a little? You have thrown yourself in front of death for her more than once. If that is not love, then what is it?"Stefan said nothing. His jaw tightened, and he looked away. He knew the answer. His body had recognized it long before his mind was willing to accept it.Even so,
Stefan stood motionless for a moment, then pulled himself together.His expression hardened. "It's probably just someone who resembles her. We're about to get married. She wouldn't be that careless."The doctor stepped into the room before the words had fully settled. "Mr. Grimaldi, Miss Romano left a little while ago. She asked me to pass along a message. She has gone to Rodona. She wishes you well."The doctor spoke calmly.Stefan felt the floor shift beneath him. He nearly lost his footing. A man who had built his reputation on composure came apart in front of his own men for the first time in his life.That was what she had meant. "I hope the rest of your life is everything you want it to be." She had been saying goodbye.Redness crept into the corners of his eyes. He looked down, and his hands would not stop shaking. "That can't be right."He did not believe it. He refused to.Annie's one wish had always been to marry him. They were finally on the verge of it. She would no












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