บททั้งหมดของ When the Bride Stopped Waiting: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 9

Ten minutes before our seventh wedding, Luca Romano received another call from Celeste.The Romano chapel was already full. The candles had been lit, the choir was in place, and representatives from New York, Chicago, and Sicily were waiting to see me become the Donna of the Romano family.Luca stood beside me in the black suit I had chosen for him. Even his cufflinks carried our initials.When the phone rang, he looked at me first.I knew who it was.For the past six weddings, Celeste always had an emergency before the ceremony began. Chest pain, an old injury, a threat outside her apartment, a reaction to her medicine. Somehow, she always became the person Luca had to save at the exact moment he was supposed to marry me.This time was no different.After he ended the call, his face grew heavy. He held the phone in his hand as if he had already made his choice but did not know how to say it.“Celeste collapsed at the safe house,” he said quietly. “The doctor hasn’t arrived. There’s on

I thought the encounter at the jewelry preview would be the last time I saw Luca before I left.But that night, he called me on video.I looked at the screen for a moment, then switched it to audio.A few seconds passed before Luca’s voice came through.“Why won’t you turn on the camera?”“I’m tired.”He seemed unprepared for such a plain answer. After a short silence, his tone lowered.“Are you still angry about today?”“No.”“Elena, Dante and the others were out of line. I’ve warned them. No one will speak about you that way again.”I gave a faint hum.Luca did not sound relieved. If anything, he seemed more anxious to make it right.“I know what I said at the showroom sounded wrong,” Luca said after a moment. “I didn’t mean you were waiting because I ordered you to.”I said nothing.His voice lowered.“I meant you trusted me. You stayed because you believed I would make it right. Because you knew I loved you.”That was worse.Because Luca still thought love could explain everything.

After Mia said, “She isn’t coming back,” Luca finally seemed to understand.The chapel was filled with quiet whispers. The priest closed the book of vows, and the white roses around the altar looked painfully still. Luca ignored everyone and turned toward the door.“Find out how she left.”His men returned with answers quickly.The side-door cameras had been cut. The guards at the rear entrance had been reassigned. Half an hour earlier, a black car without Romano plates had left the garage. Every trace had been cleaned away.This was not anger.This was not a performance meant to make him chase her.Elena had planned her departure long before today.Luca called her number again and again, but each time, he heard the same cold message that her phone was turned off. His face grew paler with every call.At last, he said hoarsely, “Check every Moretti flight today.”His underboss hesitated before answering.“Don Luca, Moretti private routes don’t pass through our system.”“Then check the a

The plane landed at the private airfield in Palermo just after dawn.When I walked down the stairs, my father was standing at the end of the runway. Three years had added gray to his temples, but his back was still straight. The Moretti motorcade waited behind him, and several caporegime stood with their heads lowered. No one spoke.I stopped in front of him and said quietly, “Papa.”His gaze rested on the Moretti crest pinned to my chest for a long moment. Then he raised a hand and smoothed back the hair the wind had blown across my face.“You’re home,” he said. “Stop waiting outside someone else’s door.”My throat tightened.For Luca, I had stayed in New York, defied my father, and let the Moretti name be humiliated outside the Romano chapel. I used to think I was fighting for love. It was not until the seventh time I stood alone in a wedding gown that I understood my father had not been heartless. He had simply seen the ending before I did.On the way back to the estate, my father h

Adrian stepped forward then, not touching me, only placing himself between Luca and me with quiet precision.“Don Luca,” he said, “Donna Elena has made herself clear.”Only then did Luca seem to notice him. His gaze moved from Adrian back to me, full of pain and disbelief.“What gives you the right to stand beside her?”Adrian did not take the bait.“She allowed it.”The answer struck harder than an argument would have. Luca lowered his head with a laugh that sounded almost broken, then touched the faint scar near his brow.“Do you remember this?” he asked me. “After our first wedding, when I chased you outside and knelt in front of your father’s car, broken glass cut me here. I never regretted it. I thought at least that proved I loved you.”I looked at the scar without feeling the ache I once would have felt.“It only proves you came after me once you had already left.”Luca went still.“The time to stay was ten minutes earlier,” I said. “In the chapel, while I was still holding your