All Chapters of No More Leftovers: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

Luca frowned. "Elena, that bracelet doesn't deserve your sister."I looked him straight in the eyes. "Then why does it deserve me?"He froze for half a second, then smiled. "When you two were little, everyone said you looked like Bianca's shadow. Ruby is too loud on you. Black suits you. Quiet. Easy."A shadow.Bianca and I were twins, but from the day we were born, everyone treated me like a dim copy that had no business standing beside her. Bianca stayed first in school. I studied until my eyes burned and still hovered in the middle. I carried her bags, fixed her gowns, and heard people call me "the shadow" for ten years. I told Luca more than once that I hated the name, and every time, he said, "Okay. I won't say it again." But whenever Bianca was in the room, those words slid out of his mouth like a quiet knife.I looked at Luca calmly. "Let's break up."Luca gave me that coaxing smile. "Enough. If you don't like the bracelet, we'll pick something else. Don't throw the word breaku

Chapter 2

The next day, Luca took me to see the new house.It was the lake villa prepared for the alliance, with pale stone walls, electronic gates, and Moretti security. I walked toward the front passenger seat, and Luca caught my wrist. "Wrong seat, sweetheart. That's Bianca's."Bianca stepped out onto the porch right on cue. Luca opened the door for her with a naturalness. "She's been thinking about buying a quiet place for her foundation archives. She'll come look with us."I sat in the back. "Sure."Luca and Bianca discussed charity auctions and political donors as if I weren't behind them. I watched their profiles and understood that I had never been in the back seat. I had been in the margin.Bianca fell in love with the upstairs master bedroom because it faced the lake sunrise. She stood by the glass with shining eyes. "The light is perfect. My paper files wouldn't warp here."Luca answered without hesitation. "Then it's yours. Come stay whenever you want. I'll have the designer turn it

Chapter 3

Luca pulled a black cocktail dress from the rack and handed it to me. "Elena, just choose something. Bianca has plans tonight. Don't hold her up. This one is simple. It suits you."Black again. Suitable again.I took the dress I would never wear and felt perfectly calm. When a woman decides to leave, she doesn't always scream. Sometimes she simply stops fighting for scraps.That night, when we returned to the Bellini estate for dinner, I remembered it was my birthday.It was Bianca's birthday too.Luca ordered the cake. He set the box in the middle of the table and smiled. "You two share a birthday, so one cake is enough. Convenient, isn't it?"The cake was beautiful, covered in pistachio crumbs and hazelnut cream. Bianca loved pistachio. I was allergic to nuts.No one saw anything wrong.Luca put candles in the cake and settled a silver birthday crown on Bianca's hair. "Bianca makes the first wish."I looked at the nut cake, the crown, and the soft smile on Luca's face. "Luca. You use

Chapter 4

Someone knocked on my door.Luca stood outside and spoke as if he were asking for a minor favor. "Elena, Bianca's award only happens once. It starts at ten, and the press will be everywhere. She can't handle it alone."I looked at him. "So?""Can we move our wedding to the evening? We'll skip the pickup and family toasts and go straight to the banquet."I almost laughed. How many times did he think a wedding happened in a lifetime?A maid downstairs muttered, "First weddings don't happen at night in Chicago. That sounds like a makeup wedding."My mother snapped, "Nonsense. It's a modern world. Don't bring old wives' tales into this."Luca stepped into my room. His eyes were gentle and certain. "Elena, is that okay? You're the understanding one."I looked at him and remembered a day from childhood. I once won second prize in an art show, but my parents went to Bianca's violin solo. Luca promised he would come, then went to Bianca's concert too. I stood alone on the stage, facing other p

Chapter 5

This had been meant for him. The enemies who couldn't reach him at Bianca's ceremony had found the wedding stage he should have been standing on, and Elena had been left there alone."Drive faster," Luca said.The driver slammed through two red lights. Bianca grabbed the seat belt and went pale, but Luca didn't look at her once.When he reached the hotel, the lobby smelled of smoke, lilies, and gunpowder. Guests cried against the walls while Moretti men dragged the wounded behind overturned tables.Luca ran into the ballroom and stopped under the ruined arch.The white roses were scattered across the marble. A strip of torn veil hung from the guest-book table. On the open page, the Moretti engagement ring sat in a small pool of water from a shattered vase.No Elena.He picked up the ring with shaking fingers. "Where is she?"Marco's face had gone gray. "A woman in a wedding dress was pulled out through the service entrance before we sealed the room. She was bleeding. We thought she was

Chapter 6

A week after the attack, Savannah mornings smelled like salt, wood, antiseptic, and old leather.Aria's studio sat under a wooden sign: Harbor & Hide Restoration. I worked with a bandage hidden under my sleeve until the tremor in my hands faded. The first time I put my palms on the cutting table, my heart steadied. Leather was not like people. It had grain, temper, and scars. You followed its texture, mended the right place, and stitched slowly. I liked that kind of control.In Chicago, I was the assistant who got headaches over casino reports. Luca said I failed at everything. My parents said I couldn't match Bianca. I almost believed them.Then my first restored antique trunk was bought by a home blogger. She posted photos online, and the comments exploded.[This craftsmanship is gorgeous.][Please tell me she takes custom orders. I will wait.][Something about an old piece being saved just hits hard.]Orders came in like a tide.People were willing to pay for what I made and wait a

Chapter 7

My mother spoke first. "Elena Bellini! You disappeared after the wedding attack and let the Morettis tear Chicago apart looking for you. How are the Morettis supposed to save face? How are the Bellinis?"Luca's voice came low. "Who is he?"I didn't answer. My mother jumped in with a sharpness that cut. "So there was another man. No wonder you ran so cleanly. You're not clever, fine, but must you be shameless too?"Rowan looked at me and then at them. His voice stayed calm. "I'll take Finn to the back. Call me if you need me."He didn't fight for me or steal my voice. He left me room to choose, and I became less afraid.Luca kept his eyes on me. "Elena, come home with me. We can talk there. You left too suddenly. What couldn't we discuss?"I looked at him and smiled. "Luca, last time I said we were done, you didn't believe me. I'll say it properly now. We're over."His face went still. He opened his mouth, and his voice came out rough. "You don't want me? You don't want your parents eit

Chapter 8

Footsteps sounded outside.Rowan walked in with Finn, who carried a half-finished leather pouch and came straight to my side. I crouched and adjusted the thread for him. "Go slower here, or the stitch will tilt."Rowan wiped a dot of wax from my cheek. The gesture was natural, but close enough that Luca couldn't enter between us.Luca stood aside with nothing to say. He watched Rowan and me discuss leather, watched Finn hand me his pouch, and watched me smile.Something in Luca's expression broke. That day, he left in a rush. But he came back the next day, and the day after that. On the fourth day, he didn't come inside. His car sat at the end of the lane from afternoon until dark.Every time he came, he brought a different gift. A cashmere wrap made for me. A pocket watch engraved with my name. Leather tools from Paris.With every gift, he said the same thing. "There's only one. I chose it only for you."I returned everything I could return. The pieces that couldn't be returned went i

Chapter 9

When Luca returned to Chicago, he realized for the first time how empty the Moretti penthouse was.My old bedroom remained untouched. In a drawer, Luca found ledger notes in my neat handwriting, with tiny trunk sketches in the corners.He had never noticed them before.That night, he smoked until dawn with the ruby cuff I had refused beside his hand.Vito Moretti pushed the door open and frowned at his son. "You're ruining yourself over the unimpressive Bellini daughter?"Luca looked up with bloodshot eyes. "Don't talk about her like that."Vito gave a cold laugh. "If you protected her, you wouldn't have left your own wedding exposed while you played escort for Bianca. You put Elena last, and your enemies found the empty seat beside her."Luca's fingers tightened hard.His father's words struck like a bullet that arrived late and finally tore through every lie he had told himself.He remembered giving little Elena a mint candy after Carla called her slow. She held that candy until the

Chapter 10

One year later, Rowan and I held a small wedding in Savannah.There was no mafia convoy, no media, and no one using my wedding as a stage. Warm string lights hung across the courtyard. Aria made lemon pies, and Finn guarded the ring box.I didn’t invite my parents. I didn't know whether they knew. I didn't want to know.One hour before the wedding, my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number.[I heard you're getting married today. I wish you happiness.]I looked at it for a few seconds and did not reply.At the same time in Chicago, Luca sat in the empty penthouse. The phone screen lit his face. The message showed read, but no response came.He stared at the conversation and suddenly smiled with red eyes.Bianca had told him about the wedding. Luca locked himself in his study for the whole night.He wanted to go. He wanted to see Elena in a wedding dress and see whether she smiled at Rowan that way.In the end, he did not go. He didn't dare.He feared that if he stood outside

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