All Chapters of The Second Choice Never Stayed: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Luca got Mira’s number.He was in a good mood when he reached for my waist, trying to pull me back into his arms, but I pressed a hand against his chest and pushed him away before getting out of bed to pick up my dress and coat.His words kept circling in my head.“Bella, we’re going to get married sooner or later. But do you really expect me to spend the rest of my life with only one woman?”“I won’t let any of them touch the position of Mrs. Moretti. You’ve always been smart, so don’t make a scene over this.”He wanted another woman’s number and still wanted me to believe that as long as I stood beside him in the end, everything I suffered along the way should not matter.My fingers trembled as I buttoned my dress.Luca watched me from the bed, the marks I had left on his shoulders still visible under the lamplight. Once, they would have made me happy; now they only hurt to look at.“What’s wrong?” he asked.“I’m going home.”“It’s late. Don’t start.”“I have things to do tomorrow.”

The next afternoon, I went to the South Dock safe house.Luca was in a port meeting and would not be back for a while, so I brought only one De Luca driver and asked him to wait downstairs.I went up alone.My clothes still took up half the closet. My perfume was in the bathroom, my spare medicine was in the drawer, and several books I had never finished were still stacked beside the bed. In the study, I found the guest lists and business notes I had once organized for Luca, all filed neatly under his name.I packed everything that belonged to me.Two hours later, the room no longer looked as if I had ever lived there.I was dragging my suitcase toward the door when the elevator opened.Luca had come back.His eyes fell on the suitcase behind me, and his face darkened.“Bella, what are you doing?”“Moving out.”“Moving where?”“Back to the De Luca estate.”He came over and pressed one hand on the handle of my suitcase.“This room has always been kept for you.”I looked at his hand.“Ke

The private hospital smelled of antiseptic.The doctor cleaned the scrapes on my wrist and knees, then checked my swollen ankle. Nothing was broken, only a sprain and bruising, but I would have to stay off my feet for a few days.I lay on the bed and watched the IV drip fall slowly. From the moment the ambulance took me away from the back lane behind Moretti’s restaurant, I had been calm. When the nurse cleaned the torn skin, I only frowned.My phone lay on the bedside table, its screen dark. I had deleted Luca’s number, but my fingers still remembered where it used to be, as if some old habit had chosen for me in danger.The door opened then.I thought it was the nurse, but when I looked up, Julian Romano stood at the entrance. The corridor light sharpened his shoulders, and his black coat still carried the chill of the night.His gaze dropped to the bandage around my wrist, then to my swollen ankle.“Isabella De Luca,” he said, colder than usual. “I thought you were supposed to be fo

The doctor wanted me to stay under observation for the night.Julian did not take me away immediately. He called a Romano physician to check my injuries and placed two guards outside the room. Around three in the morning, Luca came.I was half awake when I heard voices beyond the door. Julian’s was too low to hear clearly, but I caught the last sentence.“She doesn’t want to see you.”The corridor stayed quiet. Then the footsteps retreated.At dawn, Julian took me out through the side entrance. My ankle was swollen, and pain shot up my leg the moment I tried to stand. Before I could argue, he lifted me from the bed.“Don’t be stubborn.”“I can go back to the De Luca estate.”“If you go back now, everyone will know you left a Moretti restaurant in an ambulance.” He carried me down the hall, careful and steady. “Your mother will ask questions. So will the Morettis. Do you want to explain tonight?”I did not.His car waited outside. After settling me into the back seat and covering my leg

The chaos at the auction hall’s side entrance was contained quickly.De Luca and Romano guards blocked the reporters while Moretti men helped Luca into a car. By the time the blood was cleaned from the pavement, the scene had returned to its polished shape.A Romano lawyer followed Julian to speak with security. Julian looked back once.“Go home and wait for me.”I did not answer. I was tired of only waiting.That night, I returned to the De Luca estate. My father’s face darkened after hearing what had happened, but he only called the Romano family himself. My mother held my hand.“A De Luca daughter does not lower her head for someone else’s cruelty.”I had been afraid of embarrassing the family, yet they had never asked me to swallow my pain for their reputation.The next morning, our lawyer told me the Morettis had not dropped the matter against Julian. Luca was badly hurt: fractured nose, bruised cheekbone, stitches at the corner of his mouth.I asked only one question. “Where is h