Todos los capítulos de This Life, I Won’t Be His Bride: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

“Then it’s settled. The wedding will take place next Monday.”My grandfather’s voice carried across the room, warm with satisfaction.Around him, glasses rose. Men who controlled half the ports, unions, and construction contracts in New York offered their congratulations.I barely heard them.Dominic Moretti stood behind his father, his jaw tight. He looked like a man who had fought until there was nothing left to say.Then his eyes met mine.Whatever exhaustion I saw there hardened into contempt.A moment ago, those same eyes had been closing in the snow.I could still feel his coat around me. His arms holding me against his chest, even after he no longer had the strength to lift his head.“You’re freezing. Stop talking.”His breath had brushed my forehead.“If we get another life, Emilia… let me go.”I blinked.The snow was gone. So was the blood soaking through his shirt.Dominic was alive.I looked away before he could see my eyes fill.He crossed the room and stopped beside me, cl

Dominic looked taken aback.He studied my face, his brow furrowing, as though he expected tears or an accusation to follow.I had no more explanations to give him.After a moment, he gave a quiet scoff.“You’d better mean it.”He walked past me toward his bedroom.I waited until his door closed before picking up my phone again.Of course I meant it.My flight left in three days.After that, Dominic would never have to worry about me coming between him and Angela again.The next morning, there was a woman on the living room sofa.Angela sat with Dominic’s jacket draped over her shoulders, her face tilted toward him. He stood beside her, listening as she spoke.There was a faint smile at the corner of his mouth. Once, I would have spent the rest of the morning wondering when he had last smiled at me like that.Now I noticed the security guard outside the elevator and the overnight bag beside the sofa.She was staying.Dominic straightened when he saw me and stepped in front of Angela, a

While I was leaving New York, Dominic was still waiting for my reply.After my grandfather told him the wedding was canceled, he didn’t believe it.Not when I’d spent so long waiting to marry him.Across the hospital room, Angela adjusted the blanket over her knees.“Is everything okay?”Dominic didn’t answer.Watching him dial my number again, she blinked back tears.“This is my fault. Emilia must be upset that I’ve kept you here with me. I never meant to come between you.” Her voice trembled. “Let me talk to her. I’ll apologize.”Usually, he would have been at her bedside before she finished.This time, he kept staring at his phone, as though he hadn’t heard a word.“Dominic. Outside.”His father’s voice came through the open doorway.Dominic lowered his phone.“If this is about Emilia, I’m handling it.”His father looked at the phone in his hand.“Are you?”Dominic stepped into the hall. Two Moretti soldiers waited outside the room. “What the hell did you do to make Emilia break of

My grandfather had Dominic escorted out.But when the gates of the Bellini estate closed behind him, he stayed.“Tell him I’m not leaving until he tells me where Emilia is.”That night, it rained.By midnight, water was streaming from his hair and soaking through his suit. His driver pulled up beside him twice.Twice, Dominic sent him away.When the butler reported he was still outside, my grandfather sat silently for a long time.Then he closed the book in his lap.“Leave him.”Dominic had been told I was gone. He had been told the engagement was over.He still wouldn’t listen.At five in the morning, shortly after the rain stopped, his knees buckled.His father’s men took him to the hospital.Dominic ran a fever for three days.And that he kept calling my name.Angela sat beside his bed, holding a damp cloth she no longer bothered pressing to his forehead.“Emilia.”She leaned closer.“Dominic, it’s me.”His fingers moved against the sheets.“Please.”Angela’s hand went still.Then h

“Live it, Dominic.”He looked at me as though there had to be more.I adjusted the coat over my arm.“Make your own choices. Find something you want to do. You don’t need me to tell you how.”“And us?”“There is no us anymore.”His eyes filled, but this time, he didn’t argue.My grandfather was waiting by the car.I went to him.In the beginning, Dominic flew to London every week.I found out because I recognized his car across the street from my studio one Friday evening.The following week, it was there again.Sometimes he stood beside it, still wearing the suit he had traveled in. Sometimes I saw only his silhouette behind the window.He never crossed the street.One evening, I stopped before getting into my car.“You can’t keep doing this.”“I’m not asking you for anything.”“I know. But I’m not going to change my mind because you keep showing up.”He looked down at the flowers in his hand.After a moment, he nodded.The next Friday, the space across the street was empty.I noticed