All Chapters of I Chose Myself Before He Could : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Lia's POVAt dusk, the roar of a car engine sounded at the estate's front gate.Out of habit, I put on the composed smile I had practiced countless times and stepped forward to take Luca Vito's coat. Then my gaze swept past him and landed on Ella Larsen, who was walking right at his side."Welcome, Ms. Larsen."I pushed down the emotions churning inside me and kept my poise, signaling for a maid to bring over a pair of slippers.Ella didn't even look at me. She walked barefoot into the living room. "Luca, I'm not used to disposable slippers. Since we'll be working together from now on, could you keep a pair here for me?"Then came Luca's lazy reply. "Lia, did you hear that? Get a guest room ready for Ella. She needs to rest here for a while."Ella's appraising gaze settled on me, and a wave of humiliation washed over me.Everyone knew Luca treated me like a treasure. He was always acting as if he were afraid I might get bumped or bruised.But now, Ella's eyes seemed to mock

Luca rested his chin lightly on my shoulder and softened his tone, trying to soothe me."The deal has reached its most critical stage of negotiation. Ella is the key to whether it succeeds or fails. I can't afford any friction with her right now."He turned on location sharing on his phone. "You can check where I am anytime. Once this deal is settled and everything's back on track, I'll make it up to you."I lowered my eyes to the blinking dot on the screen that represented him.I used to care because I loved him.Now that love was slowly peeling away, and whether it was real or fake no longer mattered."Okay."I patted the back of his hand gently and agreed obediently. "I'll wait until you're done."The next afternoon, as I packed my personal belongings into boxes, I casually opened the shared location.The dot representing Luca had crossed half the city and stopped at a secluded business estate.The work message he had left me that morning still just said "Attending an inte

Third-Person POVElla claimed she felt dizzy and unwell and needed to stay under observation, so Luca spent the entire night at the hospital.All night long, his mind was filled with the look in Lia's eyes as she apologized in that hospital room and unbuttoned her coat without a moment's hesitation.That calm stabbed into his heart like a needle.When Ella finally fell asleep, he rushed home as fast as he could.On the way back, he made a detour to buy Lia's favorite berry pie and the tactical watch she had been talking about for ages. It was a piece of gear she had always wanted for her intelligence work.In Luca's mind, Lia was just upset for the moment.Once she saw these gifts and saw him make the first move to patch things up, she would surely throw herself into his arms like before, return to his side, and go on assisting him as his future Donna."Lia, I'm home."Luca took off his suit jacket and tossed it in the entryway. The house was quiet. The figure who always came

Lia's POVTowering snowy mountains stretched across the horizon. The water of the fjord glimmered a deep blue, and a crisp, clean sea breeze drifted in through the cabin's windows.I sat at a log desk, going over my income in the ledger.After leaving the Vito family, I had sold all the jewelry and luxury cars Luca had given me. That was my pay for seven years of blood, sweat, and tears. With that money, I bought a small cabin on the fjord and turned it into a little inn.I no longer had to keep my nerves on edge every day, analyzing bloody gang intelligence, constantly reading Luca's moods, or staying ready for open attacks and hidden knives from within the family.Here, I didn't have to wear restrictive couture gowns or keep up the proper bearing of a future Donna.In the six months since I came to Serevast, I had let go of the guard I'd held for so long.Before, my nerves and my body had always been strained to the limit.Now, after all the wind and sun, faint sunspots had a

I cut off Luca's excuses and looked him straight in the eye, my gaze clear."Do you remember when I helped you crush the rebellion inside the family? When I got intelligence into your hands through a hail of bullets?"But the moment Ella showed up, you instinctively decided her business skills were worth more than everything I'd given you. You called my seven years of loyalty nothing more than a lover's jealousy."The favor you showed me was real. But that love came with conditions. I had to stay in my place behind you, be your assistant, be the future Donna waiting for your affection. The moment a bigger profit came along, I could be sacrificed for the time being."I'm not making myself suffer. I just want a life where I'm not something to be weighed and traded away."After I finished searing the steak, I picked up the plate to carry it to the table. When I turned around, I saw Luca standing in the loft's wooden doorway.A thin layer of snow from outside had settled on him, and