Love Crumbles on the Wedding Eve
In order to protect me, Don Salvatore deliberately announces that my fiance, Simone Pozzi, is his long-lost son.
Simone shakes with excitement when he sees the man in a bespoke suit stepping out of the Rolls-Royce that is parked outside my house.
Just as I'm about to tell him it's all a lie, he shoves me aside. He even brushes his sleeves in disgust, as if he has touched something filthy.
Simone says, "Stay away from me. Don't let your poverty rub off on me! Since I'm the Don's son, we'll call off our engagement. An illegitimate bastard like you isn't even fit to wipe my shoes!"
When I try to explain, he cuts me off by writing out a check and flinging it hard into my face. The sharp edge of the paper slices across my cheek.
"Take this one million dollars as our breakup fee and don't bother me again. We're no longer from the same world," Simone says.
I watch the check flutter down into the mud and quietly turn off my phone screen.
On the screen is a message Papa—Don Salvatore—has just sent me, "Just bear with it a little longer, Principessa. Papa will bring you home soon to take over the famiglia."
Simone is so determined to cut himself off completely. He might have the luck to claim a fortune that big, but not the life to enjoy it.