Chapter 5

The next morning, I packed the luggage that had been thrown into the guest room of the Marchetti estate.

Many of the mementos Salvatore and I once shared were gone.

I no longer cared where they had ended up.

Even if they were still here, I wouldn't take them with me anymore.

Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open.

Salvatore's soldiers took my arm, respectful yet firm, the way made men handle a thing they've been ordered not to bruise. Ignoring my struggle, they walked me straight out to the private dock and onto a chartered yacht.

The moment I saw the ship before me, my breathing stopped.

For seven years of that blood-alliance union, I had carried a single dream.

I wanted to hold my wedding with Salvatore on a ship like this one, out on the water, away from the family table and its judgments.

For that dream, I had designed my own wedding dress and wedding ring. But until now, those design drafts had been sealed away in my room, gathering dust.

Suddenly, the thought of the missing designs flashed through my mind, and my breath quickened.

I stepped onto the deck with trembling legs, and in that instant, my breath froze.

The pure white wedding dress that had existed only in my dreams, and the wedding ring entwined with thorn flowers, they were right there before my eyes.

My vision blurred as the past seven years flooded my mind, filled with the rare, quiet smiles Salvatore had once given me.

Even though I knew it was impossible, a sliver of hope rose within me.

This was prepared for me.

He had learned of my wishes, found my designs, and built the wedding I had only ever dreamed of.

With trembling hands, I slipped on the thorn-ring and picked up the wedding dress, heading into the cabin to change.

Just as I finished undressing, the door was kicked open violently.

"Serafina, what do you think you're doing?!"

I froze in shock.

Salvatore stood there, fury written across his face. When he saw the thorn-ring on my finger, he strode forward and yanked it off.

"What are you doing?!"

His rough movement caused the thorns to slice into my finger. I cried out in pain.

But Salvatore ignored me completely, wiping the ring over and over, as if my touch had left some invisible stain that even a Don's silence couldn't erase.

He looked at me coldly and sneered. "Serafina, are you so desperate that you'd steal Vittoria's wedding?"

"What are you talking about?" My voice trembled as realization dawned on me. "Wasn't this prepared for me? You took my designs. The ring, the dress, the wedding on the water. I designed all of it."

He let out a mocking laugh. "Serafina, how old are you? Still indulging in childish fantasies?"

"This has nothing to do with you. If Vittoria hadn't liked your designs, none of this would exist. I brought you here only to see what still needs fixing."

"Vittoria's wedding cannot have a single flaw. This is her only wish after falling ill."

His words poured over me like ice water, jolting me awake.

I finally understood. This was yet another thing Vittoria had taken from me.

And I had been foolish enough to fall for it.

"Salvatore, there's no need to explain anything to her," Matteo said coldly as he stepped onto the deck. On the way, without seeming to notice he did it, he cracked the knuckles of his right hand, one by one. "Just put her off the boat. She's useless anyway."

He carefully lifted the wedding dress, never sparing a glance at me, standing there in nothing but my underwear.

Gennaro sneered, dragging a slow thumb along his jaw as though the whole ugly business bored him.

"We just borrowed your designs. You were never going to have a wedding like this anyway. Vittoria was kind enough to let you see it. You should be thanking her."

I stared blankly at them. "She stole my husband. She stole my wedding. And I'm supposed to thank her?!"

"Sister, if you mind so much, I can give this wedding to you," Vittoria said tearfully, her eyes brimming with pity. Her hand pressed flat to her chest, as though her heart were failing, though the fingers pressed a half-beat too early, before the grief could ever have reached them. "I just want to be Salvatore's bride once before I die."

"If my sister is unhappy, I can give up this wish," she said softly, reaching out toward me.

I looked at her with pure hatred. "Ever since we were children, no matter what I had, you took it. I endured all of that. Why did you have to come back after leaving?"

"I only wanted one wedding that belonged to me. Why did you have to steal even that?"

Pain engulfed me completely. My body trembled violently with rage.

As I suffered, Vittoria revealed a smile so faint it was almost invisible.

She was savoring my pain.

"Because I like the way you look when you're suffering," she whispered, so low that only the two of us and the lapping water heard it.

"All of this was originally mine. My brothers, my husband, my wedding. You only stole them for seven years."

I couldn't hold back any longer. I lunged forward and shoved her hard.

"Serafina!"

The next second, my furious brothers joined forces and dragged me to the rail and put me off the yacht.

"You've raised your hand to Vittoria again and again. You need to be taught a lesson. Go back dressed like that."

"If you ever lay a hand on Vittoria again, you're no blood of ours."

They put me off the ship without hesitation, despite the fact that I was wearing nothing but my underwear, exposed to every stranger crowding the dock.

And my husband. He was too busy feeding Vittoria her medicine to look at me even once.

In that instant, it felt as if ten thousand needles pierced straight through my heart.

Shivering, I wrapped my arms around my bare shoulders. The mocking stares and low, lewd laughter of the men on the pier made me wish I could die on the spot.

I didn't even have a single cent on me. Not a soldier, not a driver, not one soul in that world who owed me a kindness.

I could only walk back.

By the time night fell, I finally reached the estate.

My legs were numb. But my heart was still bleeding.