the car door but didn’t hurry me inside.
‘Are you all right?’
I shook my head.
‘I’m not sure.’
He took my hand.
‘You don’t have to be all right tonight.’
A tear slipped down my cheek.
‘I’m sorry you had to see that.’
He frowned.
‘Elena, I married you.
That means I take the good days and the difficult ones.
You never have to apologize for being hurt.’
I leaned against him.
‘Everyone in there was afraid of you.’
‘Were you?’
I considered the question.
‘I was afraid when I first learned who you were.’
‘And now?’
I smiled faintly.
‘Now I’m afraid you’ll forget to eat dinner again.’
For the first time that evening, he laughed.
He kissed my forehead and helped me into the car.
We didn’t return to the mansion that night.
Instead, he took me to the little diner where we had first met.
The owner recognized Matteo and hurried over, but my husband waved away the attention and asked for our usual table.
We sat beneath the old fluorescent lights, sharing a plate of fries while rain tapped against the windows.
I looked at the platinum band on my finger.
It wasn’t the diamond ring I had once dreamed of wearing.
It wasn’t a symbol of wealth or social status.
It was a promise.
A promise that I would never again allow another person’s opinion to determine my worth.
Marcus had married Vivian that evening.
He had gotten the beautiful ballroom, the expensive photographs, the wealthy guests, and the woman he had chosen over me.
But I had something he had never understood.
I had found a man who chose me without asking me to become someone else.
And that man happened to be the most feared Mafia boss in Chicago.
The next morning, I received a message from Vivian.
It contained only seven words.
‘We need to talk.
Something happened after you left.’
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
‘Your husband needs to know what Marcus has done.’
I looked across the breakfast table at Matteo.
His phone was already ringing.
And when he answered, the expression on his face changed completely.
The wedding humiliation was over.
But the real trouble was only beginning.
