Chapter 2

Sure enough, in less than five days after his black sedan rolled up the dirt road, Lorenzo has gotten used to Nonna and me.

A month later, he and I caught a ride with our neighbor into town to sell the harvest off Nonna's corn field.

Ten acres of corn brought in 2,250 crowns. After the cost of fertilizer, pesticide, and transport, we cleared 1,050. I gave Lorenzo a cut, 350 crowns. And that night, he lay awake hugging the cash until morning, a Vitale heir clutching a farmer's pay like it was tribute.

The next day, with dark circles under his eyes, he sat beside me and said, "Gianna, let's date. I've got money now."

Of course I knew he had money. Lorenzo Vitale, heir to the Vitale Family, next in line for the Don's seat, never lacked that.

From that day on, he started pursuing me. Everywhere we went, people whispered.

"Typical made-family boy... his ex just walked out and he's already moved on?"

Then one day, he showed up with 10,000 roses to propose to me.

I said yes.

He froze for a second, then pulled me into his arms, grinning like a fool. I could hear his heart pounding through his chest and mine beat just as fast.

What those people didn't understand was this. Lorenzo might've had all the laundered cash in the world, and soldiers who'd bleed on his word, but what he rarely got was something genuine, care with nothing owed on the back of it.

After we got together, my biggest challenge became my blood, a girl from a modest rural family standing beside the heir of a Family that carved territory with fear.

But I never bowed my head or backed down. I threw myself into the work, the counsel, the leverage, the long nights learning how a consigliere reads a room before she speaks, until finally I became the top mind standing at his side.

Sadly, dreams don't last forever. His once-betrothed, the childhood flame who had once walked out on him, had come back.

Ambra Falcone cried in his arms all night. The next day, my rank was stripped, and Ambra took my place as the one who spoke into his ear.

Lorenzo looked exhausted when we spoke. "Gianna, I had no choice. The Falcones have done a lot for my Family. I can't just ignore what they ask."

"When we're blood-bound, be rest assured, you'll be the future Mrs. Vitale. You have to learn to weigh the pros and cons. Sacrifices are part of the deal."

So I gave in. I watched him and Ambra walk into every sit-down and gala side by side, throw lavish parties for her, even buy matching necklaces to mark their alliance pact.

I kept waiting through endless hope and disappointment, until one day it hit me. Maybe he didn't need my love anymore.

That day, I waited for him from morning till night. In the end, his soldier came instead, to have me fit his suit for the blood-bound union.

I finally snapped. When I called Lorenzo, however, he was even angrier than I was.

"Gianna, do you have any idea what I've sacrificed just to bind myself to you?" he snapped. "Ambra and I aren't playing house. We're working. It's just a damn suit. Can't you tell what really matters?"

Seven years. From dating to the alliance pact, not a single photo together. And yet he let Ambra post couple shots from their ski trip on his socials.

I used to think that as long as he loved me, I could endure anything, every unequal thing he'd done. Now I understood. All the sacrifice and the cold treatment I got came from the one fact I'd refused to name. Lorenzo didn't love me anymore.

Two days later, I collected my grandmother's accessory box from the mortuary.

Just as I was signing the papers, Lorenzo called. "Where are you? We're supposed to be fitting the union outfits today."

I looked down at Nonna's accessory box in my arms, ready to tell him no, but he had hung up soon after telling me, "Send me your current address. I'll send someone to get you."

I didn't send anything, but a car showed up anyway. To my surprise, Lorenzo was driving himself, no enforcer at the wheel, no soldier riding shotgun.

He yanked at his collar, clearly irritated. "I know I was wrong not to visit your Nonna. I should've gone to the hospital, no matter how busy the Family kept me."