After two years of exile in Palermo under Don Ferrante's protection, I cut my time short, eager to return to Clearmont Harbor, ready to be wed.
As I was preparing our future home in the compound, I discovered thousands of plane tickets carefully preserved by my blood-promised of ten years, Ansel Montecaro.
Every month, he had been traveling to Palermo at least once, and it wasn't to see me.
Even though I was only a hundred kilometers from wherever he landed.
I arrived early at the place where he had planned to offer me the blood-bound ring, only to see him on one knee, offering it to someone else.
"Elara Corsetti, will you marry me? As soon as you say yes, I'll switch brides immediately!"
His gaze was filled with anticipation and I couldn't take another step forward.
Since I was not the one he wanted to bind his bloodline to, I might as well let them have this union.
But after I ran away, he crossed oceans and territories, searching the world for me!
——
The site was decorated with roses, bathed in the warm glow of soft yellow lights. Romantic and intimate.
Ansel, kneeling on one knee, was the exact image of the proposal I had dreamed of countless times.
But the person standing in front of him wasn't me.
"Elara, will you marry me?"
Elara covered her mouth with one hand, trembling as she took the roses with the other.
A dazzling ring was slipped onto her finger. Not a Valente heirloom. Something new. Something bought with my father's treasury.
The two embraced tightly, kissing passionately. Their intimate whispers carried to my ears by the wind.
I found myself unconsciously rubbing the matching ring Ansel had sent me from across the sea.
I never told him the ring was too big.
To keep it from slipping off, I had wrapped half a loop of red thread around it to make it fit.
Perhaps after all this time, when I tugged at the thread, it came undone.
The ring, freed from the thread that once held it in place, slipped off my finger in an instant and rolled into a distant drain.
Just like Ansel, who, after two years abroad, was no longer tied down by me.
An ill-fitting ring doesn't need to be retrieved, just as a man who didn't love me didn't need to be held onto.
"Ansel, I hope your union goes as planned."
"Why? The only one I want to marry is you!"
"Because... I plan to crash your wedding! That way, it will prove you're truly in love with me!"
My steps faltered.
Because I was curious just how far Ansel would go to hurt me for Elara's sake.
"You little rascal, only you could come up with such a crazy idea!"
"Then I better prepare an extra pair of running shoes, so I can run faster when we elope!"
"Are you really willing to do this to Serafina?"
"Marrying her to keep my promise is already the most I can do. If she can't keep her husband from being whisked away at the altar, she can't blame me, can she?"
Their joyful laughter pierced my heart like a dagger.
I turned around, leaning against a tree, my legs so weak I couldn't move an inch. Somewhere behind me, a car door opened and closed. One of Ansel's soldiers, probably. Standing watch over a moment that was never meant for my eyes.
Fearing that my sobs might alert them, I covered my mouth tightly and walked away.
But halfway home, my legs gave out and I fell hard onto the ground.
I returned home, battered and broken, and dialed Don Ferrante's number on the clean line.
"Don Ferrante, I've decided to join that operation you mentioned."
The old Don was pleased, but also puzzled.
"Didn't you say you were planning to settle down in Clearmont Harbor after the union? Did your husband agree to a long-distance arrangement? Being apart after a blood-bound union can be really challenging. Are you sure you don't want to rethink this decision?"
I was wiping the scrapes on my bruised knees, each touch sending a sharp pang through me.
