The moment he read the name on the screen, his expression froze.
I caught it from the corner of my eye: the bold contact name sitting right at the top of his messages. Little Courier.
Dante cleared his throat and angled the phone away, tapping the screen a few times as if it were nothing.
But I saw it clearly. The flicker of want that surfaced in his eyes.
Sure enough, the next second he turned to me with guilt written across his face.
"Babe, I'm sorry. Today's our anniversary, and I was supposed to spend the whole day with you, but the Family business..."
I didn't want to hear another lie. I cut him off.
"I understand. The Family comes first."
Relief washed over Dante's face. On any other night, he would have kissed me goodbye. Tonight he pulled me into a quick hug and was already turning away. His signet ring caught the low light as he moved, untouched on his finger, still as stone.
I stood there for a beat, then told my personal courier to handle the remaining guests and followed in the direction Dante had gone.
He didn't stop until he reached the underground garage beneath the compound.
The car door opened, and Adriana dropped every trace of that blank, professional mask. She pouted, threw herself into his arms, and clung to him.
"Don Romano, that fireworks show made me so jealous I could die."
Dante tapped the tip of her nose, his face soft with helpless indulgence.
"Didn't I set off fireworks for your birthday a few days ago? What's there to be jealous of?"
"I promised you. As long as you behave and stay by my side, as long as you don't let my wife find out about us, everything she has, you'll have too."
His words hit me, and the memory surfaced. Five days ago, a fireworks display had lit up the sky over the Southside waterfront for a full thirty minutes.
Dante had told me he was handling late business at the social club that night. I'd even taken photos and sent them to him, teasing him about which lovesick fool had put on such a show just to make his sweetheart smile.
Turns out, the lovesick fool was my husband.
And I was the real fool. Through and through.
Adriana let out a soft hum and traced lazy circles on his chest with her finger.
"Can't a girl be a little jealous?"
Dante caught her wandering hand. His voice had gone rough.
"Didn't you say you had something good to show me?"
Adriana grabbed his tie and pulled until there was no space left between them.
"Don Romano has to unwrap it himself. I guarantee you won't be able to stop."
Something dark passed through Dante's eyes. He swept her up and carried her into the car.
Adriana let out a small gasp, and then Dante bent his head and swallowed every sound that followed.
The windows rolled up. The car began to rock in a steady rhythm.
I pressed my back against the concrete pillar, tears falling in fat, uncontrollable drops that hit the garage floor. Somewhere above, the last of the feast-night guests were laughing, their voices muffled through layers of stone, and the distance between that celebration and this pillar felt like the full measure of my marriage.
I had already watched them together with my own eyes just yesterday. But seeing it a second time didn't dull the ache. The same blunt, grinding pain throbbed through my chest as if it were the first time all over again.
When we first got married, Dante swore he would spend every anniversary with me the entire day. Yet all it took was one message from Adriana and he forgot that promise completely. Was he really that obsessed with her?
My thumb drifted to the pale mark where my wedding band rested. I closed my eyes and forced the storm inside me down.
Three more days. Three more days and all of this would be over.
I didn't go back to the banquet hall. I went straight home to the estate.
Sometime deep in the night, a loud bang jolted me from a dead sleep.
Dante stood in the doorway, his face tight with panic. The tension didn't leave his body until he saw me lying there.
"Babe, why didn't you tell me you were coming home? Do you have any idea? I went back to the banquet and you were gone. I was losing my mind trying to find you."
I glanced at my phone. 3:00 AM. I had gotten home at nine.
Six hours. He'd spent six full hours with Adriana before it even occurred to him to look for me. How laughable.
