Why me? I wanna ask why it was me again to blame?
More careful? The words echoed in my head, each syllable a fresh wound. Damn you, Lorenzo!
“Of course,” I said with my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me. “I’ll be more careful, Lorenzo.”
As Stefania’s sobs subsided, Lorenzo guided her to a chair, his hand lingering on hers in a way that made my stomach twist.
I excused myself, retreating to the guest room under the pretense of needing rest. Once the door closed behind me, the facade cracked, and the weight of it all came crashing down.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the culmination of everything I’d dreamed for, but tonight had made it clear: this wasn’t my story. It never had been. I was just a side character here.
Stefania had taken center stage, and Lorenzo… Lorenzo had let her.
I cried my heart out. I poured it all out of me with a promise that this would be the last moment I cry a river for Lorenzo. Enough is enough.
As I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall, my phone buzzed. A message from Matteo lit up the screen.
MATTEO: Fucking leave it all behind. The Vitale family is ready when you are. Stop making yourself a damsel in distress here.
I frowned. The Vitale family?
The Vitale family is my escape alright, but…
Why does Matteo know my mother’s family? And why did he message me like that?
****
I slipped out of Corvino's Elysian Manor thick with tension inside me. The silence of the night outside was a sharp contrast to the chaos in my mind.
Inside, Stefania had been basking in the glow of Lorenzo’s undivided attention, recalling how her crocodile tears ensured Lorenzo didn’t even glance my way. It was almost impressive, the way she’d mastered the art of manipulation, almost perfect.
Almost. For she didn’t impress me nor manipulated me. Stefania can fool everyone but me.
I walked toward my car, my heels clicking against the cobblestones, each step echoing the resolve building inside me. The USB drive in my clutch was a heavy weight, its contents was like a loaded gun that I could blow tomorrow with some help from Liz.
I grinned. Tomorrow wasn’t going to be a wedding. It was going to be a reckoning.
But first, I needed a drink.
The dim light of a bar caught my eye, its neon sign flickering like a heartbeat. The place was nearly empty, save for a bartender polishing glasses and a man seated at the far end of the counter. I slid onto a stool, nodding at the bartender. “Whiskey. Neat.”
The man at the end of the bar turned his head slightly, his sharp features catching the light.
Matteo. Of course. Of all the gin joints… he found me so easy again.
“Damsel,” he said, his voice smooth and low, like a predator acknowledging its prey. “On the eve of your big day…” He scoffed. “Leaving the fun in the reunion?”
I raised an eyebrow, taking the glass the bartender set in front of me. “You always did have a flair for dramatic approaches, Matteo. Shouldn’t you be out plotting something equally theatrical? You were there. Why not help me earlier to shock the Corvinos and Volantes?”
His lips curved into a smirk as he pushed his glass aside and turned to face me fully. “Maybe I’m only here to save you from making a mistake. But… I need to do it discreetly, right?”
I snorted, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “The mistake was staying with Lorenzo for as long as I did. I know that already. And you know well I was planning to escape so why are they still following me?”
“Your plan?” Matteo’s expression shifted, his gaze sharpening. “Anyway, what exactly is your plan? To reveal everything by walking into your wedding tomorrow and airing every dirty secret you’ve uncovered?” He grinned. “That’s suicide, Damsel.”
I froze, my glass halfway to my lips. “How do you know about that?”
That was not exactly my plan, of course. The plan I had was already arranged for Liz to do the airing of the content on the USB drive. But all of that will happen once I already boarded the jet to Sicily.
He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “As I said, I know most women do, Damsel. And I know Lorenzo would do to you once you humiliate him.”
“Lorenzo Corvino will kill me… was it the one you will say next?” I looked at him sideways. I made a face. “And I thought you already know that I belong to Vitale's organization.”
“Yep, but we are in a place ruled by the Corvinos and Volantes. Vitales are only ruling Sicily. Your mother can’t do anything here in Milan.”
“Let’s say that was really my plan…” I hummed the words. “And let’s say I changed my mind because of your convincing words…”
Matteo chuckled. And again… I gave it to him. Matteo’s really good looking. In fact, much head turner than Lorenzo.
“So what should you suggest this time for me to do, Signor Santoro?”
“Simply.” Matteo shrugged. “You don’t need to show the world what kind of man Lorenzo is. He’s already made that abundantly clear to everyone who matters.”
I set the glass down, staring into its depths. “But everything is not about him! It’s about me, Matteo… I can’t let them walk away unscathed after what they did to me!”
“And what happens after?” Matteo asked, his tone suddenly serious. “You humiliate him, Stefania cries her way into another pity party, and you… what? Ride off into the sunset?”
I looked at him, my jaw tightening. “I’ll figure it out. And the Vitale family is waiting for me, right?”
“No, you won’t figure it out with your condition right now,” he said bluntly. “But yes with the Vitale family waiting for you in Sicily.”
“And?” I asked because I know he will have some additional remarks on his mind.
“The truth is that you’ll still be tied to Lorenzo, the Corvinos and Volantes, to everything you’re trying to leave behind. What you must do is to cut the cord they had on you completely.”
“And you have a better plan?” I asked, boringly asked because I already planned about that by leaving all behind here in Milan.
Matteo’s smirk returned, but there was a glint of something dangerous in his eyes. “As a matter of fact, I do. I almost told you that. You just don’t let me explain it to you at first.”
“Yeah, of course you do,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “So, let me guess… it involves you swooping in to clean up the mess and somehow coming out on top?”
“Something like that,” he admitted, his grin widening. “But it also involves giving you the freedom you’ve been chasing. No strings attached.”
