On the way back, Lorenzo's phone buzzed against the leather seat more than once. Every message was from Adriana, asking whether he'd made it back to the compound safely.

I unlocked the screen, meaning to send some polite reply for him.

Instead, I saw the thread he kept with one of his own circle.

【The sham betrothal is my last play. If she still won't cross back over, then I really will have to let her go.】

【Put the word out in the family that the alliance union is happening. Don't say anything more to anyone else.】

My finger stopped where it pressed against the screen, and I shut the phone off all at once.

My breathing turned ragged before I could stop it.

No matter how wide I opened my mouth, the air wouldn't seem to reach my chest.

The tears slid down from the corners of my eyes, freer and fiercer now.

No wonder he'd suddenly offered me the pact three days ago.

No ring, no home behind the family walls, no betrothal gift laid before our fathers.

Only one line: don't breathe a word of it to my family.

I'd thought he felt some shame for denying me the proper rites, thought eight years of devotion had finally moved something in him.

I never imagined the union I'd waited eight years for was nothing more than a chip thrown on the table to bait Adriana Falcone back across the line.

The last thread of reluctance I'd held onto for this betrothal finally burned out completely.

All I could do was keep comforting myself.

Since I'd already decided to slip away to the family's overseas territory, none of what they did had anything to do with me anymore.

By the time the car rolled through the gates and we reached the house, Lorenzo had sobered some. He walked straight to the bathroom to wash up.

I made him the honey water Adriana had described, every step the way she'd laid it out.

These were the last three days. I didn't want to leave myself any regrets in this betrothal.

I'd just sat down on the couch when Don Bruno called. The line was a clean one, the kind the family kept for matters that couldn't travel on the open air.

He wanted to talk about handing off my standing here before I left for his overseas operation.

The moment the call ended, Lorenzo's irritated voice cut in out of nowhere.

"Leave? Where are you going?"

He was toweling his dripping hair with one hand, his face blank as he questioned me.

I handed him the honey water and answered evenly.

"It's nothing. Family business out of town."

He couldn't be bothered to think about it, or maybe he simply didn't care about anything that touched me.

He took the cup and lowered his head to drink, only to find the honey stirred into it.

His brows knotted instantly.

He snapped at me, his voice angry.

"Who taught you that?"

"Don't go listening to whatever you hear from the wrong people. What works for one doesn't work for everybody."

He set the cup down hard on the table, deliberate enough that the sound carried, and turned to go back to the bedroom.

A bitter smile rose to my lips before I could help it.

Of course. The Falcone girl's method wasn't something I was allowed to borrow.

The next day was the date we'd set for the alliance photographs, the ones meant to be passed between the two bloodlines as proof the union was real.

Lorenzo woke acting like nothing had happened, his manner toward me as cold as ever.

But after seeing how tender he turned with Adriana in that private room, I could never again believe the coldness was simply his nature.

The moment we finished eating and made ready to go out, he glanced at his phone.

He spoke up suddenly. "Let's not take the photographs at the park. Let's go to a school instead. I hear that's the fashion now."

My hands froze over the dishes I was clearing.

"Sure, whatever. We'll do it your way."

I knew exactly why he'd changed his mind at the last hour.

Because that morning Adriana had let it slip across her circle that she was visiting her old school, missing the place where she'd grown up before the families sent her abroad.

I didn't call out the childish lie to his face. I simply didn't want to shame myself with the betrothal this close to its end.

There was only a day and a half left before I crossed over to Don Bruno's territory. I wanted to leave us both some dignity.

I'd already guessed how the day would go before we left, so I'd chosen an alliance gown I could actually walk in.

The photographer led us out onto the school field. Lorenzo gazed off into the distance for a long while, until at last he found a familiar figure waiting in the shade beneath the trees.

He didn't say a word to me. The next second, he turned and walked straight off to find Adriana.

I looked at the bewildered photographer and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry to bring you all this way for nothing. Let's call it a day. You'll still be paid in full."

The gown I'd chosen was cut for movement, but crossing that schoolyard track in heels was nearly impossible, the thin spikes catching in the grit between the lanes.

By the time I finally reached Lorenzo, he was deep in conversation with Adriana, all animated smiles and easy chatter, the kind of ease our families had spent eight years pretending didn't cross bloodlines.

His groom's jacket lay tossed carelessly on the ground.

The moment his eyes landed on me, his brow furrowed hard.

As if terrified I'd let something slip and expose what the betrothal pact between us really was, right there in front of a Falcone.

He spoke quickly.

"What are you doing here? I'm just talking with an old friend for a bit."

My face froze. I forced my lips into a smile.

"There's business at the club I didn't finish, so I have to head back. I'm in the gown and didn't bring my phone, so I came over to tell you in person."

A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

The old me would have soured on the spot, but this time I didn't say a word more. I had no wish to be an eyesore in front of him.

His expression eased. He gave a nod and said nothing.

I turned and walked off, my ankles rolling with every step.

The voices behind me grew faint, hard to make out.

"Don't read into it. It was just a photographer's setup, and they insisted on shooting me with her—"

I wasn't lying. After I got back, I spent the whole day at the social club, signing off my obligations and handing my work to the associates who'd cover for me.

But when I came home that night, he'd unexpectedly set out dinner and was waiting for me.

The instant I walked in, he tucked his phone away, his expression a little awkward, the cufflink at his wrist turning slow between his thumb and finger.

"You're back. Why so late today? Dinner's ready. This morning, seeing you in that gown, you looked like you'd lost some weight..."

My steps paused for a beat.

Had I lost weight?

It seemed I'd barely eaten since the moment I saw those photos.

Now, looking at the table piled with heavy, oil-slicked dishes, my brow drew tight.

"You eat. I have no appetite. I'm going to rest."

As I turned, the heel-blistered, broken skin on my ankle came into Lorenzo's view.

I'd just stepped into the bedroom when he came up to me carrying the first-aid kit, the same one the Family doctor kept stocked in every safehouse, the one men reached for after worse nights than this.

In all my memory, this seemed to be the first time in eight years he'd shown me any concern.

A pity the wound had already scabbed over, and I no longer needed him.

I gently declined his kindness. Lorenzo's face darkened a shade.

He went back out and brought a slice of cake, setting it on the nightstand.

"I'm sorry. This morning I really didn't expect her to show up at that school. Someone you've known that long, you can't just not say hello when you run into them. Don't overthink it, I—"

Before he could finish, I glanced at the cake on the nightstand and cut him off.

"I quit sugar a long time ago. I only eat boiled vegetables now. Did you forget?"

To be in peak shape for the alliance union, I'd lived almost like a cloistered nun for nearly a week.

He hadn't cared in the slightest.

After all our years bound by the pact, his first attempt to bend was met with one refusal after another.

Lorenzo's expression finally hardened, settling back into its usual cold remove, the cufflink going still between his fingers.

This time he turned and walked out of the room, and didn't come back in.

By the small hours, my stomach was growling.

When I got up and tiptoed out for water, I caught the faint glow of his phone screen in the dark of the living room.

The light fell across Lorenzo's face. His fingers flew across the keys, his eyes crinkled with a smile, the kind he never wore for me.

I remembered him saying he never stayed up late, which was why he wouldn't see in the New Year at my side, and my heart cooled a few degrees more.

I didn't get the water. I just turned and went back to the room.

The last day was the one we'd set for the families to sanction the union, the signatures that would have made it as binding as a blood oath.

The moment I walked out of the room, he was already nowhere to be found.

Not a word of explanation. Not a single message.

Out of habit, I opened Adriana's feed, and sure enough, she'd posted an update: laid up at the Family doctor's safehouse, an IV line in her arm.

【When will you ever learn to take care of yourself? Ten years gone, and you still have to lean on him.】

A grown woman who knew exactly what she was allergic to, and somehow she ends up on a drip. I knew how that trick was played. Tilt the head, drop the voice to a wounded whisper a half-second before the tears come, and let a man rush in to catch her.

I had no way of proving it, and no wish to waste more time on her.

I spent the whole day packing my bags.

By evening, Lorenzo still hadn't appeared.

He'd only sent one message about being held up on business.

I looked at those few words on the screen, full of scorn.

He wouldn't even bother to think up a decent lie.

The day before, I'd reached his capo on a monitored line, and the man had gone out of his way to say they'd cleared Lorenzo's obligations so he could take his wedding leave with peace of mind.

I supposed he was "held up on business" at the safehouse right about now, holding her hand.

In the dead of night, the countdown on my phone screen finally turned to zero.

I made do on the couch for the night, and the next morning, after washing up, I headed straight for the airport, to the plane that would carry me to the allied family's overseas territory.

On the way, I couldn't help feeling relieved.

Thank God the union was a sham and I hadn't told my own bloodline. Otherwise I really wouldn't have known how to explain fleeing an alliance to my father, what dishonor it would have dragged across our name.

The moment I stepped into the terminal, I called Lorenzo to end it.

The phone rang exactly once before he cut it off.

Then he sent a voice message.

His tone dripping with impatience.

"I'll be there soon, what's the rush? I said we're having the union, what, you think I'm going to run off?"

"Adriana checked out early just to make it, and got caught in a wreck on the way over. Can't you be a little more reasonable?"

"You keep my people entertained for now. I've got something to tell you today."

When the message finished playing, I tapped out a text to him, my face blank.

【Let's end it. I'm leaving the wedding to the two of you.】