It felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart.

I had never imagined that Enzo would mock me with words like that.

Who did he think he was? Who did he think I was?

Also, what did he mean by saying that? Was he breaking up with me?

I stared at him without moving.

He grew uneasy under my gaze and looked away first.

I knew he was recalling all these years we had shared.

We had been together so long and always supported each other. We had never hurt each other.

Something fundamental had changed.

He clearly cared about Lucrezia more than me.

“Lucrezia is reasonable. She wouldn’t take it to heart. Just apologize to her, and we can put this behind us.”

A single sentence had shown me that six years of trust, love, and promises were all gone.

I shook my head. My voice came out soft. “I’d never.”

Enzo’s tone turned cold and sharp. “Amelia, is this really how you want to play it?”

How else was I playing it?

Every word out of his mouth felt more absurd than the last.

Suddenly, I did not want to fight for any of it anymore.

“I’ve always been like this, Enzo. You didn’t meet me yesterday.”

I pushed them out and slammed the door.

I sat back down in the chair and stared at the transfer notice again.

Less than an hour remained.

The transfer would go into effect in the next hour.

I would have to leave this city I had lived in for eleven years and go to Bellarosa for the first time in my life. I did not know a single thing about that place.

Yet I still did not press cancel.

I simply sat there and watched the countdown tick away.

The display eventually switched to “Confirmed.”

I exhaled slowly.

It turned out that leaving Enzo was not that difficult, after all.

In fact, it felt as though something deep inside me had finally let go.

My phone lit up.

Texts from my best friend Layla Pedro came pounding in like bullets.

[Amelia, I just ran into your fiance at the bar!

[Enzo and Lucrezia are here! Your family is all assembled there too!

[They’re insane. They’re cheering him on to do a mouth-to-mouth shot with her! My goodness, that woman is practically glued to him!]

Then, she sent me a video.

The camera shook violently. The lights were low and red.

Enzo was surrounded in a booth, his suit undone and his tie crooked. He had a broad grin on his face.

Lucrezia pressed up next to him with her face against his shoulder. She blushed as the crowd cheered.

Someone shouted, “Don Vitelli, rules are rules! You lost. You have to either do a mouth-to-mouth shot with a lady here, or you call your fiancée Amelia to come get you! Pick one!”

“Yes, yes, call her! Let’s see if Amelia will do you the favor and show up!”

The energy surged to a fever pitch.

Everyone knew we were fighting. They delighted in the drama, egging it on even more.

Lucrezia looked at him with eyes full of hope.

Enzo furrowed his brow, clearly irritated by the noise.

After a few seconds of silence, he pulled out his phone.

Lucrezia’s face went pale instantly.

The call connected.

Enzo’s voice was flat. “Amelia, I got carried away earlier, but I’m calm now. Come over and apologize to Lucrezia in person. We’ll forget what happened before.”

I said nothing.

Enzo’s patience burned out fast. “Say something! Is it that hard for you to swallow your pride and say you’re sorry?”

“Yes, Enzo. I did nothing wrong. You want me to apologize? Over my dead body.”

“Fine! Amelia, you have some nerve!”

He roared with anger, “In that case, listen from the other end while I kiss her in front of everyone!”

I immediately hung up.

Layla’s video came through again.

The footage was chaotic. Enzo had smashed a glass. Liquor was spilled all over the table.

Lucrezia’s voice trembled. There were tears in her eyes. “Don Vitelli, let’s stop the game. Please don’t be mad.”

“Who says we’re stopping?”

Enzo suddenly looked up and stared straight at the camera.

He had known Layla was recording the whole time.

“Don’t bother hiding. Keep filming! Let your best friend watch who I’m kissing right now!”

He grabbed the back of Lucrezia’s neck.

Amid the crowd’s gasps, he kissed her fiercely.

In spite of myself, my heart still ached at the sight of that.

However, the sting came fast and faded just as quickly.

I turned off the video and went back to clearing my things off the desk.

Enzo and I stopped speaking entirely.

To be precise, I had stopped speaking to him entirely.

His last text before the silent treatment was this.

[Did you cancel the transfer?]

[That’s none of your concern.]

[You’ll cancel it. We’ve been together six years. You can’t leave me, Amelia. You must apologize to Lucrezia. Until you do that, I’m not saying another word to you.]

I blocked him and blacklisted him.

Three days before I was to leave for Bellarosa, one of Enzo’s associates came looking for me.

“Ms. Ross, Don Vitelli is hosting a victory celebration party tomorrow night. He insists that you attend.”

I could not get out of it. So I went.

When I walked into the banquet hall, I understood exactly why they had made me come.

Lucrezia was standing by the entrance in a strapless lace dress. She was beaming like a flower in full bloom.

When she saw me, she glided over all warm and sweet. “Amelia, there you are! Come in! I’m co-hosting this party with Don Vitelli.”

Her tone was as sweet as cream. “It’s my birthday today. So I begged Don Vitelli to move his victory party to tonight so we could do it together.”

I said nothing.

After all, even though nobody said it out loud, everyone knew by that point that Enzo and I were done.

So for her cheap little show, I could not even bother to feel a thing.

After greeting some friends I knew, I found a seat in the corner. I planned to wait it out until the party ended and then leave.

Enzo, however, came over.

He arrogantly stood before me. His voice was controlled but simmering with anger. “Amelia, why are you hiding here? Sit at the main table.”

I refused.

He took a deep breath and lowered his voice through clenched teeth. “You’ve had me blocked for eleven days. Are you still not over it? Do you have to embarrass me in an event like this?”

I remained silent.

His words drew the attention of those around us.

Some close friends jumped in to smooth things over, gently but insistently guiding me to the main table.

Enzo’s pride was bruised, but he chose to let it go.

I noticed an empty seat beside him.

A moment later, Lucrezia glided over and sat down with effortless composure.

“Amelia,” she said, her eyes curving as she beamed a smile. “Enzo and I were just talking about going hunting next week. He said he would teach me how to shoot. Will you come with us?”

My hand, which was holding a wine glass, stiffened.

I remembered not long ago, when Enzo had promised he would take me to Mount Alderpeak hunting grounds once the busy period was over. He said he would teach me how to use a sniper rifle.

He had said he had a little surprise for me.

At that time, his ears had gone red when he said it. His voice had carried that rare nervous edge.

But now my heartbeat was steady, and a wave of nausea churned in my stomach.

I recalled the video from that night at the bar, the image of them kissing.

“You should go without me. I’ve been busy lately. I can’t get away.”

I raised my glass. My gaze was emotionless.

Lucrezia’s eyes lit up instantly. A grin was spreading almost ear to ear.

Enzo’s expression, however, was as dark as storm clouds.

He suddenly grabbed my wrist under the table. His grip was so tight that it felt like my bones were being crushed.

After the party ended, he cornered me in the hallway outside the restroom.

“Amelia, what was that about?”

“Nothing.”

“How long are you going to keep this up? Didn’t you already cancel the transfer? Lucrezia said she was going to tell you. You just happened to find out first. She would’ve told you herself even if you hadn’t.”

Really? I did not believe that.

However, I did not want to argue about it again with Enzo.

“Oh, how nice of her.” My tone was so indifferent that it was as if I was talking to a stranger.

“Drop that attitude,” he growled. “I’m picking you up for Mount Alderpeak tomorrow morning at seven. You promised you’d go.”

Then, he turned and walked away.

At seven the next morning, I stood by the window and watched the two of them downstairs in front of my building. They were ready to depart for the trip.

Enzo called me.

I hung up.

He called again.

I hung up again.

Finally, his voice carried up from the street below, loud enough to reach me through two floors.

“Amelia, do you have to be so unreasonable? Fine. If this is how you want to play it, you can forget about ever going anywhere with me for the rest of your life!”

After that shout, he revved the engine and drove off with Lucrezia.

All weekend, my social media feed was flooded with their hunting photos.

[Taking my beautiful assistant out to practice her shooting today.]

[The girl complained about hunting the rabbits, saying they were too cute.]

[Lucrezia was so delicate. She was struggling to keep up, so I had no choice but to carry her the entire time.]

Under each post were likes and pointed comments from family members.

[Oh? Why are you going with Lucrezia this time? Where is Amelia?]

[Looks like the fiancee’s spot might be changing hands.]

[She is young and pretty after all. You’re a lucky guy, Enzo.]

[Enzo, go easy on the little lady, or you’ll have to calm her down when she cries later.]

Layla was so angry that she threw her phone in front of me.

“That jerk did it on purpose! He’s just trying to get under your skin!”

Get under my skin?

When I looked at the photos, my mind was as calm as a frozen lake in winter. I even found it slightly amusing.

I flew to Bellarosa as scheduled.

When I walked out of the airport, the warm wind of Bellarosa hit me.

It carried the scent of olive trees and the sea, completely unlike the cold, diesel-laden air of New Avalon.

Early in the morning, I was sipping coffee and adjusting to the overly bright sunlight on the balcony, when my mother, Ivanka Ross, called.

“Amelia, Don Vitelli showed up at the house first thing this morning. He kept saying you were still mad at him and wouldn’t see him. What’s going on with you two?”

My stomach dropped.

Oh, no.

I had planned to gently break the news of our breakup to my family. I never expected Enzo to show up at their door first.

My mother sounded puzzled. “I told him you left yesterday, but he wouldn’t believe it. He insisted on coming upstairs to find you.”

In the background, the line was noisy. I could hear Enzo shouting in a frantic and impatient tone.

“Stop covering for her, Ivanka. Can you tell her to stop this already? Doesn’t she know we had plans today? We promised to try on the wedding attire today! Even if she’s angry, she can’t delay this!”

My mother tried to explain. “Enzo, Amelia really left. I took her to the airport yesterday.”

“Yesterday? The airport?”

Enzo’s voice cut off abruptly, as if someone had grabbed his throat. “Why would she go to the airport?”

“Hasn’t she been transferred to Bellarosa?” my mother said, even more confused. “Didn’t you know about her job transfer?”

A dead silence fell over the line.

All that could be heard was Enzo’s heavy, disbelieving breaths.

I stopped listening and calmly hung up the phone.