Finally, Serafina’s mask fell away completely, revealing the raw, unmasked truth beneath the polite façade she had worn for weeks.

“You’ve always had feelings for him, haven’t you?” I asked, my voice calm, even, but heavy with the weight of years spent swallowing frustration and resentment. Every syllable carried the bitterness of being sidelined in a game I had once believed we played together.

Serafina met my gaze without hesitation, her poise radiating confidence, as if daring me to challenge her.

“Well,” she began lightly, tilting her head in that insufferably self-assured way of hers, “I’ve always considered him a friend, someone I grew up with, someone close. But after all that’s happened these past few days… I think my feelings may have shifted. Maybe it’s more than friendship now.”

I let out a scoff that I tried to hide behind a neutral expression.

“Love isn’t a crime, is it?” she continued, her tone deceptively casual, as if fate had simply placed her in this position. “Even if you’re still involved with him, there’s no guarantee that things will last, that you’ll be the one standing beside him forever. So… why not let me have him now?”

I couldn’t help the humorless snort that escaped me.

At last, she was honest. No games, no careful façade. Just pure, unfiltered selfishness, elegantly wrapped in sweet words.

“Interesting,” I murmured, a small, almost amused smirk tugging at the corners of my lips. “I was actually considering letting go myself. Be my guest. Take him. He’s clearly yours type—nothing more, nothing less.”

Her confident smile flickered ever so slightly, a fraction of uncertainty, but I offered her no time to recover.

“However,” I added smoothly, tilting my head in deliberate, measured calm, “I make my own choices, too. My clients, my work. And you’ll need someone else to capture your wedding. I won’t be part of your big day.”

I didn’t wait for her to respond. I turned on my heel and walked away, leaving her frozen, words stuck halfway out of her mouth, speechless.

---

After everything Marcello had done earlier that morning, the thought of returning to the apartment filled me with hesitation. I had even gone so far as to block his number. Serafina’s words had confirmed what I had already known in my heart—I had no reason to linger in that space any longer. Only seven days remained before I left the city for Melbourne, and most of my belongings were either packed or sent ahead. The apartment was little more than a temporary storage space now, holding only the absolute essentials.

That evening, I decided to head back to my mother’s house.

When she opened the door and saw me standing there with my bags in hand, the initial shock on her face softened almost immediately, replaced by a warm, welcoming smile that seemed to melt away months of tension.

“I missed you,” I whispered, stepping forward to wrap her in a tight, lingering embrace. “Can I stay with you until I leave for Melbourne?”

Her arms enveloped me firmly, grounding me. “Of course, darling. You’ll always be my little girl, no matter how far you go.”

Her warmth, her gentle voice, reminded me of something I had long neglected—the need for comfort, for security. Since college, I had insisted I was independent, self-sufficient. Yet here I was, seeking refuge in my mother’s embrace, craving the safety I had pretended I didn’t need.

The next morning, as we sat over breakfast, I finally voiced my plans.

“I’m going to start over, Mom. A new identity. I might even take your last name while I’m at it. Is that okay?”

She listened quietly, her gaze soft and understanding. When I finished, she simply smiled, nodding without hesitation.

“If this is what you’ve truly decided, I won’t question it,” she said gently, her tone steady and comforting.

“Thanks, Mom,” I murmured, feeling the weight of her unwavering support settle over me like armor.

---

Three days later, my mother had to leave on a sudden business trip.

“Since you’re here, can you stay and keep an eye on things while I’m away?” she asked, sipping her coffee casually. “The housekeeper will be here, but I need someone to feed the dogs and watch over the house.”

Her two tiny, energetic terriers yipped and bounded around, spoiled and mischievous. I laughed softly.

“Of course, Mom. I’ve got it covered,” I replied.

She nodded, satisfied, then added another request, her voice quieter this time. “Also… I need your help relocating your father’s grave.”

I froze, taken aback by the sudden weight of her words.

“The cemetery is being renovated,” she explained. “I thought it would be better to move him to a larger plot, somewhere more central in the city.”

I hesitated, considering my plans for Melbourne. Originally, I had intended to stay there for only a year, but perhaps I could settle long-term, make it my new base.

“Should we move him to Melbourne, then?” I asked cautiously, unsure if it would feel right.

My mother reached over, squeezing my hand gently. “No, sweetheart. This is where he was born, where his life began. He would have wanted to stay here. If you miss him, you can always come back.”

I nodded, a bittersweet heaviness settling in my chest.

After dropping her off at the airport, I drove straight to my father’s gravesite. I carefully gathered his urn, framed photos, and the small keepsakes left behind, cradling them like fragile treasures. Then, with my mother’s car, I decided to swing by the apartment one last time to retrieve the few remaining items I hadn’t sent ahead. I wanted him to see the place I had called home during college, even if only in memory.

But as soon as I opened the apartment door, I froze.

Marcello and Serafina were there.

Marcello’s eyes widened the instant they landed on me. He stepped forward, curiosity and something more flashing across his features.

“Isabelle… where have you been staying these past few days? Your room’s empty. What does this mean?”

I shrugged casually, my tone carefully detached. “Oh, I heard from Serafina that you two have already set a wedding date. I guess it’s about time I moved out, isn’t it?”

Marcello whirled toward Serafina, confusion and alarm crossing his face.

Serafina dropped her gaze immediately, putting on the mask of innocence. “Sorry, Marcello. My butler was planning to hire her as our wedding photographer. Maybe that’s how Isabelle found out.” She turned back to me, smiling apologetically, her voice sugary and calculated. “But I already told Isabelle—it’s all just an act, nothing real.”

I smirked internally. So this was the web of lies they had spun—perfectly synchronized deceit.

Marcello exhaled sharply and turned back to me, frustration written all over him. “Isabelle… I’ve explained. Everything is a charade. Why won’t you believe me?”

“Oh, I understand perfectly,” I said innocently, tilting my head. “That’s exactly why I made it easy for you to pretend. Imagine if your parents had walked in and seen you still living here. What chaos that would have caused.”

Marcello ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. “Isabelle, my parents would never come here. I wouldn’t allow it. What more do you need from me?”

His desperation bordered on absurdity.

“Right now,” he continued, trying to regain control, “Serafina and I are figuring out a way out of this arranged union. Can you… just calm down?”

Serafina seized the moment, stepping forward with honeyed words dripping with manipulation.

“That’s right, Isabelle. We’ve even considered going abroad with you,” she said, eyes glinting with faux sincerity. “Then you could marry Marcello in secret, without his parents ever knowing.”

I blinked, incredulous.

“We?” I asked, voice flat, dark with disbelief.

Marcello jumped in, as if rehearsed. “Yes. The three of us. My parents will think I married Serafina, but in truth… it will be you.”

I let out a humorless chuckle, the corners of my mouth twitching.

“The three of us, huh?” I repeated, voice laced with mockery. “How… convenient.”

Serafina’s confidence faltered, replaced with theatrical desperation. She fell to her knees, clutching my hand with an exaggerated grip.

“Isabelle… what about me?” she whimpered, her tone thick with calculated distress. “My parents would be furious. I’d have nowhere to go.”

As she spoke, she shook my arm deliberately, her grip tight.

I yanked my hand back instinctively. The urn I had been holding slipped from my grasp, falling with a soft but jarring thud.

Time seemed to stretch, almost to the point of distortion, as the porcelain urn slipped from my grasp and crashed onto the marble floor, exploding into a constellation of jagged fragments. The ashes that had been contained within scattered across the tiles like gray dust caught in a sudden storm, drifting as if carried by invisible currents of betrayal.

For a moment, the world stilled. Even the hum of the city outside—the honking cars, the distant voices, the clatter of life—felt muffled, insignificant.

Then Serafina let out a shrill, theatrically pained scream, flailing backward as if performing for some unseen audience. Her body landed directly on the scattered shards.

“Argh!” she shrieked, the sound sharp and deliberate, a mixture of genuine pain and carefully feigned suffering.

A few pieces of glass pierced her wrist, leaving thin, crimson lines that caught the light. Before I could even process the scene, a shard found its way to my foot, sending a scorching spike of pain through my nerves. But nothing, absolutely nothing, matched the ache of seeing my father’s ashes—his final legacy—splayed across the floor, desecrated.

Marcello reacted instantly, surging toward Serafina with the frantic energy of a man desperate to control a situation spiraling out of his grasp. He scooped her into his arms, his grip tight and possessive. “Serafina! Stay with me! Don’t close your eyes! Are you with me?” His tone was sharp, urgent, almost panicked.

And then, almost violently, his gaze snapped toward me. Rage contorted his otherwise handsome features into something raw and dangerous.

“Why would you bring something so volatile into my home?” he spat, his voice coiling like a whip. “Look at the mess! Did you intend to hurt her, Isabelle? Did you?!”

I froze.

Did he just—call my father’s urn dangerous?

He didn’t inquire about the shard embedded in my foot. He didn’t glance at my trembling hands or the pain etched across my features. His concern, as always, was directed entirely at Serafina—the girl who had engineered the entire incident for attention. I was invisible in that moment.

Serafina whimpered softly, curling into him as though seeking protection. Her chest rose and fell sharply, breath hitching, before she finally collapsed, fainting into Marcello’s arms.

“Serafina? Serafina!” Marcello’s voice cracked as he shook her gently, his desperation raw. Without a glance in my direction, he hoisted her higher and stormed toward the door, urgency propelling his every step.

Before he disappeared from sight, he threw me one last, venomous glare.

“If anything happens to her,” he hissed, teeth clenched, “you will answer for it, Isabelle. Do you understand me?”

I stood frozen, surrounded by shattered porcelain and my father’s scattered ashes. The cold marble pressed against my knees, cutting through my dress, yet Marcello didn’t see me. He didn’t see the blood trickling from my foot or the tremor in my hands. His world consisted solely of Serafina—the girl who had orchestrated her own disaster.

A hollow emptiness crept into me, heavy and suffocating. Slowly, trembling, I crouched and began to gather the pieces of the urn, treating each shard as if it could absorb my grief, as if it could somehow stitch together the fragments of my broken heart.

Tears blurred my vision, relentless and hot, as my throat tightened with unspoken sorrow. “I’m sorry, Dad,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the pounding of my own pulse.

It was impossible to tell which cut deeper: the violation of my father’s memory or Marcello’s unyielding betrayal. After everything, why did it still sting so sharply to watch him choose Serafina over me? Why did the familiar ache of disappointment gnaw at my chest, unrelenting, cruel?

As I collected the last shards, the bitter truth hit me like shards of glass themselves. I had spent days away, hiding at my mother’s house, and Marcello hadn’t come once to find me. He knew exactly where I was—but he didn’t care enough to show.

From the start, I had known the truth—he never intended to make what we had permanent. That was why he insisted we conceal it from my mother. But I had been foolish, desperate enough to trust him. I had believed he would make things right on my graduation day, finally claim me, finally honor what we had shared.

The last twenty-four hours shattered that illusion. I had been the one always reaching, always mending, always begging to salvage something broken. But no more. I was done.

Hands trembling, I gathered the remaining urn fragments and ashes, inhaling shakily before straightening. I packed the final pieces of my belongings into the car, steeling myself for the last journey to my father’s resting place.

The following day, I visited the U.S. Embassy to collect my approved visa, passport, and newly issued identification. Stepping out onto the streets, a peculiar lightness filled my chest—a fragment of the weight I had carried for so many years lifting, though the ache lingered stubbornly.

Night fell, and with it, a gnawing emptiness. The countless years spent bending to Marcello’s whims, my silent loyalty, the endless compromises—all crashed down over me in an unrelenting wave. For the first time, I went to a club, a place I had avoided my entire life. I had spent years performing the role of the “perfect girl,” the dutiful partner, and none of it had mattered. Marcello had abandoned me too many times; tonight, the tables had turned. Tonight, it was I who walked away.

Initially, I was cautious. Every man who approached was met with measured distance, a defensive armor built from years of careful observation. But as the hours passed, as alcohol coursed through my veins and dulled the sharp edges of my vigilance, I allowed myself to loosen. The music wrapped around me, drowning out the day’s pain, letting me drift free, if only briefly.

Someone drew closer, a tall figure with dark, unreadable eyes and a smirk that hinted at both mischief and understanding. He didn’t touch me. He didn’t need to. He simply studied me, assessing, waiting.

“Are you new here?” he asked finally, his voice low, casual, but edged with something dangerous, something knowing.

I turned toward him, narrowing my eyes. “Why do you ask?”

“You look around too much,” he replied, a faint chuckle tugging at his lips. “The regulars don’t do that. They already know what’s what. You… seem like someone trying to forget.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Aren’t we all?”

Understanding flickered in his gaze, subtle but unmistakable. He extended a hand. “Then maybe we can forget together.”

I hesitated, then, without overthinking, took it. Even swayed by the alcohol, I maintained control, aware of my boundaries. As the room began to tilt and spin, I stepped back carefully, a small, deliberate measure of self-preservation.

The last thing I remember before everything blurred was him asking if I needed a ride home, calm and patient, a hint of care threading through his voice.

The next morning, I woke in an unfamiliar bed, sunlight cutting across crisp, foreign sheets.

I slowly pushed myself upright, pressing my palms against my temples, trying to piece together the fractured memories of the previous night. My dress clung to me in uneven folds, crumpled from sleep, and my heels had been abandoned near the door, a silent testament to my exhaustion and recklessness. The room had clearly been booked under my name—my own choice, my own mess. No one else to blame but me.

The pounding in my head wouldn’t allow me to linger. Every nerve screamed for relief, for something warm and grounding. I dragged myself toward a nearby café, each step heavy and deliberate. By the time I arrived, the place was packed with the lunchtime crowd, the murmur of voices pressing against my senses like a tide I couldn’t escape.

A bowl of steaming broth arrived before me, the rich aroma sharp against the dull fog in my mind. I stirred it slowly, hoping warmth might revive my scattered thoughts.

Then, a voice cut through the buzz—low, deliberate, and impossible to ignore:

“Isabelle.”

I froze, my hands tightening around the bowl. The tone was familiar, weighted with authority and expectation—the kind that always demanded attention. “What are you doing here?”

I let out a snort, not looking up. “Eating. What does it look like?”

He ignored the sarcasm entirely, his dark eyes scanning me as if measuring my worth, my fragility, my state of mind. “You’re not well. What’s wrong?”

“Why do you even care?” I muttered, stirring the soup with calculated indifference, hoping my disinterest would drive him away.

Marcello slid into the seat beside me with the casual confidence of a man used to commanding every room. “Isabelle, I—”

“Save it,” I cut him off, my voice sharp, slicing through the din. “Go back to your colleagues, Don Marcello. No need to waste your performative concern here. Everyone knows you’re set to marry Serafina. Don’t pretend for me.”

His jaw tightened, ready to fire back, but the words caught in my ears as a wave of dizziness swept over me. My vision blurred, the spoon slipped from my fingers, and then darkness claimed me, the last thing I registered being the panic etched across his face.

When my eyes fluttered open, I was somewhere familiar—the apartment. The faint scent of his cologne lingered on a damp towel pressed to my forehead. Slowly, I turned my head to find Marcello sitting close by, brows furrowed, his expression tense with concern.

“You’re awake,” he murmured, adjusting the cloth carefully.

“What…?” I croaked, still disoriented.

“You fainted at the café,” he explained quietly. “High fever. I brought you here before anything worse could happen.”

I attempted to push myself upright, but his hand pressed gently against my shoulder, halting me. “Don’t move too much,” he instructed. “Just rest. That’s an order.”

I wanted to argue—God, I wanted to—but the softness of the blanket, the gentle pressure of his hand, and the exhaustion clawing at my bones rendered me silent.

For hours, he tended to me like a man protecting something precious, though I despised myself for letting any part of me feel comforted by him. He coaxed me to sip warm water, dabbed my forehead with the damp towel, and tucked the blanket around me each time I shifted.

A dangerous, nearly forbidden part of me felt safe again, and I hated it.

He prepared a small bowl of porridge, blowing on the spoon before lifting it to my lips. “Eat,” he coaxed.

I hesitated, then allowed a tiny bite. Relief softened his features, and for a brief, almost cruel moment, I felt it again—that magnetic pull that had kept me tethered to him for so long. That perilous sensation of being wanted, of being essential…

But which Marcello was this? The one who treated me with care, whose gaze seemed to measure me as more than just a pawn? Or the Marcello who had abandoned me, traded me for Serafina, and silenced me with every betrayal?

A part of me wanted to believe in him, the man I had first fallen for, the man I had trusted completely.

“Isabelle,” he whispered, concern thick in his voice, “you’re burning up.”

I shivered despite the warm afternoon sun outside the café window. “It’s just a mild cold,” I said, attempting to downplay it.

“Just a mild cold?” He crouched in front of me, calm but decisive. Without hesitation, he shrugged off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.

I forced a weak laugh. “And you? Don’t you feel cold?”

His smirk was dangerous, confident. “Do you think I’d ever let someone I care about freeze while I stay warm?”

Back then, he had made me a priority. Picking me up after meetings, leaning against his sleek car with that infuriating grin, waiting with patience that bordered on indulgent. We’d wander the streets of the city, invisible to everyone else, steal moments no one would understand, linger in dim cafés for hours, as if the entire world had been folded just for us.

I blinked, returning to the present, as he brushed a stray lock of hair from my face.

“You should rest,” he murmured. “I’ll be here when you wake up. No one else matters right now.”

My body surrendered, weighed down by exhaustion too heavy to resist. Sleep—or something like it—claimed me, letting me drift into the orbit of his dangerous gravity.

Morning arrived. I found myself curled against him, his arm serving as my pillow. His eyes fluttered open as I stirred, and a small gasp escaped him.

“Isabelle,” he murmured, voice thick with sleep, hand instinctively reaching to my forehead.

Feeling the fever had broken, he exhaled sharply, pulling me into a protective embrace. “Thank God,” he whispered into my hair. “You scared me yesterday.”

I searched his eyes, desperate for the truth. Did loyalty, or love, still bind him to me? Could I ever trust him again?

Then his phone rang, the ringtone slicing through the fragile calm. The name on the screen twisted my stomach: Serafina.

I clenched my jaw, words slow and deliberate. “Marcello… can you stay here with me? Ignore her.”

He shook his head without hesitation. “I can’t. She’s probably in the hospital. I need to answer.”

Grabbing his jacket, phone pressed to his ear, he left me staring at the empty apartment. There it was—his truth, unchanged and unforgiving.

I let out a bitter, humorless laugh, curling my fingers into the blanket. A small, grim smile spread across my lips. “Yesterday… I must have lost my mind. Well… no regrets remain. Nothing to hold me back now.”

I retrieved my bag, pulled out a sheet of paper, and wrote my final words to him. Placing the letter on the nightstand beside the old token he had given me—a relic of trust—I felt a subtle weight lift from my shoulders.

That afternoon, I met my mother at the airport, freshly returned from her business trip.

“You parked the car?” she asked, her usual carefulness in every movement.

“Yes, Mom. Valet.”

She smiled, adjusting my coat as though I were still a child leaving for school. “Take care of yourself. Don’t forget to call me, okay?”

I swallowed, hugging her tightly. Through every move, every dream chased, every risk taken, she had remained my anchor.

Stepping back, I met her teary gaze, reminiscent of my graduation day—but this time, I didn’t cry. This time, relief washed over me.

Because finally, irreversibly, I had erased him from my life.

From this day forward, I would chase my own sun, free from Marcello’s shadow, from the chaos of his empire, from the dangerous pull of his loyalty to anyone but me.