The Game He Played With My Heart

On my five-hundred-and-twentieth flight into Chicago, my boyfriend finally came to the airport for me.

He held a bouquet of air-flown Blue Moon roses, and the diamond ring inside the velvet box caught the terminal lights.

The moment he dropped to one knee, I heard the shocked gasps around us.

“Eliana Lowe,” he said, his gray-blue eyes lifted to mine. “Marry me.”

My fingers tightened around the handle of my suitcase. I held out my hand, my voice already shaking. "Luca, we--"

The ring had barely slid over my finger when Luca laughed. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking over my shoulder at the row of black SUVs idling by the curb.

"Told you she'd say yes. Hand over the key to Warehouse Three."

Laughter burst from the SUVs. Luca's circle spilled into view: casino managers, dock supervisors, rich kids who lived off the Moretti name, and Vivian Gray at the front in pale fur, laughing hard enough to wipe at the corner of her eye.

“No wonder she stayed at your heels for ten years. If I had a pet this obedient, I wouldn’t have the heart to throw it out either.”

Luca smiled and patted my head soothingly.“Eliana, it was just a joke. Don't be angry. I’ll make it up to you later.”

I looked at the ring on my finger, then at the people laughing behind him.

For ten years, I had played along with his games.

This time, I didn’t want to anymore.

Nico, one of the loudest guys in Luca’s circle, lifted his phone and shoved the camera almost into my face. "Get this. Our almost Mrs. Moretti is crying from happiness."

"Mrs. Moretti? Please," someone snorted. "Luca only put her up for one month of North Dock Warehouse Three."

Their laughter rolled through the terminal. I looked at Luca, waiting for him to shut it down, but he only stood and brushed his coat as if the man who had just proposed to me had been someone else. When he caught my expression, he frowned.

"Eliana, don't be like this. It was a bet."

Just a bet. He said it so easily that ten years of waiting suddenly felt like something cheap left on a casino table.

He explained without a hint of shame. A shipment was coming through North Dock, Warehouse Three had the best access, and Vivian had refused to give it up unless he won it from her. If I accepted his proposal, he got the warehouse for a month.

Vivian spread her hands. "I didn't think you'd make it that easy."

The ring was too big. I had to bend my finger to keep it from slipping off, the same way I had bent myself for years to stay beside a man who never quite made room for me.

I let go. The diamond hit the polished floor with a sharp ping and rolled to Luca's shoe. "Next time you need Warehouse Three, ask me. I wrote the port-risk report that got North Dock approved, and my research made that contract possible. You didn't need to turn me into the punchline."

Luca's face darkened. Once, that look would have made me soften my voice and apologize for embarrassing him. This time, I didn't move.

Vivian leaned against the SUV, smiling like she had bought the whole airport. "If you can't take a joke, just say so. Luca was messing around. Don't make us sound like monsters."

She waved the others toward the exit. "Come on. The private room at Spade Casino is waiting. Stop staring at her. She always does this. Give her two days, and she'll crawl back on her own."

The first time I heard them talk about me like that, I had tried to explain myself. It was Luca's birthday. Nico and a few others smeared frosting into my hair and called it a Moretti welcome. I stood there covered in cream and apologized because I was afraid Luca would think I was being dramatic. The frosting stuck so badly I had to cut off the long hair I had kept for years. Luca only looked at me and said, "Short hair suits you too." Back then, I took that as comfort.

As they walked past, Vivian glanced down at the ring near Luca's shoe. "Pick it up. Don't waste it. You can use it again next time."

Luca didn't pick it up. He watched me, waiting for me to bend down, put the ring back on, and pretend nothing had happened.

I lifted my suitcase and walked the other way. No one followed.

A cab took me back to the lake house.

Matthew, the old butler, opened the door and asked carefully, "Miss Lowe, did Mr. Moretti not come back with you?"

Everything that belonged to the Morettis went into one pile. I kept only my own things.

Matthew lingered at the door. "Miss Lowe, are you not coming back? Mr. Moretti has a temper, but he treats you differently. Miss Gray is only an old friend. Her father once took the fall for the family, so he feels responsible for her."

I had heard that excuse until it had no shape left. Debt didn't give Vivian the right to strip my dignity, and caring for her shouldn't always cost me mine.

"Please send these boxes to this address," I said, handing him a note. "Everything that belongs to Luca is in the study."

On my way out, I stopped under the porch. A crooked wooden chair sat there, one arm higher than the other, ridiculous against the expensive lakefront house.

In our third year together, I liked waiting outside for Luca to come home. One winter night, my legs went numb and I fell on the steps. Luca saw the bruise on my knee and said coldly, "Don't wait like this again." I thought he found me annoying.

A few days later, he carried that chair onto the porch. His hands were covered in small cuts from the wood, but all he said was, "Sit if you insist on waiting."

That was the first time I believed his hard mouth hid a soft heart. But that was before Vivian came back to Chicago.

My phone buzzed with Luca's reply to my breakup message.

[Whatever.]

One word turned my last hesitation to ash. I locked the screen, pulled my suitcase into the wind, and didn't look back.