She staggered back, her voice filled w
with despair. “But the whole city is saying lorizo waits to marry you the west to his father and knelt all night, just to cancel his engagement to make
“So what does that make me? 1 hired an etiquette coach. I’m kering you tidalous rates. But he still calls me crate, I’m a fa to all those society women. They say I’m not fit to be the bear’s wite
“He was the one who said he liked my wild personality, that he loved how I wasn’t We you, boring carentes, tow he says I have no manners and I’m an embarrassment. How is that Laz?”
She grew more agitated, her eyes suddenly glaring at me with raw hatred “r’s you! This is all your fade Whe a vicon gian, marrying an old man just to get Lorenzo’s attention. He only despises me because of you you were dead, be world on and yo wouldn’t cancel our wedding
Her hand darted for her boot, but before she could draw what was hidden there, a talk shop wouts, stess (but sharply to the side, sending her sprawling across the floor. He had been standing in the forway, wettest
Chiara scrambled to her feet and pulled a small, widered–bolding knife from her boot. “Thaw to Kill fasted Only when thes dead will Lorenzo’s heart belong to me alone!”
Before she could lunge, Giovanni’s bodyguards were on her, pinning her to the ground.
“The her up,” Giovanni commanded, his voice deadly calm. “Send her back to Lorenzo to be dede with Tell kis later this is the woman his son chose, and she just tried to assassinate the Don’s fiancée”
“Alessia, I’ll get you for this!” Chiara shrieked hysterically as she was dragged away,
I was still shaken. “How did you get here?” I asked Giovanni.
He held out a velvet jewelry box. Inside was an exquisite diamond tiara, sparding under the light. “This belonged to my mother. She said that when I married, my wife should wear it. I think she would have approved of you”
The white wedding gown and the diamond tiara lay side by side on my bed. We looked at each other and smiled.
The day before my wedding to Giovanni, Lorenzo’s house arrest was finally lifted.
He sent over a set of diamond jewelry as a wedding gift, with a note saying it was an apology for Chiara’s offense. 1 acorged, A course. Who was I to turn down a small fortune?
On my wedding day, Giovanni and I held the ceremony in the small chapel on the estate. As we were out to return to the main house, I heard Lorenzo’s voice. “Father sent me to deliver a gift to you, Don Giovanni, and… to you. This antique vase is to wish you both a long and happy life together.”
I lifted my head and saw him trying to see my face through the thin veil of my wedding dress, but Giovanni quickly wrapped a protective arm around me and led me away, my world a blissful, shimmering blur of white.
I heard later that Lorenzo got dead drunk at the reception and had to be carried home by his bodyguards.
The next day, 1 accompanied Giovanni to visit the family elders. We found Lorenzo kneeling before his father “Father, please allow me to go to America to handle our business there. The problems at the West Coast docks have dragged on for too long. I wish to serve the family,”
His father frowned. “But you’re about to be married. You can go after the wedding”
Lorenzo’s fare was grim. “I don’t wish to marry right now. Not until I’ve accomplished something significant for the family and proven my worth.”
Just as Lorenzo was making his case, a commotion erupted outside. A maid rushed in “Sir, the arms dealer and Miss Chiara arw here. They say it’s urgent.”
Chapter 7
+15 Bonus
The arms dealer and Chiara entered, and Chiara immediately fell to her knees. “Sir, you must help me!”
“Lorenzo refuses to marry me. But sir… I’m carrying Lorenzo’s child. Lorenzo, do you want our deaths on your conscience?”
Her words stunned everyone in the room. Isabella immediately said, “Call the family doctor, now!”
After a brief examination, the doctor nodded. “Miss Chiara is indeed over a month pregnant. Her emotional state is unstable, which is not good for the fetus. She needs complete rest,”
The arms dealer’s voice boomed, “Sir, she is my only daughter. If Lorenzo hadn’t slept with her, I could have found another suitable husband. But now she carries his child, and he refuses to marry her. Is this justice?”
“I have supplied this family with arms my whole life and served you loyally, all so that my daughter could be happy, not
heartbroken and ruined.”
“Please, understand a father’s feelings. If Lorenzo won’t marry my daughter, he must answer for it.”
Giovanni, standing to the side, spoke coldly. “Lorenzo, you are the family’s heir. You will take responsibility for your actions.”
Lorenzo’s father sighed heavily. “Make the arrangements. You and Chiara will be married next month.”
Lorenzo’s wedding date was set, and Chiara was once again triumphant.
But on their wedding day, Lorenzo brought two mistresses with him to the reception. And on their wedding night, he didn’t stay in Chiara’s room. He publicly spent the night in the room of one of his mistresses.
I heard that Chiara went mad with rage the next day and had the two women locked in the cellar for an entire day. When word reached Isabella, she sent someone to reprimand her, stating that a man like Lorenzo would never have only one woman, and for a wife to make such a public scene showed she possessed none of the grace required of a matriarch.
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