For Three Years, I Loved the Man Who Betrayed My Mother

I waited five hours, until the last light in the building went dark. Only then did Lorenzo's figure appear. The moment he saw me, he took my hand, all concern. "Why didn't you come up? How long have you been standing out here?"

"Not long. I just got here. I know how busy the Family's kept you, so I brought you something I cooked myself. The man at the door said you were in a sit-down, so I waited."

"Don't do this again. You're not strong enough to wear yourself out like this. If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself." He spoke as he drew me into his arms and kissed my forehead. Every motion was as gentle, as devoted as it had always been, but I could no longer feel any warmth in it. Could a man really go this far for another woman?

He settled me into the passenger seat, then mentioned it lightly as he drove, the way a man mentions a thing he has rehearsed. "By the way. Adriana's vendetta is being lifted soon. The two of you were close once, and she's paid what was owed. Besides, the Gallos have business running with the Corsinis these days. So perhaps—"

"It's fine. It's all in the past. I won't go looking for her. Don't worry."

He exhaled, relief loosening his shoulders, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Thank you for understanding, tesoro. Having you is a blessing."

I turned my head to the window and watched the dark streets slide by, tears streaming silently down my face.

Back at the estate, I unlocked his laptop while he showered. The password was Adriana's birthday. The wallpaper was a photograph of the Maldives, where Adriana had lived for the past three years.

I logged into his accounts. His profile picture was a photo of him and Adriana. He followed only one person.

I clicked through. There were countless images of Adriana and the life she lived abroad. The jewelry at her throat came from a house the Gallo Family owned. The shawl over her shoulders was from their newest line.

Even the villa she tagged belonged to the Gallos' overseas hotel holdings. That hotel had gone up three years ago. It was the only territory the Family had ever taken beyond the water.

My hands trembled as I opened the transfer records. The recipient was always the same. One million dollars a month. Tribute, paid for three years without a single gap.

I went through every line, and my heart grew colder with each one. I remembered the single word Lorenzo kept beneath his name. "Waiting."

I once asked him what it meant. He said it was nothing, something he'd written without thinking. I knew the answer now.

Three years of marriage, and we had no photographs together except the wedding portrait on the wall. No matter how I cried or argued, Lorenzo only ever said we saw each other every day, so there was no need for keepsakes.

Only now did I understand. It wasn't that there was no need. It was that I was never a necessity to him.

I let out a bitter laugh and stopped looking. Instead, I booked a one-way passage out of the country in three days, beyond the reach of the Family. I filed to cancel all my identification.

Three days. That was all I needed to say goodbye to three years. I set the countdown as my phone's wallpaper, a reminder each time I looked at it.

I was already lying in bed when he came out of the bathroom. He stayed quiet, assuming I was asleep. I didn't sleep a moment all night.

I went out to wash up near dawn when my phone rang. Lorenzo's voice came through, puzzled. "Francesca, why are you cancelling your documents?"

I crossed the room and took the phone, calm as still water. "It's nothing. My ID lapsed, so I made an appointment to renew it. Don't you have a meeting with the men this morning? Go handle it."

He thought nothing of it. He only pulled me into a tender hold and murmured against my ear, "Thank you, tesoro. Marrying a woman as kind and understanding as you is the greatest blessing of my life."

I smiled faintly and said nothing.