Nine Times Too Late

Leticia's POV

The door slammed behind him.

I looked at his signature on the dissolution agreement. I did not cry. I felt free.

The next day, I returned to the Buono estate.

My welcome was my father's frozen stare and the whispers of relatives lining the hall.

"James never intended to marry her. She has dragged the Buono name through the mud."

"She cannot even keep her own fiance. How is she fit to be one of us?"

"A Principessa who cannot secure an alliance or deliver a profit is no Principessa at all."

I lowered my head and walked into the hall without a word.

My father sat in the chair at the head of the room, the whip already in his hand. His fury filled the marble space.

"A daughter of the Buono family cannot outmatch some woman off the street? Do you not know how to keep a man?"

The first strike landed like hot iron across my back.

I bit my lip until I tasted blood and made no sound.

The last time, I told myself. This was the last time I would bleed for one of James's broken promises.

After one hundred lashes, I lay on the floor with no strength left to lift my head.

"Go recover," my father said, tossing the whip aside. "If the next wedding fails, you know what happens."

Two servants carried me back to my room.

I lay on my stomach. My back burned as if someone had poured fire under my skin. New wounds cut across old scars. Broken scabs bled into the sheets.

The door opened softly.

Lucas stood at the entrance with a small case in his hand.

Years ago, I had pulled him out of the filth of the slums and placed him inside the family. He was brilliant, disciplined, and ruthless enough to climb rank after rank until he became my father's most trusted right hand.

He now controlled the family's intelligence network. He knew everyone's secrets and repeated none of them.

My father did not know that Lucas's true loyalty had always belonged to me.

"Everything you requested, Principessa." Lucas placed a sealed envelope on the table.

Inside were new identity papers and flight documents.

"According to your plan, you will leave by private plane in one month. Once you are gone, that man will never find you."

I held the folder to my chest. "Thank you, Lucas."

He bent down and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.

"You do not need to thank me. You pulled me out of that gutter. I will spend my life serving you, my Principessa."

I nodded. "The stronger painkillers? I cannot spend the entire month in bed."

He took a small bottle from his pocket. "They work, but the side effects are harsh. Are you certain?"

"Give them to me."

I swallowed the pills with the water he handed me.

Then I dismissed him and pulled the blanket over myself.

The pain kept crashing over me in waves. Sleep was impossible. When the medicine finally dulled the fire across my back, nausea took its place and twisted through my stomach.

Near dawn, I drifted into a shallow, feverish sleep.

Three days later, I could barely get out of bed.

I returned to the villa James had given me. Once, it had been our private nest. Now I only wanted to clear out what belonged to me before I left.

The moment I opened the door, I smelled thick, cloying perfume.

My stomach turned. I did not have to look back to know who was there.

James's arm rested across Angelina's shoulders.

He looked relaxed, even pleased, and at first he did not notice me. He was too busy laughing with her.

"Oh," Angelina said when she saw me. "The Buono Principessa is out of bed already. I thought you usually needed a month after these little incidents. How brave of you, Leticia."

James's laughter stopped.

His eyes met mine. Seeing me dressed and sitting there seemed to anger him and surprise him at the same time.

"Leticia?" He came toward me, frowning. "I heard your father punished you again. What, was the old man not satisfied with the route I gave him?"

Then he saw how pale I was, and concern softened his voice. "You look terrible. Why are you moving around? You should be resting."

Angelina pouted and tightened her hold around his waist. "Maybe she just wants attention, James. You know how a mafia Principessa gets when she feels ignored."

"Leticia," James began, taking one step toward me. "About the wedding in a few days—"

"James," I said with a polite smile that never reached my eyes. "You gave me this villa. I want to rest. Take her out."

His expression hardened.

I turned to Angelina and let my smile sharpen. "And Angelina, do you only fall gravely ill when a wedding is scheduled? The moment it is canceled, you seem perfectly healthy."

I went into my room and closed the door, cutting off their stunned faces.

Even that small amount of movement left me dizzy and sick.

I steadied my breathing and packed what I needed. I had too much to do to waste time waiting for a wedding that would never happen.