Passengers poured down the gangplank like water from a burst dam, flooding onto the bustling dock
Among them was Alessio Moretti–hollow–eyed and desperate, hunting for his vanished wife.
When he’d discovered Noemi hadn’t returned to her family but had disappeared completely. something inside him had snapped. For weeks, he’d searched like a madman, throwing money at private investigators, calling in every favor he’d ever carned.
Finally, after a month of sleepless nights, he got his answer: she’d fled to Isola di Virella. Cosimo De’Medici’s private kingdom.
That bastard.
Getting here had been its own nightmare. The recent blood feud between their families meant no Moretti could legally set foot on De’Medici territory. He’d spent weeks crafting an elaborate cover as Santiago Navarro, a Spanish tech investor, complete with forged documents and fake business
records.
Now, standing on the dock with salt air stinging his eyes, reality hit hard: this island was massive, Finding one woman among thousands would be like searching for a specific grain of sand on a
beach
I’ll tear this whole fucking island apart if I have to.
He headed toward town, planning to work systematically through each neighborhood, showing her photo to anyone who’d look.
As he climbed the winding coastal road, a bright yellow bus suddenly screeched to a halt. Passengers
poured out, chattering excitedly in rapid Italian.
“Hurry!” An elderly woman grabbed his sleeve. “De’Medici wedding! Free champagne! Come, come!”
“I’m not interested in-
“Nonsense! Everyone loves a wedding!” She practically dragged him along. “Besides, the bus won’t
move until it’s over!”
Fuck.
2023
Chapter 20
The crowd swept him forward like a riptide. Through the mass of bodies, he glimpsed white tents, flowers everywhere, music floating on the breeze.
“He’s lifting the veil!” someone shouted.
The crowd surged, the
Alessio to the very front. He found himself with a perfect view just as groom reached for his bride’s veil
Something about her posture triggered alarm bells in his brain that straight spine, the delicate tilt
of her head…
No. It can’t be.
The veil lifted inch by torturous inch. First, the graceful curve of her neck. Then dark hair swept into an elegant chignon. Pearl earrings catching the light. And finally-
NOEMI
The world tilted sideways. Blood roared in his ears. His vision tunneled until all he could see was her face–the face he’d kissed every morning, memorized in a thousand different lights, searched for in desperate nightmares.
My wife. My Noemi. In a wedding dress. Marrying HIM.
His mind fractured into a kaleidoscope of memories: Noemi sobbing over his empty coffin, swearing she couldn’t live without him. Himself on his knees in the rain outside the Bianchi estate. begging her parents for information while his mother screamed at him to have some dignity. The bottles of scotch, the sleepless nights, the moment he’d finally broken down and begged his worst enemies for help finding her.
He’d destroyed his pride, his reputation, everything–just to find her.
And here she stood. Radiant. Happy. Gazing at Cosimo De’Medici like he’d hung the fucking moon.
How? HOW?
He knew she’d discovered his deception–her family’s arctic silence had confirmed that much. But they’d been married for years. She’d loved him with an intensity that had sometimes frightened him.
How could she just… move on? Stand there in white lace, pledging herself to his family’s greatest enemy, like their marriage had meant nothing?
Chapter 20
Was it all just to punish me? Is this revenge?
“You may now kiss the bride.” the priest announced.
The crowd held its breath. Cosimo cupped Noemi’s face with reverent hands, leaning down slowly.
Alessio watched in frozen horror as his wife the woman who’d once sworn she couldn’t live without him–tilted her face up eagerly for another man’s kiss,
No. Please. God, no.
Their lips were inches apart when time seemed to stop, the moment stretching into eternity.
