Chapter 3
After calming Glanna down and steadying myself. I stepped out onto the terrace at the end of the hallway for some air
I pushed the door open-and heard voices.
The groomsmen had ducked out to smoke.
“Boss really not coming back?”
“He said Serena’s all over him. Told us to stall.”
Marco blew out a stream of smoke. ‘How long do you think Rebecca can keep her cool?”
“You saw her today, right? Walked down the aisle in her wedding dress. Groom bailed. She didn’t even blink.
That’s a wife,” Matteo said. ‘Boss doesn’t know what he’s got.”
“He’s not thinking about that right now. Serena’s got him wrapped around her finger.”
They laughed.
Someone dialed a video call. “Boss, you finally picked up. The bride’s still waiting. You better get back here.”
The rustle of sheets came through the speaker.
“I’m busy.” Luca’s voice was rough and impatient. “I’m not coming back. You handle the guests.”
“Got it, Boss.” Marco grinned. “No worries. Rebecca’s easy to calm down-‘
I pushed the door open.
Their smiles froze.
Marco shoved his phone behind his back. “Rebecca. Hey.”
I looked at them. The ceremony starts in three minutes.”
‘And you’re hiding back here?”
“There are three hundred people in that cathedral. Are you gonna let them wait, or are you gonna give them a show?
A few of them laughed.
“Hurry up. Rebecca.” Matteo smirked. “Three minutes? Boss isn’t that fast. He won’t-
“Three minutes is plenty.”
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I turned and walked away
Marco glanced at the phone, still connected ‘Boss, she said three minutes. You need to move”
Luca’s low laugh rumbled through. Still carrying the traces of what he’d been doing
“Three minutes?”
That woman has no idea what she’s talking about.”
A woman’s soft giggle drifted through the background. Low and teasing
“Boss… Marco murmured.
A beat of silence. Then Luca, impatient: ‘Go Hold things down for me I’ll swing by when I’m done.”
Another sound from the woman as he said “done”
Marco ended the call fast.
The groomsmen crushed their cigarettes, straightened their jackets, and filed out after me.
When they caught up. Matteo said under his breath. “Rebecca. look. We’ve known you and Boss for years. He’s into you.
It’s just guys, you know.”
I didn’t look at him. Didn’t answer.
The truth was, until yesterday. I hadn’t wanted to believe it either.
Serena was an investor’s daughter. Just out of college.
After one party. Luca’s eyes had changed.
I told myself I was imagining things. Ten years together-I knew him, didn’t I?
So I ignored the late-night disruptions and the unanswered texts.
I couldn’t believe that after everything, after we’d finally made it, he’d throw it all away for some fresh graduate
But He stopped hiding it and started flaunting it to my face.
And packaging it as a gift.
“A man like me doesn’t settle for one woman. But my heart belongs to you. No one else gets to be Mrs. Vitale
Like I was supposed to thank him
Gianna was right. He’d hidden it too well
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He only dropped his mask the night before the wedding.
In the cruelest possible way.
Leaving me no way out.
“Rebecca, when you walk down the aisle, just take it slow. We’ll back you up.”
“Yeah, yeah. Boss said he’ll come when he’s done. Just go through the motions.”
They thought I was just going through the motions too.
I’d thought I would walk down the aisle alone. Stand before the priest. Wait for a groom who might never show.
Then smile at empty air and say ‘I do.”
That was Luca’s script.
The cathedral doors swung open.
Sunlight flooded in, tracing the outline of a figure.
Every smile in the room died.
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