Chapter 11

After the case ended, Luca placed a completed joint divorce petition and a signed settlement agreement on my desk.

"The danger is over. You do not owe me a marriage because you are grateful."

I left the papers untouched.

"Why did you let me go to Vincent ten years ago?"

"You chose him. I had no right to turn your choice into a prison."

Luca took me to a private room at the estate.

My old jewelry sketches rested inside glass cases.

In high school, my father had decided that design was a distraction for a future Caruso leader. He threw my sketchbook away. Luca had collected every page and kept them for ten years.

Water had damaged some of the paper, but each sheet had been cleaned and pressed flat.

A date appeared beside every drawing. Luca had marked my first design award, the day I left home, and the first business meeting where I defeated him.

I had believed our conflicts came from anger. He had spent those years protecting the parts of me I had abandoned.

The collar Bianca wore had come from one of those early sketches.

"I wanted to have it made for your graduation," Luca said. "You returned to Vincent before I could give it to you. After that, I did not have the right."

He opened another box.

A new ring rested inside. It carried no Moretti crest and no words of possession.

The inside held one short promise.

Your choice, always.

"Our first ceremony helped you leave him," Luca said. "You are safe now. You can choose again."

I picked up the divorce papers and tore them in half.

"You are wrong about one thing."

I stepped closer and kissed him.

"The first marriage helped me leave my past. I want the next wedding because I am choosing you."