My fiancé, Marco Bellini, tried to marry me ninety-nine times. But every single time, it was ruthlessly interrupted. On the day of our 99th wedding, Marco's first love, Sophia, called again. This time, she claimed she'd been kidnapped. The ransom was thirty million dollars. In the video, Sophia was flawless, as perfect as a porcelain doll. But Marco—the future Godfather of the Bellini family—lost his composure once again. Fighting back tears, I grabbed his arm as he spun around to bolt from the church. "Do you have to go right now? Marco, this is the 99th time! All the families are watching!" Marco viciously shook my hand off, leaving me alone at the altar, exposed to the stares of every mafia family in New York. Once again, I was the laughingstock of the entire underworld. A week later, I was the one who got kidnapped. The ransom was just one dollar. But my fiancé's voice on the phone was impatient. "Ella, stop messing around. All the guests are waiting for you." My defenses crumbled completely. My voice was so hoarse it didn't sound like my own. "I've really been kidnapped. They only want a one-dollar ransom... Marco, save me..." His tone remained ice-cold. "I'll give you half an hour. If you don't get your ass over here, I'll find a new bride!" Marco Bellini really did find a new bride. And because of that one-dollar ransom, my fingers were chopped off on a dark web livestream. That day, two stories blew up New York's underworld: The Bellini family heir's wedding of the century featured a last-minute bride swap. And a dark web livestream from an abandoned warehouse showed a kidnapper torturing a hostage, the victim suspected to be the Bellini family's bride-to-be. ... I was kidnapped on my wedding day. And Marco, my groom, was in the chapel's dressing room, comforting his crying childhood sweetheart. I called him forty-nine times, but he never picked up. "Is this the guy you said would pay up? Fuck! He's not even picking up your calls!" The kidnapper yanked my hair, the searing pain making my scalp feel like it was ripping from my skull. My face contorted in agony. Then came a storm of kicks and punches. The sharp pain of broken ribs made every breath feel like swallowing razor blades. The world spun around me. But the pain in my body was nothing compared to the agony in my heart. A week ago, Sophia was "kidnapped." Thirty million dollars. He didn't even blink. For Sophia, he abandoned me at the altar for the ninety-ninth time. I had begged him, holding onto him, only for him to shove me away without a second thought. He always said they had a bond from growing up together, that he couldn't just stand by. It was his responsibility. So, time and time again, he canceled our wedding—a wedding meant to unite our two powerful families—all for Sophia. Now, I, his rightful fiancée, the daughter of the Marino family, was the one who was kidnapped, and I couldn't even get him on the phone. The irony was crushing. Suddenly, my phone lit up. It was a video from Sophia. "Marco is helping me with a blister on my heel, Ella. He's too busy to take your call." "It's your wedding day, but you're still not here. Marco said I should try on your dress, to see if it fits." In the video, Marco was on one knee, gently placing a crystal heel on Sophia's foot. And Sophia was wearing my mother's only heirloom—the wedding dress she had sewn for me with her own hands. A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my heart. My eyes turned bloodshot red. That was my mother's wedding dress. How dare he let another woman wear it! I lunged for the phone, desperate to confront Marco, but the kidnapper was faster. He kicked my wrist hard, sending the phone flying. The pain was so intense my body curled into a ball.
The kidnapper walked over, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and forced my head up. "No one's even answering your calls. And you were telling me you'd get me ten million?" I gasped for air, struggling to speak. "Let... let me try again... He'll... he'll definitely give you the money..." "You think I'm gonna fall for that again?" The kidnapper swore, but then he seemed to change his mind, a cruel grin spreading across his face. "Fine. You can call again. One finger for every call." He pinned my hand to the filthy concrete floor and pulled a dagger from his belt, slamming it into the ground next to my fingers. I trembled in terror, begging him, even offering more money. "No... please... I'll give you anything you want, I have money, my fiancé is..." He slapped me across the face, cutting me off. "Shut up! All I want now is a one-dollar ransom. Remember, not a penny more." I wanted to ask why, but he gave me no chance. He threw the phone in front of me. "You have ten seconds. When time's up, I'm chopping off your finger." I didn't dare waste a second. I scrambled to pick up the phone and dialed Marco's number again. I prayed desperately, Please, Marco, pick up. Please. One dollar. All it would take is one dollar to save my life. The kidnapper counted down beside my ear, each number a sledgehammer pounding on my nerves. "Three." "Two." Just as he was about to say "one," the call connected! "Marco!" I screamed his name, a tangled mess of terror and elation. Tears streamed down my face. But the voice that answered wasn't his. "Ella? Are you looking for Marco?" It was Sophia. "I scraped my heel, he went to get me a band-aid." I choked back a sob. "Let me talk to Marco. It's an emergency." The kidnapper loomed over me, the cold glint of his dagger reflecting in my tear-filled eyes. Just then, I heard Marco's voice in the background. Hope surged through me again, and I screamed with all my might. "Marco, save me! I've been kidnapped!" He finally took the phone. His tone was as cold as a Siberian winter. "Ella Marino, there's a limit to your games. It's our wedding day. Are you trying to make a point by disappearing?" "You have half an hour to get your ass over here. Don't expect me to come and get you." I shook my head frantically, hot tears rolling down my cheeks. "No, that's not it... Marco, I've really been kidnapped, you have to come save me..." Marco cut me off, his voice filled with rage. "Enough! Sophia was just kidnapped last week, and now you're pulling the same stunt? Ella, this is not how you play your jealous games!" "If you have any sense of decency left, you'll get over here and finish this wedding!" With that, he hung up without a shred of mercy. My tears froze on my face. When Sophia was kidnapped, it was real. It was worth him abandoning the honor of our families to save her. When I was kidnapped, I was just being dramatic. He wouldn't even listen to a full sentence. The kidnapper stood up with a cold sneer, raising the dagger in his hand.
I scrambled backward in terror, but my feet were tied together. There was nowhere to run. "What a pathetic waste. Bragging about giving me ten million." The kidnapper spat at me, then grabbed my right hand and pinned it down. "No... let me call one more time... AHH!" The dagger came down with cold, brutal finality, severing my pinky finger. The agonizing pain made my body twist into a knot. The only sound in the empty warehouse was my piercing scream. A pool of blood spread quickly on the floor around the small, severed piece of my finger. The kidnapper tossed the phone in front of me again. "Keep calling." Tears and cold sweat soaked my face. I had no choice but to endure the excruciating pain and dial the video call with my trembling left hand. A few seconds later, the call connected. Marco's handsome but cold face appeared on the screen. He was looking down, carefully applying a band-aid to the scrape on Sophia's heel. I remembered how he used to be like that with me. If I got a tiny paper cut, he'd rush to disinfect and bandage it. If I complained my feet hurt, he would immediately carry me on his back to see the family's private doctor. But everything changed after we announced our engagement. The camera shifted, and Sophia's face, smiling in triumph, filled the screen. "Ella, are you calling to apologize to Marco?" "It's getting late. You should hurry over. All the family elders are getting impatient." Marco snorted and took the phone from her. "I'll let it slide since it's our wedding day. Get over here now." My face was streaked with tears as I asked in a hoarse voice: "Marco, why is it real when Sophia gets kidnapped, but when it happens to me, I'm just faking it?" Marco's expression instantly darkened. "Ella Marino, are you ever going to let this go?" "Just because I had to leave to save Sophia last time, you're going to retaliate like this?" "Have you no conscience? That was a life-or-death situation! And you have to hold a grudge and stage your own kidnapping on our wedding day?" "I don't know how you became so cold and selfish. Does it make you happy to keep all our families waiting?" His words made me tremble with rage. I screamed, completely breaking down. "Why won't you just believe me! If you don't save me, I'm going to die!" I pushed my unrecognizable face closer to the camera, my vision blurred by blood and tears. Marco glanced at me and frowned in disgust. "What happened to your face?" The kidnapper was right beside me. I could only cry, making one last, desperate plea. "Come and save me. The ransom is only one dollar..." The moment the words left my mouth, Marco laughed coldly. "A one-dollar ransom?" "Ella, you can't even tell a convincing lie!" I completely lost it. I held up my bloody right hand, aiming the stump of my finger right at the camera. "He already chopped off one of my fingers! What will it take for you to believe me? Do I have to die right in front of you?" The severed joint was still oozing blood. Beneath the mangled flesh, I could see the white of the bone. Marco froze. He frowned, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. Just then, I heard Sophia let out a soft laugh. "Ella, that special effects makeup looks a little fake. A real wound wouldn't look like that."
"Besides, what kind of kidnapper would only ask for one dollar to release someone from the Bellini family? You might as well have said a hundred million. That would at least sound more believable." Then she sighed, her voice soft with feigned guilt. "I'm so sorry, Marco. This is all my fault. Ella must still be upset that you left her to come and save me." "But Ella, you really shouldn't have resorted to such extreme measures." Marco's face turned livid. I shook my head desperately, ignoring the pain racking my body. "That's not it! Marco, believe me, you're the only one who can—" "Enough!" Marco's sharp voice cut me off, colder than I had ever heard it. "I've told you countless times, Sophia is like a sister to me. But you always get jealous over her." "You either deliberately embarrass her at parties or find ways to bully her. Now you're staging this elaborate kidnapping drama!" "Ella, you have disappointed me more than I can say." With the bloody dagger right beside me, I screamed in despair. "Marco, why can't you just believe me this one time!" He accused me of embarrassing her, but it was just because we wore dresses from the same designer to a family gala. I had ordered mine first. He accused me of bullying her, but that was after she'd ruined dozens of my weddings, and my friends had said a few things to her in my defense. He twisted it into me putting them up to it. Her kidnapping was the one that was staged. In the video she sent, she was perfectly unharmed, her makeup still flawless. But Marco was blind to all of it. Here I was, battered and kidnapped, and he saw it as me throwing a tantrum. An icy blade seemed to pierce my heart, the pain so sharp my insides clenched. I no longer cared if he believed me. I just wanted him to pay the ransom and save me. "Marco, whether it's real or fake, all you have to do is pay one dollar and you'll know the truth! Just one dollar..." Marco frowned, seeming to consider it. But then Sophia started crying. Her voice was thick with sobs. "I'm sorry... It's all because of me that your big day has been ruined like this. If I had known this would happen, I would have rather died at the hands of those kidnappers than call you for help." With that, Sophia turned and ran off, crying. Marco's brow furrowed, and he immediately moved to follow her. I screamed his name. "Marco—" He looked back, his face filled with anxiety, but his next words were my final sentence. "This is our 100th wedding. If you still want to marry into the Bellini family, get your ass over here now." "I'll give you one last half hour. If you don't show up, I don't mind finding a new bride!" Before I could say another word, the video call was mercilessly disconnected. It felt like my heart stopped beating. I stared at the dark screen, the light in my eyes completely extinguished. The kidnapper stomped on my head, grinding his boot into my temple. "Pathetic. Not even worth a single dollar." He mocked me, then raised his dagger again and chopped off my ring finger. "AHHH—" The agony was unbearable. I thrashed on the ground, screaming. But no physical pain could ever compare to the gaping wound in my soul. Tears slid from the corners of my eyes. My heart was broken, a hole that could never be repaired.
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