This was my eighteenth wedding to Don Luca Rossano. This time,my parents and my fiancé left with my adopted sister again. My parents only called me.Their voices were impatient. "Vera's stomach is acting up again.We're taking her to the hospital.The wedding is canceled.Handle it yourself." My bridesmaid,Vivian,my best friend since childhood,questioned me with disgust. "Do you really think your wedding matters more than Vera's health?She was in so much pain she almost passed out,and you still didn't want us to take care of her.When did you become this vicious?" As for my fiancé,Luca,he did not even bother to call. He only sent one text:The wedding is canceled.We'll talk next time. I stared at those few words over and over. He had brushed me off with the same line eighteen times. A cold laugh slipped from my lips. Only then did I realize I felt nothing at all. Eighteen times. Enough. I no longer wanted to beg people who had already made their choice. ... I picked up the microphone and walked onto the wedding stage.The stage was covered in amethyst violets,Vera's favorite flowers.My wedding was filled with the flowers my adopted sister loved most. "I'm sorry,everyone.Today's wedding is canceled." The guests exchanged glances. Not one of them looked surprised. "I knew it.Out of all these weddings,has a single one ever actually happened?If I were Isabella,I wouldn't have the nerve to show my face." "Their whole family revolves around that younger daughter.If I were Isabella,I'd just hand the man over to her and leave.At least she'd save herself some humiliation and keep a little dignity." "What do you know?She's like that girl in Just My Luck.Whatever she touches turns lucky,and everyone around her hits the jackpot. Every time Don Luca tries to cut things off with her,the Rossano family's hidden port accounts blow open the next day.He's tried several times and lost multiple cargo routes.If not for that,he wouldn't still be with her." I walked down from the stage under their stares. I heard every word. But this time,losing a few cargo routes would probably be the least of their worries. I changed out of my wedding dress and drove back to the Bellini estate,ready to take my things and leave. But the moment I reached the door,a large group of people came pouring in. Vera was in the middle of them,surrounded by everyone,all of them smiling as if she had just come back from the brink of death. The second they saw me,their smiles vanished. Luca's eyes darkened. "Isabella,you canceled the wedding without even giving the guests a reason?Now everyone will think it was because of Vera again.You can take the blame for this yourself." My father gave a cold snort,too lazy even to look at me. "You really made a mess this time,Isabella.Every time before this,you handled the public opinion yourself.We never had to worry. Now go tell everyone the wedding was canceled because you caused a scene." Vivian had already taken out her phone. "I'll have my contacts pass the line to a few street channels.Isabella can still apologize now.Then we'll get a few street accounts to drag her for not knowing the rules,and no one will keep staring at Vera." I did not answer any of them. I only stood there. Good. Very good. I'm fed up. Three days. I would give myself three days to cut every tie,then leave this life for good. "Isabella,are you even listening?I'm telling you,if you don't clean this up,I can't promise when the next wedding will be." Luca stopped in front of me,his voice sharp and impatient. Just then,Vera finally spoke,her voice so soft it was almost inaudible. "It's all my fault.I ruined Luca and Isabella's wedding.Blame me." "There are still a few good dates this month.The wedding can still..." Before she finished,she started coughing. Luca rushed to her side at once and patted her back. "It's not your fault.Don't overthink it.Your sister can't live without me,so it doesn't matter when we get married." "You're overthinking it." Those were the first words I said after entering the house. Everyone froze. I lifted the bag in my hand. "I'm leaving." The words had barely fallen. The next second,a crisp slap cracked through the air.
The slap rang through the entire living room. I turned my face aside and gave a bitter smile. The hand my mother had used to slap me was still trembling. "Are you done making a scene?The Bellini family has given you so much,and this is what you've become?A spoiled,ungrateful little ingrate?" "You want to leave?Where can you go?Do you want the whole city saying we abused you,slandering us for favoring Vera? Isabella,when will you stop acting out and embarrassing the Bellini family?God,I truly regret giving birth to you.Vera would never do something this rotten." The taste of blood spread through my mouth. I ran the tip of my tongue over the corner of my lip. Yes. If this had been before,I would have screamed and fought. Because I did not understand. Why,when Vera broke the antique cigar box in Father's study,it somehow became my fault. Why,when there was clearly surveillance footage,they still refused to believe I had not pushed Vera down the stairs. I also did not understand how buying a few flowers,which happened to trigger Vera's allergy,became proof that I had deliberately tried to harm her. This was not the first time my mother had hit me. The last time was only two days ago,when I refused to let Vera wear my wedding dress. Then she fainted on the spot. Mother shoved me,then took scissors and cut apart the custom wedding dress I had waited six months for. Because of Vera,my mother and I had almost become enemies. Before,I would fight back.I would scream.I would force them to tell me I was not crazy. But this time,I did not want to make a scene. Because they needed me.I did not need them. I had always been the luckiest person in this family. The day after I was born,the Bellini family secured passage rights to the east docks.That deal dragged the entire family back from the guns of their creditors and made my father the most powerful Don in Aurelia Port. His stage-two liver cancer went into complete remission around the same time,for reasons the doctors could never explain. My friend Vivian had been an ordinary,forgettable girl before she met me. After we became inseparable in elementary school,she slowly grew into the kind of beauty people could not help turning to look at. She won every audition,took Best Actress,and became the country's biggest box-office star. Later,even the mafia families called her"the princess who came out of the neighborhood." And Luca. He used to be nobody.A man selling fake cigarettes and fake watches at the dockside night market,chased by cops and beaten black and blue by other crews. Until one night,he found me lost at a street market and brought me home. I fell in love with him on the spot. After that,everything he touched turned to gold. He took over his first gray cargo route,never lost a dock negotiation,and before he turned thirty,pushed the small Rossano name into the leading seat on the port committee. They doted on me for more than twenty years. Luca,too,once treated me as the center of his universe. But later,Vera was brought into the Bellini family. And everyone changed. Seeing me stay silent,Father's voice turned cold. "You want to leave,Isabella?Then leave.This time,we will hold a family hearing and formally sever ties with you.From now on,you are no longer the daughter of the Bellini family,and you are no longer protected by this name." "Take all her things away.Everything here belongs to this family.She doesn't get to bring a single thing with her." They did not even let me take a change of clothes before pushing me out the front gates. Luca sighed and quietly slipped a key into my hand. "Take it.It's an apartment.You can stay there.Isabella,we're all tired.This is where we end." "I really wish the person I saved that night had been Vera,not you." I let out a scoff. "Then marry her." Luca released a long,exhausted breath. "Stop making a scene.I said I would marry you,and I will marry you.That won't change." "Vera is a good person,a truly kind person.I won't let you talk about her like she's something that can be thrown away.Don't say that again." After saying that,he turned and walked back up the steps. I threw the key on the ground and turned to leave. But Vera rushed over and grabbed my sleeve. "Don't go,Isabella.I overstepped.I wanted something that wasn't mine.I don't deserve any of this." "You stay.I'll leave.I'll leave this house right now." I knew exactly what she was doing. So I only stood there and let her clutch me while she cried her fake tears. But when she realized I was not pushing her away like before,she suddenly gasped for air and collapsed at my feet. "Vera!" "Call the doctor!Vera,my precious daughter!" Everyone rushed over and surrounded her. Luca's hand closed around my throat,his eyes so dark he looked ready to kill. "You dared to push her?Do you really think I won't lay a hand on you?" So this was what remained when anger reached its end:laughter. I had not even touched her. Yet in the end,I was still the one punished. "Luca,I hope none of you ever regret this." No one took that sentence seriously. Father's voice lashed over like a whip. "Someone lock her in the basement.No one lets her out without my order."
The basement was damp and dark. This was my second time being locked in here. The memory of the first time was still as clear as if it had just happened. That time,I caught Vera sneaking into Luca's bedroom in the middle of the night. I saw her in his bed. She cried and said it was sleepwalking caused by childhood trauma. She said she did not know why she had walked into Luca's room. She only felt safe there. She had not meant to. My parents and Luca all believed her. Luca even told her gently that if she was scared in the future,she could come to him anytime. Back then,I was at the height of my obsession with Luca.I could not even tolerate a female assistant getting close to his private office. So I slapped Vera. Then my parents locked me in this basement. Seven days. Only half a bottle of water each day. They did not let me out until hunger had broken me completely and I agreed to apologize. This time,they clearly did not plan to merely starve me. Father walked in holding an old leather whip,with Luca behind him. "Thirty strikes would have been enough.But Vera pleaded for you and told me not to use a bat.So I switched to the whip.Fifty." Crack. The first lash fell,and a bloody welt rose on my skin at once. He whipped me more than a dozen times. The swollen marks split open one by one. Every lash after that carried a numb,burning agony. No wonder Vera had begged him to use the whip instead. The whip had been soaked in something—chili water. "Are you going to apologize or not?" He never got the answer he wanted,so he struck harder and harder. After fifty lashes,my back and arms were covered in split wounds. Flesh curled open in strips.Blood ran down my spine and dripped onto the floor. Pain numbed me. I curled up in the corner,struggling to breathe. Father threw the whip on the ground and turned to leave. Before he walked out,he left one final sentence. "Stubborn bones." Luca crouched in front of me. "Vera sent medicine and clean clothes for you.She has always been good to you,Isabella.You're her sister,and I'm about to be her brother-in-law.We should be taking care of her.Why do you always have to make her out to be the villain?" "Apologize and end this.Stop letting the other families laugh at us." He unfolded the clothes Vera had prepared and draped them over my back. When the fabric touched the open wounds,my whole body went rigid,as if a basin of salt water had been poured over me. I bent forward sharply and curled into a ball. "Really good at acting.Vera goes pale every time she's in pain,and even she doesn't exaggerate like you." Luca stood up in disgust and walked out. The iron door closed behind him. Only then did I finally manage to draw a breath. Two more days. I only had to hold on for two more days.
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