The Godfather Who Never Lost Begged Me Not to Leave Him Chapter 04

The Godfather Who Never Lost Begged Me Not to Leave Him Chapter 04

I cried every day until a week later, when a storm rolled in.

I called him, unable to keep the tears out of my voice. “Leander, I take it back.”

I heard him draw a deep breath on the other end.

An hour later, someone knocked on my door.

He stood there soaked through and more disheveled than I’d ever seen him. Then he pulled me into a crushing embrace.

“Nerissa, don’t talk about divorce like it means nothing.”

“Don’t… say it again.”

That was the closest I’d ever seen him come to losing control.

Back then, I’d thought a man as composed as Leander had to love me if I could shake him that badly.

But now, reading the group chat and tracing his history with Cressida,

I realized that compared with what he’d given her, what he’d given me barely counted as love.

Maybe I should stop standing in their way.

When the meeting ended, he came over to me.

I tried to speed up and slip past him, but he caught my elbow.

I immediately raised the file in my hand like a shield, flipped it open for show, and glared at him.

This was Ricci territory. The Don was my uncle, and no one here knew about my relationship with Don Leander.

He smiled, leaning in as if we were discussing the paperwork. “Come back to the estate early tonight. Let’s have dinner together.”

“We’ll see.” I kept my head down, brushing him off.

His eyes darkened. “Rissa, ever since… I came back from Europe, we haven’t had dinner together once.”

“You always say you’re busy.”

Either I claimed family business had come up or said I already had plans.

I avoided every chance to sit across from him at the same table, every chance to face him at all.

He kept hold of my arm, stubbornly refusing to let go.

Afraid someone would notice, I lowered my voice and gave in. “Fine. I got it.”

If my uncle got involved, our marriage could turn into a formal alliance between the two families.

And if I wanted out, everything would become much more complicated.

Satisfied, he finally let me go and headed outside.

Don Leander’s motorcade was already waiting out front.

As we came out, the front passenger door opened and, to my surprise, Cressida stepped out.

She smiled, nodded to our caporegime, then smiled at Leander as if I weren’t there.

“I came to pick up our Don.”

Leander instinctively looked at me.

The caporegime immediately picked up on it. “Ah, so you had someone waiting for you. No wonder Don Leander was in such a hurry to leave.”

Then he turned to me meaningfully. “Principessa Nerissa, Don Leander is inspecting our port the day after tomorrow. He asked you to handle the arrangements. Make sure Don Leander and Miss Cressida are well taken care of.”

Leander started, “Cressida isn’t coming with me…”

But I was already nodding. “Everything’s arranged. Don Leander and Miss Cressida will share the same itinerary for the entire visit.”

Leander cut himself off mid-sentence.

“Nerissa…”

I interrupted him. “Don Leander, is there anything else you’d like me to arrange?”

Leander only stared at me.

It wasn’t until Cressida called his name that he finally got into the car, his face cold.

I looked away and turned back inside.

I deliberately stayed at work another hour.

On the way home, I took a long detour. By the time I reached the estate, it was already late.

Leander had probably gotten tired of waiting and eaten without me.

But when I opened the door, a bouquet of roses sat on the dining table beside two lit candles.

Dinner was laid out neatly between them.

Leander was waiting at the table. At the sound of the door, he looked up.

I stopped in the foyer. “Why didn’t you eat?”

He studied me for a moment. “Nerissa, did you forget what today is?”

I froze.

At my expression, the corners of his mouth tightened.

“It’s the anniversary of the day we decided to get married.”

For a second, my mind went blank.

That day, I’d proposed with a ridiculous soda-can tab held up like a ring.

He’d told me the proposal was supposed to be his job.

After thinking about it, I’d said, “Then make it up to me. Every year on this date, you have to propose to me again.”

This was only our second year.

The day I lost the baby, I’d deleted the date from my reminders.

Without the alert, I’d forgotten it completely.

Leander said, “If you forgot, you forgot. I’ll have the staff warm everything up.”

He stood and reached for the wine decanter.

I stepped forward and stopped him. “Don’t.”

He paused, looking down at me.

“Leander… let’s stop.”

Something in his face changed, as if he already knew what I was about to say. His fingers tightened around the decanter.