The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 08

The Girl Who Was His Replacement for Nine Years Finally Left Him Chapter 08

Business at the little shop gradually picked up.

The ingredients were good, the food tasted even better, and my prices were fair. Before long, locals

and passing tourists alike had started coming through the door.

A lot of customers finished one dessert, then ordered several more to take home to their children.

I couldn’t keep up by myself, so Mrs. Bruno often came by to lend me a hand.

Some days, I worked straight through the afternoon without even stopping for lunch.

I was tired, but every night when I climbed into bed, I felt at peace.

I no longer spent sleepless nights waiting for Matteo to come home.

I no longer wondered who he was with that night.

The moment my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep and didn’t wake until morning.

Life simply moved along at its own quiet pace.

Little by little, I filled out. The color returned to my face, and I no longer looked as pale and worn

down as I had before.

Mrs. Bruno always told me that I looked beautiful when I smiled and that I should smile more often.

I thought so too.

Back in the Moretti family, even smiling had required caution. I had always been afraid of smiling at the wrong moment and somehow angering Matteo.

Now, if I wanted to laugh, I laughed.

If I wanted to cry, I cried.

I was finally free to be myself.

A young man named Julian Morel became a regular at the shop.

He owned the bookstore at the end of the street. He wore thin gold–rimmed glasses and spoke in a

soft, gentle voice. There was something unmistakably bookish about him.

Every afternoon, he came in and ordered a crème caramel and an espresso. Then he’d sit for half an hour, quietly reading his book.

Sometimes, when the shop got busy, he’d get up and help clear the tables or carry orders to

customers.

I always felt guilty accepting his help and offered to comp his meals, but he would just smile and

Shake his head.

“It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

He never asked about my past.

He never pried into my personal life.

Whenever I was running around so frantically that I barely had time to breathe, he would simply set a glass of warm water beside me.

If it rained and I’d forgotten my umbrella, he’d leave his with me and run home through the rain.

himself.

I couldn’t say his kindness left me untouched.

But I didn’t dare let myself fall for anyone again.

I’d already learned what falling in love could cost.

Once was enough.

The lesson nine years ago had been brutal. I’d paid for it with my entire youth and nearly lost my

life in the process.

I couldn’t afford to gamble again.

Julian never pressured me.

He simply stayed.

Quietly.

Patiently.

He was like a spring breeze, like a soft summer rain, gentle and always respectful of my

boundaries.

I was grateful to him.

He showed me that a man could be gentle.

That a man could respect you.

That hurting someone was not something a man was entitled to do simply because he had the

power to get away with it.

My peaceful life was shattered one afternoon in my third month in Morena.

Three men in black suits walked into the shop.

They all had hard faces and an intimidating presence that felt completely out of place in the warmth

of the little town.

The moment they entered, they looked around the shop.

Then their eyes settled on me.

The man in front stepped forward.

His voice was cold and blunt.

“Excuse me. Do you know Blair Valenti?”

My heart dropped.

My grip tightened around the flour spoon in my hand.

They were Matteo’s private mercenaries.

He’d found me.