The Mafia’s Stand-In Bride Chapter 03

The Mafia’s Stand-In Bride Chapter 03

We gave each other the silent treatment for three days.

In the end, I texted him first and asked if he wanted to get dinner together.

He texted back, took my outstretched olive branch, and that was that—the whole thing was put behind us.

But I never expected that Maya wouldn’t leave the family business at all. Lorenzo gave her a promotion and a better benefits package to convince her to stay.

From that moment on, I knew something had changed.

Lorenzo stopped reaching for me first, and I slowly stepped back.

He thought I had learned my lesson, but the truth was I just didn’t want to drain myself anymore.

Acting like a maniac, throwing a fit over a man.

It was just humiliating.

I pulled myself back to the present and looked at the man standing in front of me again.

If the crack between Lorenzo and me had already formed long before Maya showed up, then the incident at the wedding just made that crack wider and wider.

Until now, it was an uncrossable chasm between us.

“If you have a better option, don’t waste your time on me anymore. I’m not getting married. And I don’t want you anymore. But—this dress was designed for me by my brother. You want me to give it to Maya? In your dreams.”

With that, I turned and walked toward the door.

“Lily, stop right there!” Lorenzo roared from behind me.

He rushed over and grabbed my arm roughly.

“I’ve been too nice to you all these years, that’s why you turned into such a spoiled brat! You can marry me or not, I don’t care, but you have to leave the dress here!”

I refused and tried to yank my arm away.

But he pushed me down and ripped the dress off me forcefully.

Lorenzo took my wedding dress and walked out of the bridal suite.

Left with nothing but my underwear, I curled up in the corner.

My heart ached like it had been stabbed by a thousand needles.

I cried silent tears.

In pain, and completely helpless.

Not long after, the door to the suite opened again.

It was Maya who walked in.

She was already done with her hair and makeup, wearing the brand-new wedding dress I had ordered.

In her hand, she held my dress—the one that had been torn and soaked through with red wine.

The second I saw it, I burst into tears.

That was my wedding dress.

That was the wedding dress Lorenzo had ripped forcefully from my body!

She dropped the filthy, ruined dress on me like it was trash, and smiled brightly.

“I heard this was the dress designed by your brother, the one who died of terminal cancer? I’m so sorry, it doesn’t fit me very well, so I brought it back to you!”

My eyes red, I clutched the dress so tight my fingers turned white at the knuckles.

“If it didn’t fit, you could have just not worn it… Why… why did you have to destroy it…”

Tears dropped one after another onto the fabric, I was so angry and in pain I could barely breathe.

Maya looked shocked for a second, then laughed.

“It’s just a wedding dress. Lorenzo said if it’s ruined, it’s ruined—he was just gonna throw it away. I was being nice bringing it back to you. It’s garbage now, only you would still treat it like treasure.”

She turned around and turned on the TV.

“Lorenzo and I are gonna broadcast our wedding live on the family internal channel in a minute. You spent months planning this whole thing, after all. You don’t get to be the bride, but at least you get to watch. That’s still a little part for you to play, right?”

“You did it on purpose—you put that edited photo up on purpose.”

When she heard my cold voice, her hand paused, then she smiled at me.

“That’s right, I did it on purpose. Though I never thought Lorenzo would actually let me be the bride. Don’t you think that’s a nice surprise?

“When you humiliated me and told me to know my place, did you ever think that one day, I’d take your place at your own wedding?”

The rage I’d been holding back exploded completely.

I lunged at her, grabbed a handful of her hair, and slapped her hard across the face.

Furious, she tried to hit me back.

But just then, we heard rapid footsteps outside the door. She immediately covered her face, dropped to her knees in front of me, and started crying.

“Lily, please don’t be mad… Lorenzo is just doing this for the whole family. If you’re upset, you can hit me, just please don’t be angry at Lorenzo anymore.”

Lorenzo burst in.

The next second, I fell heavily to the floor after he slapped me across the face.

He held the tearful, wronged Maya in his arms and looked down at me.

Those eyes that had always looked at me so gently and lovingly were now full of cold disgust.

“Where are the security guards! Kick her out. No one is going to ruin today’s wedding.”