The Mafia’s Stand-In Bride Chapter 05

The Mafia’s Stand-In Bride Chapter 05

“Miss Lily, have you told your husband about the pregnancy? He must be over the moon, right?”

When I booked the abortion appointment, I ran into Dr. Chen, who had done my prenatal checkup.

I said nothing, just squeezed the report in my hand tighter.

She saw the words on it at a glance, then caught sight of my red, puffy, exhausted face.

We were both women.

She understood immediately.

She patted my shoulder.

“Life’s only a few decades long. Choosing to live for yourself is the right call.”

I bit my lip and nodded, my resolve growing even stronger.

Even though I’d waited so long for this baby to come, I still chose to terminate the pregnancy.

Only a child raised in love got to be happy.

I couldn’t give him all my love, and I couldn’t guarantee his future life.

What mattered most was that I didn’t want to leave myself any more ties that would force me to keep entangling with Lorenzo.

I loved hard, and I could let go hard.

He hurt me, so I wouldn’t keep him anymore.

Ten minutes before I went into the operating room, I pulled up Maya’s Instagram.

They were on their honeymoon.

In Maya’s video, Lorenzo stood on the beach, facing the camera, making a silly heart gesture with her.

Maya laughed, and Lorenzo smiled softly right along with her.

The video ended with them holding hands interlocking, kissing as the sun set.

So perfect.

I knew I shouldn’t keep looking, but I still couldn’t help watching it over and over, until my stomach churned.

I rushed to the bathroom and dry heaved nonstop.

Was this the love he kept shouting about?

Loving me meant he could wrong me and humiliate me like that?

Meant he could throw my feelings away and be with another woman out in the open?

My phone rang.

It was Lorenzo.

It was the first time he’d contacted me in three days.

I was going to hang up, but a tear dropped onto the screen and I accidentally answered.

“Lily…”

The second Lorenzo’s voice came through, I cut him off.

I dug my fingertips so hard into my palm it drew blood, just to steady my shaking voice.

“When you get back from your honeymoon, we’ll go sign the divorce papers.”

There was a pause on the other end, then Lorenzo’s furious voice roared.

“Lily, when are you going to stop this? I’ve already called you first, what more do you want? You know damn well how hard I’ve worked to get here since I took over the family business.

“Every guest I invited to this wedding is a somebody. If I’d let this huge joke blow up at the ceremony, do you know how much that would hurt me? Why do you have to be so selfish, and never think of me for once?

“Maya helped us fix our crisis, what’s wrong with me coming on this trip with her? Why are you overreacting this much?”

Was this wedding the only thing that broke my heart?

It was his attitude the whole time. When everything blew up, he didn’t stand by me—he took Maya’s side against me. He stole my wedding dress, kicked me out humiliated, and then it was all supposed to be fine just because he “called me first”?

It was not fine.

The damage he did to me would never be fine.

I couldn’t force myself to accept a man who was no longer loyal, who no longer loved me.

“Haven’t I thought of you? I already chose to step back, didn’t I? I gave you two everything. The wedding went off without a hitch, Maya’s video looks great, you two are happy together. I wish you both the best. So, Lorenzo, let’s get a divorce.”

I didn’t yell, I didn’t throw a fit.

I said it flat out, calm as anything.

Another long silence stretched on the other end.

I thought he’d already hung up, before I finally heard his cold voice again.

“You’re always upset about this, suspicious about that. Lily, haven’t you made enough of a scene? I gave you an out, you should take it quietly. Stop threatening me with this divorce crap.

“Your parents are dead, your brother died of terminal cancer. Who else do you have in this city? Besides me, who else would take care of you?

“Be smart, shut your mouth, and do what I tell you. I promised you a wedding, I won’t shortchange you. It just can’t be right now.”

I looked down at the report, crumpled all up in my hand.

The word “abortion” jumped off the page, sickeningly stark.

I asked him, “If I told you I’m pregnant, and I’m about to get an abortion right now, would you leave Maya and come back to me?”

When he heard that, Lorenzo just laughed coldly.

“You really have changed, I don’t even recognize you. You’d even make up a lie about being pregnant. If you had any decency at all, you’d cut me some slack. How the hell am I supposed to leave Maya with every family watching us?”

The line went dead.

The video started playing again.

Staring at the two happy faces on the screen, it felt like someone was squeezing my heart until it shattered.

Big, hot tears splattered one after another onto the screen.

I thought of that video from five years ago again.

Lorenzo ended up betraying that passionate love he had when he was twenty, after all.