Too Late—Now I’m Married to Your Enemy Chapter 07

Too Late—Now I’m Married to Your Enemy Chapter 07

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line, followed by an amused laugh.

“Are you quizzing me, baby? Isn’t this question a little too easy? The invitations have already been sent out. Everyone in Crimson Harbor and Ironwood City knows about this.”

“Is there a problem with the wedding dress? Do we need to reschedule the wedding?”

“No. I just wanted to confirm.”

Gina stared at me, no trace of warmth in her eyes, “You don’t have to worry about the wedding arrangements, I’ve taken care of everything. Did your wedding dress fitting go well today? I’m sorry I had something come up last minute and couldn’t come with you.”

“It went very well, Vittorio.”

The call cut off.

I stood rooted to the spot.

Gina set the phone back on the sofa, turned to face the mirror again, and adjusted the skirt of her

wedding dress as if I were no more than a ghost she couldn’t even see.

After a moment, she said, “You heard it all. The wedding is real. Vittorio is real. The invitations are

real.”

“I don’t believe it.”

Even I found it ridiculous that those three words had come out of my mouth.

But I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe she would actually marry someone else, couldn’t

believe she would throw away fifteen years of what we had, couldn’t believe she would choose that

strange man from Crimson Harbor.

“You don’t believe me?”

Gina turned around, the skirt of her wedding dress rustling against the floor.

“Luca, you’ve seen it, you’ve heard it. What more will it take for you to believe? Do I have to stand in a church and say ‘I do’ in front of him before you understand?”

“You will never say those words,” I stared straight into her eyes, “because the person you love is

me.”

Gina’s expression seemed to flicker with a flash of unguarded emotion.

That only cemented my conviction-she still cared, she was still wavering. I still had a shot.

“Gina, come back with me.”

I pulled the diamond ring out of my pocket and held it up between us.

Gina stared down at the ring, silent for a long, heavy beat. When she looked up again, her eyes were

red and glistening.

“Luca, do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that?”

“Five years. I know—”

“Fifteen years,” she corrected me, “It’s been exactly fifteen years since I first saw you at a family

banquet when I was fifteen.”

“You made me wait fifteen years, and you finally say this the day before I’m supposed to marry

someone else.”

“It’s not the day before,” my voice came out rushed, “there are still ten days-”

“For me, it’s already too late.”

She stepped back.

“Your proposal right now isn’t because you want to marry me. It’s because you don’t want anyone else to marry me. Those two things are not the same.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The difference is-if I wasn’t about to marry Vittorio, you would never be standing here right

now.”

Tears finally spilled over her lids and tracked down her cheeks.

“You would have kept being busy with your family affairs, kept spending time with Rosa, kept making me wait. You would have only deigned to offer me a wedding when you decided the ‘timing

was right’ for you.”

“I would never do that!”

She cut me off sharply, “You would!”

“Because you’ve always been like this, Luca. You don’t love me. You love the fact that I love you. What you can’t bear to lose isn’t me-it’s the familiar feeling of having someone waiting for you unconditionally, something you’ve gotten used to taking for granted.”

Her words felt like a blade driving straight into my chest. I opened my mouth to retort, but no sound

came out.

Was she right?

No.

That wasn’t true.

I loved her.

I really loved her, I just didn’t know how to prove it.

“Gina, listen to me-”

I stepped toward her, reaching out to catch her shoulders.

“Luca, don’t touch me.”

She stepped back, the skirt of her wedding dress catching under her heel, sending her stumbling off

balance.

I reached out on instinct to steady her-

“Let go of me!”

“Don Luca, stand down.”