Chapter 2

The next day, Natalia posted twelve family portraits in the Santoro family group chat.

Not a single one included me.

In one picture, Mother leaned against Natalia's shoulder while Father sat beside them. Matteo stood behind my sister, his hand resting casually on her waist.

The four of them looked like a perfect family.

Natalia captioned it:

Nothing feels better than knowing where you belong.

Mother replied first.

Sweetheart, you'll always have a place in this family.

Father sent her a generous gift.

Loyalty matters more than anything. Never forget that.

Matteo saved one particular picture.

This one's my favorite.

In that photo, his black suit perfectly matched Natalia's champagne gown.

Anyone who didn't know us would have assumed they were the engaged couple.

I closed the chat and continued packing.

Matteo hadn't returned to our apartment that night.

At two in the morning, he'd sent another picture.

Natalia was wearing his jacket, sitting in the Santoro estate's private lounge. On the table was the chestnut cake I'd made for him.

I'd gotten up at three the previous morning to prepare it, then left it with the estate kitchen staff before the portrait session. It had been meant for the hotel banquet, but after I canceled the event, nobody had bothered to return it.

Apparently, Matteo had simply brought it into the private lounge.

He once told me he would never eat another woman's cake.

Now Natalia had already cut half of it.

Beneath the picture, he'd written:

Finally got my little princess smiling again.

At nine the next morning, Natalia sent me a voice message.

"Giulia, are you still angry with me?"

"Matteo stayed with me last night because I drank too much. I actually told him to go home to you, but he said you were a grown woman. You shouldn't need someone beside you every night."

She paused, then softened her voice.

"Please don't misunderstand. You know Matteo and I have history, but I'm not trying to take your fiancé."

"I've already been married once. I don't need to compete with my own twin sister for a man."

A faint laugh slipped through.

"Besides, even if I wanted him, he might not choose me anymore."

I didn't reply.

Ten minutes later, Matteo sent me a picture of a necklace.

Mom asked me to buy this for you.

It was an ordinary imitation pearl necklace.

I'd asked him countless times to accompany me shopping for our wedding jewelry. He'd always claimed he was too busy.

Apparently, he'd finally found the time.

Then another message arrived.

Natalia likes your natural pearl necklace.

You hardly ever wear it. Bring it to the estate tonight and let her have it.

So the cheap necklace wasn't a gift.

It was an exchange.

He wanted to trade a few hundred dollars' worth of imitation pearls for the necklace my grandfather had given me on my eighteenth birthday.

I replied:

No.

Matteo called immediately.

"Giulia, enough."

"Natalia just likes it. She's not asking you to give up your life."

I kept my voice calm.

"It's mine. My grandfather left it to me."

He scoffed.

"So what? He's dead."

"Do you think a dead man leaving you a necklace makes you special?"

"Giulia, no wonder nobody genuinely likes you. You cling to these worthless things because you have nothing else."

My fingers tightened around the phone.

He knew my grandfather had been the only person in the Santoro family who had truly loved me without conditions.

Whenever Matteo wanted to make me surrender, he knew exactly which wound to press.

In the past, I would have cried and begged him to take those words back.

This time, I simply hung up.

That afternoon, I went to the bank to close our joint wedding account.

There was $3.6 million in it.

I'd deposited $3 million. Matteo had contributed only $600,000.

But over the past six months, more than $700,000 had disappeared.

Every cent had gone toward Natalia.

Her divorce lawyer.

Her flight back to New York after her divorce.

Designer dresses.

Expensive jewelry.

Even the deposit on a luxury apartment in Manhattan.

Every transaction had been labeled:

Temporary loan to a friend.

I printed the statements and handed them to my lawyer.

"Recover every dollar that belongs to me."

"Also, formally demand repayment of the $20 million Matteo borrowed from me."

My lawyer glanced through the documents.

"Are you certain you want to terminate the engagement as well?"

The engagement ring I'd left beside the crown display had been returned to my apartment by the estate staff that morning.

I took it from its box.

Our initials were engraved inside the band.

Once, I'd believed it marked the beginning of our family.

Now it was nothing but a reminder of how badly I'd mistaken him.

"Yes. End it."

I placed the ring in its original box and sent it back to Matteo by courier.

That evening, he photographed the package and posted it in the family group chat.

Giulia, is this supposed to be funny?

You're almost thirty. Who do you think will marry a woman who's already broken off an engagement?

Father replied at once.

Ignore her.

With that temper, you're the only man who could put up with her.

Mother was even harsher.

Maybe it's better if the engagement ends.

We don't need her embarrassing the Santoro family by marrying into the Bellucci family.

Natalia sent a crying emoji.

Is Giulia breaking up with Matteo because of me?

If that's the case, I'll leave tomorrow.

Matteo immediately answered.

This has nothing to do with you.

She's just looking for trouble. She needs to get hurt before she understands who would actually want her.

I read his message one last time.

Then I left the family group.

My application for the overseas executive position had been under review. That afternoon, the formal appointment agreement finally arrived.

I opened it, read through the terms, and signed my name.

My departure was officially scheduled.

Forty-eight hours.