Italian-American Heiress: The Fiancée He Underestimated Chapter 02
The Stomach Ache
I take a cab home alone.
I call Julian to end it. Right now. Tonight.
Straight to voicemail. Phone’s off.
Fine.
I’ll say it to his face at City Hall tomorrow.
At 7 a.m., a text lights up my phone.
Julian: Babe, something came up at the office. Have to push City Hall back a few hours. Swing by the studio first and grab your Wedding Dress, okay? I’ll meet you there. Love you.
I stare at the screen.
He can’t even fake it well anymore.
Actually, perfect — I need to go cancel my Wedding Dress anyway.
I take a cab downtown to the studio.
The glass door is open a crack.
I stop.
Julian is inside. So is Cami.
Cami is wearing my Wedding Dress.
Julian is standing behind her, hands on her waist, smiling at her reflection like she’s the bride.
I push the door open.
Cami spins around. For half a second, her face goes white.
Then she recovers. Steps out of Julian’s hands. Walks toward me in my Wedding Dress.
“Elena! Oh my God, don’t be mad. Our body types are so similar — I was just checking the fit for you. You know, giving you some tips.”
She kisses my cheek.
Then she turns to Julian and says, in Italian:
“The waist is way too tight. Only someone with a real figure can pull this off. She’s just too thin. Too weak.”
Julian smirks and pulls her back against him. His hand slides down to her hip.
I’m about to break my silence — to expose their lies in Italian, right in their faces.
But Cami moves first.
She fakes a stumble — pretends the long hem of the Wedding Dress catches her heel — and throws her whole weight straight into me.
I go down hard.
My knees hit the display steps — the ones with the broken crystal from a dropped champagne flute. Glass slices right through my tights.
Blood soaks into the white carpet.
Julian lunges forward and catches Cami before she even touches the floor.
“Baby — you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”
He checks her arms. Her wrists. Her face.
He doesn’t look at me once.
Then he remembers I exist. He turns his head.
“Elena? You okay down there?”
He doesn’t move to help me up.
He turns back to Cami and whispers in Italian.
“Thank God the Wedding Dress isn’t stained. Otherwise she’d throw another fit.”
He saw the blood. He saw it.
He just doesn’t care.
I pull myself up using the wall. My leg is shaking. Blood is running into my shoe.
Julian finally reaches out a lazy hand. Fake concern.
I slap it away.
I walk out without a word.
—
The ER doctor picks crystal out of my knee. I don’t cry. I don’t even flinch.
My phone buzzes.
Nonno: Bambina, the Rossi Group is signing with Thorne Industries tomorrow. Consider it your wedding gift.