Italian-American Heiress: The Fiancée He Underestimated Chapter 06
The Rain
That night, a freak rainstorm hits.
I sit by the second-floor window of Nonno’s estate. Below the iron gate, a figure kneels in the mud.
Julian.
No umbrella. His custom suit soaked black. His hair plastered to his face.
He kneels there all night.
By morning, the rain thins. I open a black umbrella and walk down.
He hears my footsteps. His head snaps up. His eyes are bloodshot.
He crawls to me on his hands and knees.
“Elena. You came out. I knew you still loved me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you spoke Italian? You were just angry, right? Just testing me?”
“It was me. I was a bastard. Cami — that bitch — she seduced me. Let’s start over. I’ll cut her off today. I swear.”
I look down at him. Kneeling in the mud. Begging.
He still thinks I’m just mad about the cheating.
“Julian. You really think I’m only angry about the Italian?”
I pull a folded paper from my coat pocket.
The hospital diagnosis from that night.
I drop it. It lands on his face.
“Read it.”
Julian’s shaking hands unfold the wet paper.
“Severe shellfish anaphylaxis.” “Pelvic nerve damage.” “Permanent infertility.”
He goes still.
My voice is flat.
“Yeah. From the moment you fed me that bisque, my life was over.”
“When you dumped me alone in that ambulance and ran back to your fake-fainting slut — you should have known this day would come.”
“Julian. You did this to me. With your own hands.”
The hope in his eyes shatters into dust.
He grabs his hair in both hands. He lets out an animal scream.
Slap.
Slap.
He slaps himself. Twice. Blood at the corner of his mouth.
“I didn’t know — Elena — I swear I didn’t know —”
Then a cab pulls up at the curb.
Cami stumbles out.
She runs to Julian. Wraps her arms around his shoulder. Puts on that wounded look.
“Julian — my stomach hurts so bad — don’t stay in the rain — let’s go home together —”
The second Julian sees her, his eyes go red.
He shoves her off. Stands up. Kicks her hard in the chest.
Cami goes flying backward. Lands in the mud. Can’t get up.
“Get away from me! Don’t touch me!”
He points at her, shaking.
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t wanted that bisque — if you hadn’t faked that dizzy spell — Elena wouldn’t have been in that ambulance alone! She wouldn’t be broken!”
I watch them tear each other apart in the mud. Trash eating trash.
My stomach turns.
I turn to walk back to the estate.
A black Maybach pulls up at the curb.
Alexander steps out. Walks straight to me. Steps between me and them.
Julian sees Alexander. Something in his eyes snaps.
He scrambles up. Throws himself at Alexander.
“Who the hell are you?! You have no right to interfere in my marriage! Elena is mine!”
Alexander doesn’t waste a word.
He swings. One punch. Straight to the side of Julian’s face.
Julian hits the mud hard. Doesn’t get up.
Alexander looks down at him. Cold.
“Because I would never let her shed a single tear.”
Then he turns to me. All that ice in his eyes melts. Soft. Careful.
In Italian, low and warm.
“It’s cold out here, bambina. Let’s go home. I had the housekeeper make you soup.”
I smile. I let him take his hand.
The gate closes behind us.
Behind us, Julian pulls himself out of the mud like a wounded dog. He pulls out his phone. His voice is pure venom.
“Dig up everything Cami ever did. Every high-end escort gig she took on the side. Every married man she slept with. Every client secret she leaked. Dump all of it. Tonight.”
“I want her finished. I want her to never breathe in this city again.”