The Don’s Heiress Won’t Choose Him Again Chapter 09
Two months later, we came back from Europe.
In those two months, Dominic and I had traveled to nearly every corner of Europe we’d ever wanted to see.
Florence. Paris. Santorini.
Dominic was a wonderful traveling companion—thoughtful, attentive, always arranging everything before I even noticed a need for it.
I was almost able to forget the whole mess back in New York. Roman. Serafina. The absurd farce of that wedding.
Only when the private jet touched down smoothly at the private terminal at JFK did I remember I was home.
I was holding onto Dominic’s arm, laughing about which restaurant we should try for dinner.
Then, not far off, a figure stepped into my line of sight.
Roman.
He was so much thinner and more haggard than he’d been two months ago. His jaw was covered in patchy stubble, his eyes ringed with dark shadows.
He saw me too. His steps faltered, and then he came charging at me like a madman.
“Valentina!”
Roman’s voice was rough and cracking. He grabbed my shoulders with enough force to crush them.
“Valentina, I was wrong. I was wrong about everything.”
His eyes were bloodshot, his voice shaking with emotion.
“I only realized how much you mean to me after I lost you! I can’t live without you!”
“Roman. Let go.” Dominic’s voice went cold. He reached out to pry Roman’s fingers away.
Roman didn’t seem to hear him. He kept clutching me.
“It was all Serafina! She staged everything—she deceived me, she deceived everyone!”
“She arranged the shooting. She faked her disappearance. She’s nothing but a liar!”
“I really was wrong, Valentina. Can we go back to how we were? Come back to me. I’m begging you.”
Dominic shoved Roman back. “Stay away from my fiancée.”
Roman flinched as if the words had struck him. His head snapped up, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Dominic.
“This is between me and Valentina! It has nothing to do with you!”
His voice broke with emotion. “Who the hell are you? What gives you the right to interfere?”
“Dominic, the one Valentina loves is me! She’s only with you because she’s angry at me!”
He turned back to me, his voice softening into a plea. “Valentina, tell him. You still have feelings for me, don’t you?”
“You were just angry with me. Angry that I didn’t believe you. Angry that I picked Serafina, weren’t you?”
“I understand everything now. It was all Serafina’s fault! I’ll make it up to you. I’ll do anything!”
“Roman.” I finally spoke. My voice was flat as still water.
“You’re wrong.”
“You’re wrong because, even now, you’re still blaming everyone else.”
“Serafina was at fault, yes. But the one who chose to believe her and abandon me—that was you.”
“What you call love is too selfish. Too cheap.”
His mouth opened and closed. No sound came out.
“Valentina…” He forced my name out, his voice a wreck.
I gently shook my head. A very faint, almost cruel smile touched my lips.
“Roman.”
I paused, and spoke slowly, one word at a time.
“I stopped loving you a long time ago.”
Roman looked like the last of his strength had been drained out of him. He collapsed against the pillar behind him.
The light in his eyes went out entirely. All that was left was a bottomless, hollow despair.
“No… it can’t be…” he murmured, as if he couldn’t accept the brutal truth.
“Valentina, give me one more chance. Please. Just one—”
His voice cracked into sobs. He’d been reduced to nothing.
Dominic tightened his grip on my hand and stepped forward, placing himself fully between me and Roman.
“Roman. I think Valentina has made herself perfectly clear.”
I squeezed Dominic’s hand and looked past his shoulder at Roman. “Never. Roman, you remember what happened in the last life, don’t you? If you remember what you said to me on that call, then you know I could never forgive you.”
Roman swayed on his feet, then sank down, utterly hollowed out.
He looked at me for a long moment, as if trying to carve me into his memory, then turned and walked away.
Once he was gone, I looked up at Dominic and let out a soft laugh.
Roman’s appearance hadn’t affected us at all.
“Let’s go to that restaurant you mentioned.”
Dominic stroked the back of my hand and smiled gently. “All right.”