A few dayster, I was wearing the custom wedding dress Liam had made for me, sitting under the covered walkway of the Sicily estate, surrounded by countless stars.[]
This dress waspletely handmade. It took the Italian designer’s atelier nine whole months to finish. It was covered in stunning diamonds, just like me–beautiful enough to take your breath away.
He held my hand, his voice shaking with excitement:[]
“Lauren, there’s only one piece of luck I can hold onto in this lifetime.“[
“And that’s you – someone who walked out of hell and was reborn here in Sicily.“]
“If you’ll let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life helping you escape from that nightmare of pain and despair. I’ll use whatever light
have left to brighten the rest of your journey.“[]
“Lauren, will you marry me?“]
My eyes were tearing up as I slowly but firmly put my hand on his face.]
I was just about to say “yes.“[]
A
When this heartbroken scream cut me off:[]
14
“Don’t!”
I looked up, shocked.]
The estate manager looked totally embarrassed and apologetic.]
In front of us was Dominic, stumbling and falling as he crashed into the courtyard.]
“Sir<b>, </b>ma’am, we tried our best.“]]
Liam narrowed his eyes but didn’t me them. Instead, we both carefully looked at the mess that
was Dominic.
He was covered in dirt, his eyes bloodshot, looking like he’d been dragged out of hellpletely wrecked.]
“Lauren, it’s really you… I saw you in the wedding photos my friend sent–I finally found you.“]]
He tried to take another step forward.]]
<b>But </b>the half–step I took back for good<b>, </b>it was like I’d hurt him bad. <b>He </b>froze, staring at me with this crushed look.<b>[</b>]
“Lauren, I get it now. I love you. You’re the one <b>I </b>really love.“[
“So…”
“Can you <b>please </b>not marry him?“]
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I looked down and brushed off a white rose on my dress that the night breeze had messed up–this was the funniest joke I’d ever heard.[]
“You’re in the wrong ce, Dominic.“[]
I spoke calmly, my voicepletely cold.[]
“You’re not wee here.“[]
“Lauren, I was wrong…” He suddenly dropped to his knees in front of me, his knees hitting the cobblestones hard with a dull thud. “You’ve forgiven me so many times before–please, can you forgive me just one more time?“]
I stared coldly at the blood seeping from his knees, feeling absolutely nothing.[]
Seeing my reaction, Dominic crawled forward on his knees toward me, desperately saying:]
–
“Lauren<b>, </b>I know now – I was wrong about you
and your father from the very beginning.“[]
“I shouldn’t have treated you like that, shouldn’t have believed Sophia, shouldn’t have forced you to do those things for me.
<b>“</b>Now I understand everything. It was all Sophia ying us against each other. Everything was done by her and her mom together, she destroyed us-“]]
Dominic was shouting.]
“She’s not even your half–sister!“]
But only thatst sentence made me slightly shocked.]
And that tiny bit of shock made Dominic think my heart might be softening.
E
“Lauren, I just realized I love you. I’m crazy in love with you. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you a hundred, a thousand times over! Sophia’s been punished. There’s nothing between us anymore, no more misunderstandings.”
“You have every right to hate me, but please, I’m begging–just one chance? Don’t marry someone else. Come back to me. Let me fix this, yeah? Let me try?“[]