Chapter 2 - My Cousin Called Me an Embarrassment, but His Mother Asked Me to Stay
The ballroom went silent after I said powerful people never knelt in rented dresses.
Alessio watched me as though I had spoken a language nobody in his family understood.
Then he said, “That depends on why they kneel.”
Livia grabbed my elbow again.
“Enough, Bella.”
I stepped away before Alessio needed to defend me twice.
“I should go,” I whispered.
“Not yet,” Valentina said.
She offered her arm, not as an order, but as an invitation.
At the family table, the place beside Alessio remained empty. Livia had spent weeks planning to occupy it.
Valentina pulled out that chair for me.
I could feel Livia staring from across the room.
“Please,” I said. “You don't know me.”
“I know what you did when everyone else watched.”
“That doesn't make me special.”
“No,” Alessio said. “It makes the others disappointing.”
I sat because refusing would have caused a bigger spectacle.
A waiter brought water. My hands shook so badly the glass rattled against the saucer.
Alessio noticed.
“Are you afraid of me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Most people lie.”
“I'm also angry.”
“At me?”
“At the room.”
He followed my gaze to the guests pretending not to listen.
“Then we agree on something.”
Across the table, Marco leaned toward his cousin.
“We need to discuss the hospital documents.”
Alessio's expression closed.
“Later.”
“The specialist leaves tomorrow.”
“I said later.”
I studied the rigid line of his shoulders. Pain still lived beneath that polished black jacket.
“Your brace needs checking,” I said.
Marco laughed once.
“Are you a doctor now?”
“No. And I won't pretend to be.”
I turned toward Alessio.
“But I know what it looks like when someone is suffering to protect everyone else's comfort.”
His gaze stayed on me.
After dinner, Valentina accompanied me toward the service entrance. I expected a polite goodbye.
Instead, she pressed a business card into my palm.
“Come to the house tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because my son needs people who tell him the truth.”
“I don't work for your son.”
“Then come as my guest.”
Before I could answer, Livia appeared beside the staircase.
“You ruined everything,” she whispered.
“Livia, I only helped him.”
“You took my seat.”
“I didn't ask for it.”
She smiled without warmth.
“You'll regret being noticed.”
My phone vibrated as I stepped into the cold night.
An unknown number had sent a photograph.
It showed my father's old orthopedic brace.
May you like
Underneath were six words.
ASK MORETTI WHO PAID FOR HIS ACCIDENT.
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