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Who looked at me like he wanted to ruin me?—

Is my ex’s father.

Dante Bellacino. The Don.

Sarah stammers. “I—it was just a joke, Mr. Bellacino?—”

“Now.”

One word. Spoken like a loaded gun with the safety off.

She flinches. Visibly.

“S-sorry,” she breathes, the word limp and empty.

But the apology doesn’t matter.

Because the power just shifted.

And every person in this ballroom felt it.

He turns to me. Not with a smile.

Just a quiet, lethal promise in his eyes.

“You don’t let people talk to you like that. If you walk out now, I’ll respect it—but if it’s up to me? You’re staying.”

The crowd buzzes.

“Isn’t that…?”

“The Don himself?”

“The groom’s father just defended the ex?”

And just like that, the bride is no longer the story.

I’m the girl he just defended like I belong to him.

The girl who just stole the spotlight from the altar.

Because now?

No one’s looking at Sarah.

No one’s looking at Luca.

Everyone is staring at me.

2

TASSIA

As the minutes go by and we wait for the firefighters to put out the blaze and assess the damage, I sink into Lucas’s armchair and try to wrap my head around everything that just happened.

“How are you feeling?” he asks as he brings me a glass of water.

Tyler and Mitch hover nearby, glancing out the window then back at me.