Laura Bell Rich Cromar

💞📚"He Planned a Fake Wedding, So I Took Our Son and Vanished "📚Click to read more😍💕 When he said,"Go to Northern Europe to relax,"my hand paused while packing. Seven years had passed,and this was the first time he'd let me leave—I thought it was out of consideration. Then I overheard him telling our son in the study,"Marrying Vivian was just a pretense;don't tell your mother." I leaned against the wall and listened for a while,then went back to my room to change out of my ski suit into an old coat. As he saw me to the door,he asked,"Why did you take so little?" I said,"Because I'm not coming back."—He thought I was joking. ...... Once I'd cooled off,I went back upstairs and ran straight into Lorenzo in the hallway.I looked at the flashy red suit he had on."I thought you hated red." "That was then,this is now.And I'm helping a friend try on his wEdding sUit."Lorenzo reached for excuses. But it hit me then.Vivian Costa loved red.And ever since she came back,several red jackets had appeared in Lorenzo's closet.Red undershirts.Red socks.So there had been signs all along. "Trying on a wEdding sUit?Let me drive you.""No need!When I'm back,I'll bring pResents for you and Marco."He kIssed my forehead and hurried off.I almost called out to him,but I just shook my head. Everyone in the famiglia thought Lorenzo and I were the perfect couple.He hadn't looked down on where I came from,the back streets with nothing to my name. I worked nearly every day,brokered the truces that pulled the Falcone Family back from ruin more than once. Ten years side by side.We'd rebuilt the name of the Falcones.And only now did I find out:Lorenzo had been carrying Vivian Costa in his heart the whole time. I walked through the front door."Mama."Marco rushed over and wrapped his arms around my legs. "No matter what,you'll never leave me and Papa,right?"He'd sensed something.My heart ached.I crouched down. "If one day Papa and I weren't together anymore,who would you want to stay with?"Marco froze,his eyes filling with tEars. "I'm sorry." I held him close. He was only eight.Two grown-ups'problems shouldn't be laid on a child.I made Marco's favorite dInner. When Marco saw the food on the table,he suddenly started to cry. "Mama.You already know about Aunt Vivian and Papa getting married,don't you?Papa told me it's only a sham marriage,just on paper.Please don't be angry. "I sighed and gathered him into my arms.He just believed Lorenzo,the way children do. dInner was over.I saw that one of Lorenzo's soldiers had posted to his feed.The pHoto didn't show a face,but there it was on the neck—that small red mole.Lorenzo had one too. I knew the watch on his wrist.It belonged to Vivian Costa.The caption read:"The moon I lost will always come back. "The words were familiar.I went into the study and found a nOtebook.That exact line stared back at me.The account was Lorenzo's own. I picked up my pHone and sent a message.【Keep one of those pArtner sLots open for me.And have your cOnsigliere draw up pApers for my break from the Family.】 A few months ago,a man from my old neighborhood had asked me to build a crew with him in Scandinavia. Thirty percent of the take,and I wouldn't have to put in a cEnt.I'd kept turning it down.It was time to let go and reach for it. Almost midnight.Lorenzo came home dRunk,no gIft in his hands.His collar was undone,with a smear of lipstick on it. "Babe,why aren't you asleep yet?" He grinned and went straight into the bathroom.In the old days,he would have pulled me into a hug first. I heard a muffled sound and went to Marco's room.He pointed at a pHone screen—a post from Vivian Costa's daughter. She was sitting at a pink pIano,hugging a tAblet,beaming. The caption:【Thank you to the best dad in the world for my limited-edition custom pIano.】 "Mom.I've seen that pIano on Dad's computer."That one small sentence nearly broke me. Lorenzo was always saying,"Boys should be raised lean."He was hard on Marco. When the boy wanted a toy,he almost never bought it.How could he shower another woman's girl with everything and be so harsh with his own son? "Sweet boy.Mom will buy it for you from now on."I comforted Marco until he fell asleep,then went back to the living room.Lorenzo came out. I held my anger down."Didn't you say you were bringing Marco a gIft?""Forgot. I'll get him something next time."He came over and wrapped his arms around me.Once,a touch like this would have undone me.Now nothing moved in me at all. 🚨 Plot twist alert! You won't believe what happens next…