Chapter 49 Rosalie
ROSALIE
“He’s not here,” Daisy said with regret.
With the harsh shrug of my shoulder, I tore the veil from my hair. Of course he isn’t here. Deep down, some part of me had known this all along, hadn’t it?
My fingers trembled as I untangled the delicate lace from the braids.
Each pull and yank felt like a desperate attempt to tear away the layers of shame and humiliation that clung to me.
The lace was so fragile, so easily torn, just like the trust I’d foolishly pinned on him.
The more I struggled with it, the more it seemed to tighten, as if it were mocking me.
My face burned with a familiar flush. I knew my cheeks were likely bright red, and the stinging heat was nothing but a cruel reminder that everyone could see my mortification.
The whispers and murmurs of my family only continued to grow louder.
I caught their pitying glances and felt their judgment as clearly as if they’d spoken the words aloud.
“Poor thing,” they were probably thinking.
“How could she not have seen this coming?” And maybe they were right.
Maybe I had been blind, willingly so, because facing the harsh truth for a second time seemed too painful to bear.
There was something painful crushing my heart, weighing me down, until I collapsed to the floor and cried, without a single breath of air.
Daisy threw the useless clipboard onto the stool and kneeled beside me without hesitation.
I felt her hand tighten around mine. She didn’t speak.
What could she say? I wasn’t even sure what to think.
Why was this affecting me so much? I knew he’d do something like this. It shouldn’t bother me.
I wiped away the tears with the back of my hand angrily, as if the very act of crying betrayed my own convictions. Why was I crying? What was the point? I knew better than this. I’d known better than to trust him. To think he’d show up. He was a Romano.
I sat there for a moment staring at the discarded veil crumpled on the floor.
My heart was still racing, but my mind was starting to clear.
This was ridiculous. He wasn’t worth it.
I knew that, didn’t I? I wasn’t some na?ve girl who’d honestly believe a man like him.
I was stronger—smarter—than that. I was supposed to be anyway.
Max was always going to do something like this.
It was payback, I suppose. He’d found a way to get back at me.
I’d seen the signs, the red flags, the dark things he was capable of.
I wasn’t blind to the mistakes he’d made.
I just . . . I don’t know. Maybe I’d wanted to believe he’d change.
But people didn’t change, did they? Not really.
They just became more of who they already were.
And him? He was always going to be a man in the Outfit—the kind who liked to have people to play with.
It was almost pathetic that I’d hoped for anything else.
I should be relieved, honestly. I’d dodged a bullet. This entire thing, it was a blessing in disguise. So why was I still sitting there on the floor, feeling as if the ground had been ripped out from under me? I couldn’t be that stupid, right? At least I shouldn’t be.
But I was.
“I trusted him. How could he do this to me?” I asked Daisy as she watched me struggle to catch my breath.
She brushed a stray tear from my cheek. “You did nothing wrong,” she whispered, her voice gentle. “You trusted him because you felt something for him. That doesn’t make you weak—that makes you human.”
Her words blurred together. To love, to trust, to believe in someone so completely—was it really a sign of strength, or was it the cruelest joke the heart could play? I’d given him my trust, and for what? To be left questioning my own worth; my own judgment?
My thoughts twisted in on themselves, creating a tangled mess of hope and anger that dug its way into my core.
How could he have done this to me again?
How could he have looked into my eyes, held me close, and still betrayed me?
Was it so easy for him to disregard my pain?
Was it easy for him to cast aside my feelings as if they meant nothing to him?
Everything was a mess.
I was a mess.
Nothing seemed right.
I was beginning to love the man Max had been to me—someone who’d shown me glimpses of a future I wanted to believe in. The way he would laugh was genuine; the way he’d hold onto me as if he never planned to let go—it had felt so real.
My mind battled against itself, torn between the desire to protect my heart and the hope there was still something worth salvaging. The anger inside was strong, and it demanded justice. It screamed at me to walk away, to never look back.
But beneath that anger was the quiet.
It was a persistence ache, the part of me that still wanted to believe in him. In us. The part of me that remembered the way his eyes softened when he looked at me. The way he whispered my name as if it were the only word he’d ever known.
“What if there is an explanation? What if he hasn’t left me? What if something really did happen?” I finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at me—the one that wouldn’t let go.
Daisy gave a weak smile and shook her head. “I don’t think he’s coming, Rosie. This is what the Romanos are known for.”
I could feel the doubt creeping in, trying to erode my trust in him, but there was something stronger that fought back. Maybe it was foolish, maybe it was na?ve, but I knew there had to be more to it.
I refused to believe everything we had meant so little to him.
“I know what you’re saying,” I said slowly, my voice still trembling, “but I know Max. He’s made mistakes before, big ones, but he’s never been one to walk away without a word. If he’s not here, there has to be a reason.”
Daisy sighed. “I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“I know,” I replied, my heart heavier than before. “But if there’s even a chance something happened—something beyond his control . . . I have to find out. I have to trust there’s more to this than it seems.”
Daisy hesitated for a moment but then nodded, her hand squeezing mine gently.
“If that’s what you need to do, then do it.
If you can’t trust your own heart, whose can you really trust?
” She stood and helped pull me up. “Sean is outside waiting for you. He said he’d be your getaway driver if need be. ”
Her words brought a small, almost involuntary smile to my lips. “Of course he did,” I murmured.
Sean had always been the kind of person to drop everything if he thought he could help. There had been countless times when he’d come through for me. He never asked for an explanation or demanded more than I was willing to give—he just showed up, ready to support me in whatever way I needed.
Like he was right now.
He stood on the other side of the door, blocking the eyes of the crowd—at least what was left of it—so they wouldn’t see my tears.
His broad shoulders shielded me from the curious, judgmental glances of people who didn’t know—who couldn’t understand—what I was truly going through. Most of them were my own family.
“Hey, kiddo,” he said with a kind smile. “The car is running, ready to go whenever you are.”
I let out a sigh and followed him out.
Once I’d settled into the passenger seat, he got behind the wheel and started the ignition. The engine hummed to life, the quiet inside the car almost suffocating. I could feel the small battle in my chest beginning again.
Sean glanced over at me. He didn’t say anything, just waited patiently for me to tell him where I wanted to go. I stared out the window, trying desperately to put my pride aside and trust Max.
“Rose?” Sean’s voice broke through the fog of my thoughts. “Do you want to go home, or do you want to go to your father’s house?”
I met his steady gaze. My father. Where was he? He was supposed to be the one to walk me down the aisle, but I never got the chance to take that walk. Was he still at the church?
“I . . . I don’t know,” I stammered. “Is he even there?”
Sean frowned, the concern hitting him just like it had hit me.
Both my father and Max were missing?
“He might still be at the church. We could go back there, check if he’s still around.”
Seeing Sean uncertain only made me question everything more. What was going on? Was my father involved? Was he with Max?
“Sean,” I said, my voice barely a whisper as I tried to steady my trembling hands.
His frown deepened as he threw the car into reverse. He knew exactly what I was wondering and had answered a question I didn’t even have to ask. “I don’t know, but if Liam is with Max, it’s because he wants the marina back.”
The marina. The business that had been the center of so much conflict; the very thing that had driven a wedge between Max and my family.
My stomach started to churn as I realized this was bigger than me.
Max wouldn’t give up the marina, and my father wouldn’t walk away without it.
“You think?” I asked, grasping for any sense of hope I could cling onto. “My father wouldn’t hurt Max. He also wouldn’t have pushed this marriage on me if he was going to end up killing him. He would’ve told me.”
Sean glanced at me, his expression no longer kind. It was . . . regretful. “I know your father, Rose. He wouldn’t let Max take the marina and you.”
The marina had always been my father’s symbol of power—something he was fiercely protective of. But I’d never considered it might be tied to me, to my future, like this.
“What are you saying?” I asked quietly.
Sean took a deep breath, his eyes avoiding mine as he focused on the road. “Your father is a smart man. He knows what he wants, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect it. Anyone who’s ever challenged him for the marina has ended up dead.”
I wanted to argue, to insist my father was a kind man, someone who couldn’t be so cold, but deep down, a part of me was certain Sean was right. My father was a complex man, and his love for me didn’t mean he wouldn’t make hard decisions if he thought it was necessary to protect what he valued most.
I couldn’t figure out if it was me or the marina he cared for more.
He’d forced me to marry Max to keep the family safe, yet here he was, putting me in the middle of a battlefield.
“Do you really think he’s capable of . . . of hurting Max?” I asked, the words catching in my throat.
Sean hesitated, his expression pained. “I think he’s capable of doing whatever he believes is right to protect you and the family legacy. And if he thinks Max is a threat to that, then . . . yes, I think he might be willing to take drastic measures.”
It didn’t shock me. I’d grown up listening to my father’s hatred of the Romanos. He’d said they were liars, and he’d been right. He’d said they were thieves, and he’d been right. My father’s actions would be justified in his eyes, but never in mine.
Sean turned the car down the road I hadn’t wanted to take. But now there was no turning back. He threw the car into park and took the keys with him.
“Stay put. I’m going to try to de-escalate the situation.”
He expected me to stay put when every instinct screamed at me to follow him? The idea of sitting in the car, powerless, was nearly unbearable.
As Sean walked into the warehouse, my mind raced.
I knew he was trying to protect me, to keep me out of harm’s way, but this was about more than just my safety.
This was about Max, about my father, about everything that had been leading up to this moment.
How could I just sit here and wait, not knowing what would happen?