After I Proposed Breaking Off The Engagement, Don Regretted It Chapter 06

Silas walked over, his heavy gaze drifting over the exposed skin of my body, his voice giving nothing away.

“Marlowe, quite the show unfolding here. Why didn’t you invite me to watch along?”

Back when I was still in love with Silas — in the worst moments — I used to imagine what his face would look like if I really fell in love with someone else.

So this was it. This calm, unbothered reaction.

Good thing I’d already let go. It didn’t hurt.

I met his eyes and said, “You heard her. This is Ivy’s husb…ex-husband. And my current boyfriend.”

“Oh.” The corner of Silas’s mouth curled into a gentle smile. His voice was soft. “So this is the one who’s been bothering you — the new boyfriend who wants to marry you?”

Caius stepped in front of Silas. His voice was cold. “Leave her alone.”

The kick came too fast.

Caius stumbled and hit the ground.

No one saw Silas move. But suddenly he was on top of Caius.

Ivy let out a short, startled scream. I shot to my feet.

Silas might look like a romantic Italian poet most of the time, but underneath, he was meaner than anyone.

Silas’s lips curved slightly. The smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m talking to my fiancée. Who said you could interrupt?”

He drew back his fist for another punch. Caius caught it with his bare hand.

Caius was good at boxing. He’d lost the upper hand at the start because he wasn’t prepared, but within seconds, the two of them were locked in a brawl.

I tried to break it up. They were both seeing red. Neither one listened.

Then I saw Silas winding up for a punch aimed straight at Caius’s eye.

My heart seized. The wine glass in my hand flew at Silas’s head before I even knew what I was doing.

I pulled Caius up fast. “Are you okay?” My voice panicked.

Caius’s eyes were steady, soothing. He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Then Ivy screamed in my ear. “Silas — you’re bleeding…”

I finally looked at Silas.

He pushed Ivy aside. Blood was running down the side of his face from his scalp. A shard of glass had left a small gash on his cheek.

Silas was always elegant and composed. The last time I’d seen him this wrecked was five years ago.

We’d just gotten engaged. The old Don had died. The Ferrante family was tearing itself apart from the inside. His uncle had him under house arrest at a villa, trying to force him out of the succession.

I put pressure on his uncle with a business deal on the surface. Behind the scenes, I kidnapped his nephew.

When his uncle brought Silas to trade for the kid, his face was dark as thunder. He said, coldly, “Silas, a blade that’s too sharp at home will cut the hand that holds it.”

I understood exactly what he meant. I took Silas’s hand and smiled back at him. “Don’t worry, Uncle. Our blade always faces outward.”

I’d always been ruthless and fiercely protective of my own.

It was just that now Silas was on the outside.

Silas’s face looked truly terrible.

“Playing around with outside toys is fine. Marlowe, you’ve had your fun. Time to come home.”

Home?

For five years, while Silas ran around with one woman after another, I’d kept waiting for him to come home.

That kind of waiting, the kind that cost you your pride, kept reminding me of my mother.

She’d waited year after year for my father to come home. In the end, all she got was a parade of mistresses and a parade of illegitimate children. They drove her into depression. She killed herself.

I’d always been torn between feeling sorry for her and being angry at her weakness.

But then I fell in love with Silas. And I became her.

Day by day, I turned into the person I hated most.

Now I’d finally clawed my way out. And Silas was telling me to come home.

I laughed, because it was so absurd it hurt.

“Silas, what home? There’s no home anymore.”

“Go to the hospital and get your head looked at. Just don’t die on me. I don’t want to be responsible.”

“And one more thing, sign the annulment papers. Right away.”

The blood on Silas’s head looked gruesome. But he didn’t seem to feel it at all. There was no warmth in his eyes.

“You just got tempted by some trash from outside. But no matter how much you play around, you still come home.”

Meaning he wouldn’t sign.

Caius’s face went dark. I stopped him before he could move. My voice was calm.

“You don’t want to end the engagement? Fine. Keep it. But the Ferrante family and the Crowe family, the partnerships, the assets, the board seats, all the binding contracts, I can tear it all apart in six months.”

Silas stared at me, stubborn.

“So that’s what this is about? You don’t like me hanging around with those people. You don’t like me staying out all night. You don’t like Ivy showing up in front of you. Fine. I’ll do as you want.”

“For the next six months, I’ll prove it to you. I’ll come home. I’ll drop the parties. I’ll cut Ivy out of my life completely.”

“Marlowe, you’re just angry. You’re not really going to leave.”

After everything, his voice still had that arrogance of someone who’d been loved for too long. He was sure he could pull the strings and I’d come running back.

Caius’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles went white.

I smiled. “Oh yeah? Then by all means, give it a try.”