The Man Who Always Won Lost at Love Chapter 07
When I woke up the next morning, I had missed calls from my parents as well as Dante.
After a moment of hesitation, I called Mom first.
She answered almost immediately. “Leona, did you really move out in the middle of the night? What if
something had happened to you?”
She sounded worried, but the scolding I had expected never came.
Instead, she sighed. “Dante already came by and explained everything. Mireya, the whiskey, what happened at
the hospital yesterday–all of it.”
I said nothing.
Mom continued, “Your father and I were too hard on you last time. An engagement is a big deal, but no
family’s reputation is worth sacrificing your whole life for.”
Dad spoke up in the background. “Better to end it now than spend a marriage being treated like this. And stay
away from Mireya from now on. A real friend doesn’t keep taking opportunities your boyfriend hands her and
then make you feel petty for caring.”
Tears spilled over. “You’re not mad at me?”
Mom’s voice softened. “What would we be mad about? Calling off an engagement isn’t a crime. Just because
he’s a Vescari doesn’t mean you have to marry him.”
I covered my eyes.
For the first time, I realized that at least I hadn’t lost everyone at once.
My first day at Westerlin Consulting went surprisingly well.
My new supervisor walked me through the projects, and my new coworker, Paige Mercer, sat beside me.
No one knew about my ties to the Orsatti family, and no one cared who I had been engaged to.
They only cared about my work.
There was something unexpectedly comforting about that.
Around noon, Paige nodded toward my phone. “That thing’s been lighting up all morning. Family emergency?”
I turned it over and saw that Dante had sent more messages than I could even read through.
8:30- Dante: [Why aren’t you at Orsatti?]
9:00 Dante: [Your parents blocked my number.]
10:05 – Dante: [I asked HR. You really quit? Why did you have to change jobs too? Are you trying to avoid
me?]
11:40
Dante: [Leona, I was wrong. I can stop turning everything between us into a competition. I can stop
talking to Mireya too. Please answer me.]
There had been a time when I would have given anything to see Dante back down like this.
Now that it was finally happening, all I felt was tired.
Another message appeared, this one from Mireya.
Mireya: [Leona, Dante told me what happened between you two. There’s really nothing going on between us.
We’ve known each other all these years. Even if you don’t trust him, you should trust me.]
I stared at it for a few seconds before replying.
Me: [You two are the last people I would ever trust.]
Then I blocked her.
Paige came back carrying takeout and paused when she saw me wiping my eyes. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I did some serious decluttering yesterday.”
She laughed. “How much stuff did you get rid of? Enough to leave your eyes that red?”
I smiled too. “Two relationships. Turns out that’s a pretty big job.”
Paige didn’t press. She only said, “Then be careful when you leave this afternoon. There was this guy
downstairs this morning who seemed kind of off. He kept stopping people and asking if anyone had seen his
wife. Weird coincidence–her name was Leona too.”
She pulled out her phone and showed me a video she had taken discreetly.
In the grainy clip, Dante stood outside Westerlin with badly wrinkled clothes and an unshaven face, stopping
one passerby after another.
“Have you seen Leona Marcelli?”
Paige was still smiling. “Good thing everyone knows you’re not married, or people might actually think he
meant you.”
I stared at the video, my expression slowly tightening.
There was no misunderstanding.
It was Dante.
