The Principessa Bought a Genius Boyfriend Chapter 13
Vincent’s POVÂ
In that split second, I felt like a total idiot.Â
What was I even hoping for?Â
Hoping the moonlight would take pity on this antÂ
like me?Â
No. I was just a plaything, after all.Â
I left, locked myself away for two days, furious.Â
Then I realized. I couldn’t live without Isabella.Â
If I had to be a plaything, so be it. I’d just be better at it than any other plaything.Â
I went to find Isabella, and that was when I foundÂ
out-Â
She was gone.Â
Gone completely…Â
I quit my job, followed random leads people gaveÂ
me, and trekked through unfamiliar citiesÂ
searching for any trace of her.Â
I wandered in circles, but she was always one stepÂ
ahead of me. She didn’t leave me a single thing toÂ
go on.Â
But I heard that her family’s company wentÂ
bankrupt.Â
Did she leave me because I had no money,Â
couldn’t help her pay off her family’s debts?Â
I hated myself for the first time in my life.Â
When my savings ran out, I had to go back to NewÂ
York, crash at a friend’s place, and start buildingÂ
the system from scratch.Â
As I built up more connections, all the detailsÂ
about the Moretti family started coming to light.Â
I slowly sobered up and realized one thing.Â
Bankruptcy wasn’t just a word.Â
Isabella’s ivory tower collapsed.Â
She fell into this harsh, strange world. How wasÂ
she doing now?Â
See? I was so torn.Â
One side of me was angry, the other side was justÂ
worried sick about her.Â
I still couldn’t find Isabella.Â
To avoid creditors, the whole family had changed.Â
their names and started over somewhere else.Â
I bought so many of the things Isabella used toÂ
love.Â
The hand cream she used, the sweet–smellingÂ
kind, I bought the whole set.Â
And bags, skincare–everything. If she came back,Â
she could just use them right away.Â
The fourth year after Isabella disappeared, I finallyÂ
saw her again.Â
That night, I intentionally stayed last, waited forÂ
her to get off work, and followed her out of theÂ
building.Â
The elevator went down from the twentieth floorÂ
to the first floor.Â
It only took a few minutes.Â
But it felt longer than all the twenty–somethingÂ
years of my life put together.Â
Why did she pretend she didn’t know me?Â
Why did she keep trying to run away?Â
Did she really not want to see me that bad?Â
I called out to her, even risked her hating me for it.Â
She lifted her hat brim, and I finally saw her whole face clearly.Â
She’d gotten so thin, so much thinner. The sparkÂ
was gone from her eyes that she’d had back in the day.Â
When she talked to Aurora, I just stared at herÂ
face. I almost forgot to breathe.Â
What shocked me the most was that she wasÂ
working multiple jobs.Â
Just like I did back then.Â
There were calluses on her hands now.Â
I almost cried.Â
I never cried even when my life was falling apartÂ
back in the day. But watching calluses onÂ
Isabella’s hands? I just wanted to cry so bad.Â
Isabella said she had a boyfriend.Â
I didn’t believe her.Â
Not until that no–good guy stood in front of me.Â
I wanted to punch him.Â
I’d always been a pretty stand–up guy my whole.Â
life.Â
For the first time, I wanted to do something a little dirty for myself.Â
I was gonna take Isabella back.Â
I wasn’t poor anymore. I could give her a betterÂ
life.Â
Those old debts? Nothing I couldn’t handle.Â
I was so sure of how I felt now.Â
I loved Isabella–loved the pure girl she used to be,Â
and loved the strong woman she was now.Â
In some ways, we were exactly the same.Â
The new year came.Â
Isabella asked me what I thought the mostÂ
resilient thing in the world was.Â
I said, “Moonlight.”Â
She looked confused, and stared out the window.Â
She didn’t know I was staring at her.Â
I used to think the moonlight had fallen from the sky.Â
But I watched her fall down and get back up again.Â
Life couldn’t break her.Â
“Why moonlight?” She kept staring all silly–like out the window.Â
“Because even when you’re trapped in the worstÂ
place, moonlight never falls.”Â
I kissed her forehead.Â
“I will always love the moonlight.”

