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Stefano.
The man I was going to marry.
The father of my child.
I enter the coffee shop and feel my body begin to shake again. I clench my fists to try and hide it as I pull my chair back. Without a word, I sit down opposite him and his cold eyes pierce into me.
"Amelia. It's been so long. What a pleasure." He says with absolutely no emotion in his voice.
I stare at him, too scared to speak because I don't trust the words to come out clearly.
The scar above his eye is deep and jagged. Somehow it makes him look sexier. More dangerous, but sexier.
Even the cropped stubble of his beard might look unkept on someone else but on him it's gorgeous.
I don't want to be sitting here thinking about how gorgeous he looks.
But my heart, my body, is still so drawn to him - even after all these years.
"Cat got your tongue?" He says dryly.
I clear my throat softly and push my hands beneath the table so he can't see how stressed I am.
"Hello, Stefano," I say, sounding far more confident than I expected myself to sound.
STEFANO
NINE YEARS AGO
Merelda, my little girl, my sweet angel, is lying in a hospital bed dying. My wife, her mother, Danica, is nowhere to be found. For days at a time, I don't leave the hospital because I'm terrified of losing even one moment with her.
Danica is out having lunch with her friends somewhere. She doesn't give a shit about her daughter or about me. She never has. And quite honestly, I have never given a shit about her.
I filed for divorce a few weeks ago and as soon as that bitch signs it I will be free of her and the negative impact she has on my life and the life of her daughter.
It was an arranged marriage and all I wanted from it was an heir. A child.
But now my child is dying.
Merelda is my entire world. She is everything to me and I would move the stars and planets for her if I could.
I sit next to the hospital bed filled with anxious dread. My leg bounces with agitation as I wait. The doctor should be here any moment with an update for me, but I can see that Merelda is not doing well. Her face is sunken, and the dark shadows beneath her eyes are a tell-tale sign that she is slowly fading away from me.
We've tested everyone in my family for the possibility of a liver transplant, but no one has been a viable candidate for a donor, even my older sister, Lisa. She doesn't live in the city, but she got tested and would've flown in if she was an option. But she isn't.
It breaks me.
It tears me down in ways I never expected were possible.
I am not a weak man.
In fact, I've been called stone-cold, ruthless, heartless, and dangerous - but with Merelda everything is different. She broke away the walls of my heart and turned me into something else - just for her.
I take a deep breath and lean away from the bed, running my hands through my hair and shutting my eyes tightly to stop the tears that are stinging and threatening to fall.
Someone clears their throat next to me.
I turn towards the sound and see the doctor standing there with a solemn look on his face. His mouth is tight, and his jaw is set.
