Chapter 11%
Rocco was in his sophomore year of college when he got into a serious car crash.
I was sixteen, clutching my pencil case, heart pounding with the weight of an exam that suddenly didn’t matter anymore.!!
Smoke curled into the sky as I ran. The car was flipped, wheels still spinning. A boy’s backpack was still strapped to his shoulders as blood pooled beneath shattered glass.”
I dropped to my knees beside him. My hands moved on instinct, pressing down on the jagged wound in his chest, my breath hitching with every groan he made.
I didn’t leave until the paramedics pulled him away.
Years passed. My transfer went through, and I finally set foot on the campus of one of the world’s top photography schools.
I didn’t realize that boy would be my so–called boyfriend’s brother.
When Dr. Applebaum came to check on me and said that I really was pregnant, it all made sense.
Rocco… had been reborn.
And this whole time, he’d been quietly helping me take my revenge.}
That very night, I went straight to him and laid everything out.
“I’ll help you become the heir,” I told him, “but you have to get me out of Connecticut.”
He stared at me for a second, then asked softly, “So… you knew? About everything that’s been happening between us?“}
I gave him a small nod. “Yeah. I knew.”
He looked stunned for a moment, like it caught him off guard–but then he exhaled slowly, as if some part of him had been expecting it all along. A quiet smile tugged at his lips.
“Then… Can I come find you? One day?”
I smiled back, a little shrug in my shoulders. “We’ll see.”
An hour before the wedding, I climbed into a private jet bound for Boston.
No flight log, no boarding pass–no matter how deep Renzo’s connections ran, there was no way he’d trace me.”
Not long after, over coffee with my best friend, I found out Rocco had taken control of PWL Corp.
Renzo, on the other hand, had been completely pushed out. The blow since our wedding day was too much–he gave up on fighting for the inheritance and put all his effort into trying to track me down.”
Meanwhile, Ciara’s reputation tanked. She tried forcing Renzo to marry her, but things got ugly. They fought, she fell down the stairs, and ended up in a coma.
That same day, Renzo was arrested, charged with intentional assault, and sentenced to ten years.
Three years passed without me realizing.”
Three years later, I was in Dorchester, camera slung over my shoulder, catching the late afternoon light on brick walls and neon signs.”
I stepped back into the street, framing a shot–until I collided with a tall guy in a sharp suit.
“Susie,” a voice said, low and steady. “Long time no see.“}
That scent–bitter orange–wrapped around me before I even looked up.
My breath caught. Those eyes… Still blue and intoxicating like I remembered.
Like the universe meant for us to meet again, there he was in front of me.
“Babe…” I breathed.
That random afternoon, it felt like Rocco and I were just picking up where we left off… in another life.
1/1
