Ch. I Watch 9 I Watch 9

Chapter 9 

It took Julian six months to track me down to San Celano. 

That day, I was in the estate’s underground negotiating room, reviewing a money laundering operation with three old vineyard owners from Naples. My deputy pushed the door open and lowered his voice: 

“Miss Vitale, there is a gentleman from Porthaven waiting for you in VIP Room 3 at the club. He claims to be your… husband.” 

I set my fountain pen down, my finger resting on the corner of the document for a brief second. 

“Tell him I am occupied tonight.” 

“He said he’s been waiting for three days. It’s about the divorce papers.” 

I stayed silent for a few seconds. “Have Enzo get the car.” 

I closed the folder and raised my hands to button my coat. “To the club.” 

When the bodyguard pushed open the heavy, soundproof door to the VIP room, Julian was standing with his back to the door, facing the dim floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Outside was the night view of old San Celano, the sharp steeples of the cathedral outlined by the warm glow of the streetlights. 

Hearing the door open, he whipped his head around. 

In the six months we’d been apart, he had lost so much weight he was almost unrecognizable. 

Deep, dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes, and the custom-tailored three-piece suit hung loosely on his frame, the shoulders sagging as if he were wearing someone else’s clothes. 

“Serafina…” His voice was so hoarse it almost shattered. 

I sat down on the dark leather sofa opposite him, separated by a long walnut coffee table. A waiter poured a glass of vintage dry red wine. I picked it up and took a sip. 

“Mr. Marchetti.” I raised my eyes. “I had the divorce papers delivered to you six months ago. If there are any procedural issues, please contact my lawyer.” 

“I didn’t sign them.” He walked over quickly, rounded the edge of the table, and dropped to one knee at my feet, looking up at me. “Serafina, I didn’t sign a single word. We are still husband and wife.” 

“Under Porthaven law, after six months of separation, either party can unilaterally file to dissolve the marriage.” I looked at him calmly. “Today marks exactly six months.” 

“I was wrong.” He reached out and grabbed my hand resting on the arm of the sofa, his fingertips as cold as ice. 

“Serafina, I know I was wrong. I truly do. I’ve dealt with Mia completely. I kicked her and her troublemaking mother out of Porthaven. I investigated the fire at the old apartment too. She knocked over the kerosene lamp on purpose just to keep me…” 

“And?” I pulled my hand away. “Julian, did you fly all the way here just to tell me that I wasn’t the one who set that fire?” 

“No, that’s not what I meant.” 

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He shook his head frantically, his eyes rimmed with red. “I’m trying to say… I finally realize how much of a bastard I was. Give me one more chance. Let’s start over, okay? The territory, the Family, I can’t handle it all on my own.” 

“Serafina, I need you.” 

I stood up and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. 

The old city outside was quiet in the night, the faint tolling of a cathedral bell drifting in the air. 

“Julian,” I didn’t turn around. “Do you remember the year you first joined the Family as a foot soldier?” 

He froze. 

“To seize that turf in the South Side, you led your men into a shootout with drug dealers while I handled the books for you in the background.” 

I took a sip of the strong liquor and continued, “The night before the raid, you were cleaning your gun and told me, ‘Serafina, if I die on the streets tomorrow night, you take the cash and run. Don’t look back.’”‘ 

“I told you then, ‘Julian, if you dare to die, I’ll sell my soul to the devil just to hire a hitman to avenge you.’” 

“Later, you got stabbed three times fighting for territory, the blade just two inches from your heart. I stayed up all night in that underground clinic surrounded by blood. I swore then that as long as you survived, I would willingly rot in the slums with you for the rest of my life.” 

I turned around, my gaze falling lightly on his face. “I thought we were bound by blood and survival.” 

“We crawled under the iron gates of the orphanage together, slept in leaky apartments, and split single portions of pasta. I thought my bloodshot eyes from sleepless nights and the mountains of ledgers I burned through for you meant more than what any other woman could give.” 

“But later, I finally figured it out.” I shook my head. 

“Julian, to you, I was never a wife, nor a lover. I was just the handiest ledger you possessed, the sharpest blade at your side. What you couldn’t bear to lose was never me. It was my brain.” 

“What you can’t let go of is my mind working for you.” 

“Julian,” I looked at him, speaking every word with deliberate clarity. “A person’s heart can die.” 

“My heart died a long time ago, right alongside our baby in that incubator.” 

He stumbled to his feet, his eyes bloodshot. “No… I love you, Serafina. I was just… I was just blinded by the power and the money…” 

“Your excuses are cheaper than your betrayal,” I cut him off. “If you had simply fallen out of love, at least you would have been a man. But this pathetic act of devotion? Do you really think I can’t see through it?” 

A soft knock came at the door, and my deputy, Enzo, peeked in. 

“Miss Vitale, Mr. Bianchi is waiting for you in the main hall. The Commission’s emergency meeting has been moved up.” 

“I’ll be right there,” I said. 

I picked up my coat from the sofa and slowly draped it over my shoulders. As I reached the door, Julian’s near- hysterical voice rang out behind me. 

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“Serafina! What if that day, in the fire… what if I had chosen you? What if I had saved you first?” 

I stopped in my tracks without turning around. 

“There are no ‘what ifs’.” 

“Julian, the second you carried her out that door, you lost the right to make me feel anything for you ever again.” 

The door closed behind me. 

The ornate wall sconces in the hallway blazed, illuminating the path ahead. 

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