Page 118 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

They meant nothing. More meaningless gifts.

But the urge was to keep them. To leave them there, to remind herself what happened when you let yourselffeel.

No.

She slipped the rings off and placed them in the middle of the pile of gifts.

Would he even recognise the symbolic importance of her rings there with all the other jewels?

She pulled out a single piece of paper and an envelope from her side drawer.

What to write?

She was angry at him, but at herself most of all. Angry for wanting things she’d decided long ago that she couldn’t have if she was to keep her heart safe.

How did she explain this wasn’t about love, that it wasn’t him that had broken his promise? It washer.

She picked up the fancy ink pen and wrote three words he’d understand. Three words that would have given him the permission to end their marriage.

She collected her rings, and dropped them inside the envelope, with her note, and sealed it.

She placed it on her pillow.

When he returned,thiswould be the first place he’d come. To find her willing and waiting. As she always had been.

Except this time she wouldn’t be here.

Emma turned and made her way out of the room and down the stairs. She slipped her heels back on, walked to the front door and opened it. She stepped outside and gripped the handle to the door. She held on tight, looking back at the lie of the life she thought she could have had.

‘Goodbye,’ she said to the house, to thethingsand to him.

Emma pulled the door closed and let go of the handle. She let go of all the lies she’d told herself for the last year, and readied herself to face the bold truth of what came next.

Divorce.

Two days later...

Dante Cappetta signed his name with elegant flicks.

It was a simple document. It outlined as much as the first contract he’d presented to her. The only difference was the time they’d remain married.

Dante stared at the empty signature box. He didn’t imagine it would be empty for long. Soon, so very soon, his wife would sign her name without hesitation and bind herself to him for an additional three years of marital bliss.

Four weeks remained on their original marriage contract, but there was no need to wait until then to present her with a new agreement.

He was...satisfied. And he wanted her to have this gift. An early present for being...perfect.

He closed the contract.

But he felt it. An easiness. Something close, he supposed, to contentedness, because the urge was not formoreas it always was with the Cappetta men to climb higher peaks, or to parachute over more perilous terrains.

The urge was simply to keep things with Emma the same. To keep her.

He settled into the leather recliner and watched the lights twinkle over the dark city of London.

The Cappetta Travel Empire had its fingers in every pie: airlines, boats, hotels. They had headquarters in every important travel capital, with offices everywhere else they were required, but never had one city taken precedence over another.

Dante simply went where he was most in demand, and before Emma, women chasedhim. Followed him to any God-given destination, and did all they could to attract his attention.

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