Chapter 152
ISABELLA
Outside, the world erupted in light. Cameras flashed like lightning across a stormy sky, each burst leaving ghosts in my vision. Paparazzi voices swarmed together, a hive of buzzing questions I couldn’t make out but felt pierce through my skin all the same.
It was strange—unnerving—that Mr. Antonio had allowed this spectacle to happen. He had always wanted me tucked away from the media eye, if only to protect his son’s image, to keep the truth buried where it belonged. I had expected discretion, shadows, silence. Instead, the night glittered with attention, and my stomach churned with the realization that tomorrow my face would be splashed across news channels, magazines, gossip blogs. There would be no escape.
Today and yesterday blurred together, fever-dreams collapsing into one another. Shopping bags, laughter, fleeting illusions of happiness. A sense of déjà vu crept in, sharp and suffocating, as though I had walked this road before and knew exactly where the nightmare would begin.
Levi’s hand found my waist, steady and commanding. He guided me forward, each step perfectly measured, and I—like a doll strung by invisible threads—glided at his side until the car door shut us away from the chaos.
Inside, silence wrapped around us, broken only by Levi’s voice as he slipped into a call with his father. He wasn’t speaking much, more listening, his face unreadable, his tone clipped. Yet even as he focused on the conversation, his hand moved absently over me, fingers tracing the length of my thigh. It was unconscious, protective, and I clung to it as though that single touch could tether me to safety. My nerves eased, but only slightly.
Because the closer we drew to the new venue, the more that fragile calm began to fracture. My chest squeezed tight, each breath shallow and ragged. Anxiety clawed up my throat, vicious and familiar—the same suffocating dread I had felt when I left the company, when whispers and accusations nearly devoured me whole. My body trembled, not from cold but from the bone-deep certainty that something—something—was about to happen.
Mr. Antonio’s silence all evening had been unbearable. He hadn’t looked at me, hadn’t spoken to me, not even a veiled insult. And that silence was worse than any threat he could have hurled in my face. I would have welcomed venom, anything sharp and open, rather than this suffocating anticipation.
The Julio estate came into view at last, its lights sprawling against the night. Sleek cars lined the drive, a quiet parade of power waiting at the gates. And yet Mr. Antonio himself was not among them—strange, as he had been the one to make the announcement at our engagement party and the first to leave the restaurant. His absence now, just as guests arrived, struck me as odd—like a missing note in a carefully orchestrated symphony.
The car rolled to a stop. Levi was still on the phone as he stepped out, but he circled the vehicle to open my door himself. His hand caught my wrist, grounding me as I slid out. “Dad,” he said into the phone, his tone low, final. “We’ll continue this when you arrive.” A beat passed, then he ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket.
Julio awaited us at the entrance, making sure to welcome guests personally.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with dirty-blond hair swept carelessly back and pale grey eyes that caught the light like ice. His chest was thick, his smile practiced. He looked every inch the master of the estate, every inch the man of the hour.
“Levi.” His voice was rich, rolling, as he clasped Levi’s hand in a grip too firm to be friendly. “It’s been too long.”
The handshake was warm on the surface, but underneath it coiled something sharper in my chest. His gaze slid to me, lingering, deliberate. A sly grin curved his mouth as his eyes swept the length of me, a slow appraisal.
“Levi,” Julio drawled, “you’ve outdone yourself. Your fiancée is stunning. My God!”
He took my hand before I could retreat, bending over it. His lips brushed the back of my palm, soft in action but searing in effect. My skin prickled. Levi stiffened beside me, his entire body coiling with restrained fury that was so easy to sense. His jaw clenched, the muscle twitching as his eyes narrowed, the darkness in them dangerous.
If I wasn’t so anxious, I would have blushed at his possessiveness.
When Levi spoke, his laugh was brittle, stiff, a poor disguise. “I know she is.” Smooth on the surface, but the steel threaded through his tone cut clean through the air, silencing the small knot of guests gathering near the door.
Tension radiated between them, sharp enough to divide the night. I didn’t know the details of their enmity, but I felt it. They were definitely not on good terms.
As if the night couldn’t get any weirder.
“Please, come in. Everyone has been waiting to see the couple of the hour,” Julio said with a chuckle, dismissing the moment with exaggerated charm. With a sweep of his arm, he ushered us inside, his voice booming with hospitality as more guests began to filter in.
I looked around the large hall for where to escape. If I could hide myself, then this night could pass easily.
All I had to do was survive the night.
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