On my five-hundred-and-twentieth flight into Chicago, my boyfriend finally came to the airport for me.

He held a bouquet of air-flown Blue Moon roses, and the diamond ring inside the velvet box caught the terminal lights.

The moment he dropped to one knee, I heard the shocked gasps around us.

“Eliana Lowe,” he said, his gray-blue eyes lifted to mine. “Marry me.”

My fingers tightened around the handle of my suitcase. I held out my hand, my voice already shaking. "Luca, we--"

The ring had barely slid over my finger when Luca laughed. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking over my shoulder at the row of black SUVs idling by the curb.

"Told you she'd say yes. Hand over the key to Warehouse Three."

Laughter burst from the SUVs. Luca's circle spilled into view: casino managers, dock supervisors, rich kids who lived off the Moretti name, and Vivian Gray at the front in pale fur, laughing hard enough to wipe at the corner of her eye.

“No wonder she stayed at your heels for ten years. If I had a pet this obedient, I wouldn’t have the heart to throw it out either.”

Luca smiled and patted my head soothingly.“Eliana, it was just a joke. Don't be angry. I’ll make it up to you later.”

I looked at the ring on my finger, then at the people laughing behind him.

For ten years, I had played along with his games.

This time, I didn’t want to anymore.

Nico, one of the loudest guys in Luca’s circle, lifted his phone and shoved the camera almost into my face. "Get this. Our almost Mrs. Moretti is crying from happiness."

"Mrs. Moretti? Please," someone snorted. "Luca only put her up for one month of North Dock Warehouse Three."

Their laughter rolled through the terminal. I looked at Luca, waiting for him to shut it down, but he only stood and brushed his coat as if the man who had just proposed to me had been someone else. When he caught my expression, he frowned.

"Eliana, don't be like this. It was a bet."

Just a bet. He said it so easily that ten years of waiting suddenly felt like something cheap left on a casino table.

He explained without a hint of shame. A shipment was coming through North Dock, Warehouse Three had the best access, and Vivian had refused to give it up unless he won it from her. If I accepted his proposal, he got the warehouse for a month.

Vivian spread her hands. "I didn't think you'd make it that easy."

The ring was too big. I had to bend my finger to keep it from slipping off, the same way I had bent myself for years to stay beside a man who never quite made room for me.

I let go. The diamond hit the polished floor with a sharp ping and rolled to Luca's shoe. "Next time you need Warehouse Three, ask me. I wrote the port-risk report that got North Dock approved, and my research made that contract possible. You didn't need to turn me into the punchline."

Luca's face darkened. Once, that look would have made me soften my voice and apologize for embarrassing him. This time, I didn't move.

Vivian leaned against the SUV, smiling like she had bought the whole airport. "If you can't take a joke, just say so. Luca was messing around. Don't make us sound like monsters."

She waved the others toward the exit. "Come on. The private room at Spade Casino is waiting. Stop staring at her. She always does this. Give her two days, and she'll crawl back on her own."

The first time I heard them talk about me like that, I had tried to explain myself. It was Luca's birthday. Nico and a few others smeared frosting into my hair and called it a Moretti welcome. I stood there covered in cream and apologized because I was afraid Luca would think I was being dramatic. The frosting stuck so badly I had to cut off the long hair I had kept for years. Luca only looked at me and said, "Short hair suits you too." Back then, I took that as comfort.

As they walked past, Vivian glanced down at the ring near Luca's shoe. "Pick it up. Don't waste it. You can use it again next time."

Luca didn't pick it up. He watched me, waiting for me to bend down, put the ring back on, and pretend nothing had happened.

I lifted my suitcase and walked the other way. No one followed.

A cab took me back to the lake house.

Matthew, the old butler, opened the door and asked carefully, "Miss Lowe, did Mr. Moretti not come back with you?"

Everything that belonged to the Morettis went into one pile. I kept only my own things.

Matthew lingered at the door. "Miss Lowe, are you not coming back? Mr. Moretti has a temper, but he treats you differently. Miss Gray is only an old friend. Her father once took the fall for the family, so he feels responsible for her."

I had heard that excuse until it had no shape left. Debt didn't give Vivian the right to strip my dignity, and caring for her shouldn't always cost me mine.

"Please send these boxes to this address," I said, handing him a note. "Everything that belongs to Luca is in the study."

On my way out, I stopped under the porch. A crooked wooden chair sat there, one arm higher than the other, ridiculous against the expensive lakefront house.

In our third year together, I liked waiting outside for Luca to come home. One winter night, my legs went numb and I fell on the steps. Luca saw the bruise on my knee and said coldly, "Don't wait like this again." I thought he found me annoying.

A few days later, he carried that chair onto the porch. His hands were covered in small cuts from the wood, but all he said was, "Sit if you insist on waiting."

That was the first time I believed his hard mouth hid a soft heart. But that was before Vivian came back to Chicago.

My phone buzzed with Luca's reply to my breakup message.

[Whatever.]

One word turned my last hesitation to ash. I locked the screen, pulled my suitcase into the wind, and didn't look back.

The next morning, Marlowe Research Institute's New York headquarters called.

"Eliana, the final list for the research fellowship closes today," Caroline said.

Caroline directed Marlowe's Center for Port Security and Financial Crime Research on the East Coast. Three years earlier, she had offered me a lead research fellowship in New York, with my own team and a federal port-security project under my name.

It was the kind of chance people waited half a career for, and I had turned it down every time with neat excuses: unfinished papers, ongoing field studies, Luca needing someone who understood North Dock. The truth was simpler and more humiliating. I couldn't bear to leave him.

Now there was nothing left to bear.

"I'll go," I said.

Caroline let out a relieved breath. "Good. Three-year appointment. The first year will be rough, but this is the best move you could make for yourself."

After I finished the transfer papers and research handover, a few people carefully asked if I had fought with Luca again. I closed my folder and said, "We didn't fight. We broke up." The office went quiet for a few seconds, and no one asked anything else.

With the fellowship approval signed, the last official tie keeping me in Chicago was gone. Then I sent my flight details to Ava.

[I'm leaving for New York in three days. Dinner before I go?]

She replied almost instantly.

[You finally remembered I exist. Spade Casino opened a new billiards room. Come shoot with me. If we run into the Moretti crowd, I'll roast them until they question their bloodline.]

I smiled despite myself.

Spade Casino was one of the Morettis' biggest earners and Luca's favorite playground. I used to avoid it because every visit left me feeling like prey under a spotlight. That night, for the first time, I walked in without fear.

Past the main hall, at the end of the second-floor corridor, two guards stood outside a members-only billiards room. Ava was already inside warming up.

"There you are." She looked me up and down. "You look alive. I thought you'd show up like a kitten drowned in rainwater."

I picked a cue from the wall. "Sorry to disappoint."

"That's more like it. You used to be the pool champ who could shut a room full of men up without raising your voice."

My father taught me billiards. He said the harder your heart shook, the steadier your hand had to be.

Later, Luca said I looked too cold when I played, too much like a woman who belonged in lecture halls and federal briefings, not the woman standing beside him. So I stopped.

I was lining up the next shot when familiar voices came from the corridor.

"Luca, that clean run last time was insane. When are you teaching me?"

"Please," another man said. "Other than Vivian, who has ever seen Luca teach anyone himself?"

The door opened. Luca entered first, with Nico, Dante, and Vivian behind him. Vivian had her hand tucked around Luca's arm. He didn't pull away, and he didn't explain.

Nico spotted me and whistled. "Well, look who it is. The woman who almost became Mrs. Moretti."

Someone laughed. "Her mouth said breakup, but her body knew exactly where to go. One day, and she's already back at Spade."

"Guess Luca's [Whatever] was too cold last night. She came to make peace."

Ava's face went dark, but I lifted a hand before she could tear into them. I bent over the table and aimed. The blue ball dropped.

Nico got louder when I ignored him. "Eliana, don't pretend you can't hear us. Luca's right there. Aren't you going to sit with him? You know the routine. Say, 'What a coincidence,' take the seat beside him, and it's over."

I knew Luca was only a few steps away. He was probably wearing that cool, indifferent expression, neither explaining nor stopping anyone. He was waiting for me to swallow the humiliation and walk over with a smile. If I did, the airport would become nothing, just another story they could laugh about later.

I had done it too many times because I was afraid of cold wars, unanswered texts, and everyone saying I was too sensitive. That part of me had died in the airport terminal.

I sank the last red ball, straightened, and handed the cue to a server. "Let's go."

Ava blinked once, grabbed her bag, and followed.

As we passed Luca, Vivian laughed softly. "Don't worry. Isn't she always like this? She'll come back in a couple of days."

I stopped and turned. Vivian leaned against the table with her chin lifted. I had seen that look every time I fought with Luca because of her. With one careless line, she could turn all my hurt into entertainment.

Luca shifted half a step, putting himself in front of her. The movement was small, but the meaning was clear.

Again, he protected Vivian first.

I felt too tired even to be angry, so I smiled. "You're right. I used to be."

Vivian's smile faltered. I didn't explain. I walked out with Ava, leaving the billiards room and its laughter behind me.

A light rain had started outside Spade Casino. Ava opened her umbrella and held her temper for three seconds before snapping, "What is wrong with those people? Who told them you'd always turn back?"

I watched the neon ripple in the puddles. "I did. Every time I went back."

Ava fell silent and tilted the umbrella farther over my shoulder.

Back at the hotel, after a shower, I picked up my phone out of habit and saw Vivian's latest post sitting at the top of my feed.

Nine photos.

In the first, she sat on Spade Casino's rooftop terrace while Luca stood behind her, blocking the wind. In the second, she held a cue, and Luca leaned over to adjust her angle. In the third, the casino manager delivered a custom chip marked with a V while someone joked that she looked like the real lady of Spade. The rest showed Luca watching an old movie with her, playing arcade basketball, and drinking mocktails at the bar.

I had wanted to do those ordinary things with him. Luca always said arcade games were noisy, movies were childish, bars were crowded, and none of it meant anything. I thought he disliked lively places. It turned out he only disliked them with me.

The comments were full of teasing.

[You two look like family.]

[The way Luca looks at Vivian? So spoiled.]

[Some people should really learn their place.]

I stared at the photos for a long moment, then laughed and liked the post.

Less than a minute later, Luca called. I didn't answer. His messages came one after another.

[What is that supposed to mean?]

[Eliana, how long are you going to keep this up?]

[Vivian posted a few photos. You liked them on purpose to embarrass everyone?]

Once, I would have explained. I would have asked why he always noticed Vivian's embarrassment but never my pain. Now I only set the phone face down.

A while later, Luca sent another message.

[Your father's cue case is still in my private room at Spade. If you really want to end this, come take it yourself.]

That cue was one of the few things my father had left me.

Fine. I would go once.

No one stopped me at the rooftop lounge. The door was open a crack, low laughter slipping through it. My father's old leather cue case lay on the coffee table, right where everyone could see it. I pushed the door in.

"Surprise!"

Confetti rained from the ceiling. There was no serious conversation waiting for me, only Luca on the sofa with a glass of water, completely sober, while Vivian leaned beside him with a sweet little smile.

Nico pointed his phone camera at me. "See? Told you she'd come. Mention one sentimental toy, and she runs."

Someone shoved a cardboard sign toward me.

[Stop sulking. Come home.]

Vivian clapped lightly. "Don't be mad, Eliana. We just wanted to prove a point."

I stood in the doorway and felt the last warmth in me go cold. "What point?"

"That you can say you're leaving all you want, but if Luca gives you one reason to come back, you will." Nico grinned. "I lost the Warehouse Three bet, but I won this one."

I looked at Luca. He wasn't laughing, but he hadn't stopped them either. He set down his glass and frowned as if I were the one making the room uncomfortable.

"Eliana, don't make this ugly. Nico doesn't know where the line is, but since you're here, sit down."

Even then, he thought the only problem was that Nico had gone too far. Even then, he believed offering me a seat could erase the humiliation.

I walked to the table and reached for my father's cue case. Before my fingers touched the latch, something pale and smooth slid from beneath the leather strap and dropped across my wrist.

For a second, my body forgot how to breathe. The small white snake coiled against my hand, cool and alive, and the room blurred into the old memory of a locked storage room, boys laughing outside the door, something moving in the dark near my ankle.

I jerked back so hard I hit the cabinet behind me. My shoulder cracked against the edge, and my breath came in short, ugly bursts.

Vivian rushed over and scooped up the snake as if it were a ribbon that had fallen from her hair. "Oh my God, Snow slipped out. Eliana, relax. She's a corn snake. She doesn't bite."

Nico laughed under his breath. "She looks like she saw a ghost."

Luca stood, but instead of coming to me, he looked at Vivian first. "Did you know she was scared of snakes?"

Vivian hugged the snake to her chest, eyes wide and innocent. "No. You know Snow is harmless. I wouldn't have brought her if I knew Eliana was this afraid."

Luca turned to me with a helpless frown. "Eliana, it's not venomous. Vivian didn't mean it. You're shaking over a pet."

Something in me went very still. He had seen my face go white and my hands tremble, but the first person he protected was still Vivian.

I picked up the cue case with fingers that barely obeyed me and placed the lake house key on the cabinet by the door. "Here's your key."

Luca's expression shifted. "Do you have to do this?"

"I don't have to do anything anymore. I'm done."

The room slowly quieted. Vivian lowered her voice until she almost sounded sincere. "Eliana, I admit I can be sharp, but Luca and I grew up together. If a harmless snake and a few photos are enough to break you, how are you supposed to survive as part of the Moretti family?"

I looked at her. "Why would I want to survive as part of the Moretti family?"

Vivian froze. I didn't wait for her answer. I turned and left.

"She looks really mad this time."

"She's acting. Isn't she always?"

"Luca, let her cool off for two days."