The Heir's Broken Vow I Lost His Baby, He Lost Everything

I was the Falcone heir's sweet, lovesick woman. Everyone in the capital's inner circle of crime families knew Arthur Falcone adored me beyond measure.

The day I found out I was pregnant, I rushed to find him, giddy with excitement. Instead, I heard him say to his crew:

"Why would I ever actually marry some nobody like her? I only went after her because I lost a bet!"

His crew egged him on:

"Then explain the little hair tie on your wrist. You wear that thing every single day!"

Arthur yanked the hair tie off his wrist and tossed it on the floor.

"You guys know how she is. If I don't wear it, she cries. Honestly? After this long, it's exhausting."

His crew didn't buy it, so he pulled out a wedding invitation and threw it down in front of them:

"I'm getting married next week. It's an alliance marriage with the Valente family's second Winslow, Adriana Valente."

Later, I got rid of the baby and vanished from his world. He was the one left crying, searching everywhere for me.

——

I stood outside the door of the back room, the hospital report crumpled in my fist, my whole body turning to ice.

The social club was dim, cigar smoke curling under the low-hanging lights, and through the gap in the door I could hear every word landing like a sentence passed at a sit-down.

Arthur's crew passed the invitation around, studying it closely:

"Well, well. The bride's name really is your first love — Adriana Valente!"

"Arthur, she only left the country in the first place because of your little crybaby girlfriend. Turns out you two never lost touch all these years!"

"No wonder you're tossing the hair tie you wore for five years. The queen is coming home!"

One of them picked the hair tie up off the floor and turned it over in his hands.

"Only your innocent little girlfriend would give a gift this childish and cheap. Remember the watch Adriana casually gave you back in the day? That thing was worth more than most men earn in a lifetime!"

"Arthur, I'll just toss this piece of junk in the trash for you!"

The words barely left his mouth before Arthur frowned and reached out to stop him. But when he looked up, he saw me standing outside the door.

He froze mid-reach. His expression shifted, caught somewhere between guilt and irritation, and he pulled his hand back. The signet ring on his right hand caught the light but did not move. His voice came out stiff and unnatural:

"Theo, what are you doing here? You hate places like this. You never come to the club."

I gave him one look, then walked straight past him and snatched the hair tie from his friend's hand.

The room went quiet. Not the easy quiet of a pause in conversation. The quiet of men watching something they knew better than to touch.

That hair tie they called cheap and childish was something my Sinclair bought me. She'd been bedridden and sick, but she dragged herself up on her cane, walked all the way to the little store at the edge of the neighborhood, and picked out this hair tie with the tiny star pattern.

She told me that after she was gone, she'd become a star in the sky and keep watching over me. She told me not to be sad.

That hair tie held every last drop of my Sinclair's love. It was the final thing the person I loved most in this world ever gave me.

The day Arthur and I made things official, I gave it to him like it was the most precious thing I owned. I told him the story behind the little star hair tie.

I still remembered the way he slipped it onto his wrist so carefully, and the solemn promise he made.

But he forgot first.

I grabbed back the hair tie, already gray with dust, and cleaned it off gently before sliding it onto my own wrist.

The elastic was faded and stretched out, barely holding its shape.

My eyes burned red and tears pooled at the corners, but I never once looked at Arthur again. I wound the ribbon around two fingers and pulled it tight against my palm.

He couldn't stand the look on his own face. His voice turned impatient:

"Crying. Always crying. That's all you ever do! I was just joking around with my friends. Do you really have to make such a big deal out of everything?"

"Can you quit the waterworks for once? You act like being with me is some kind of suffering!"

His crew saw the look on Arthur's face and scrambled to smooth things over:

"Don't get the wrong idea! He was just messing around with us. He's worn that hair tie for five years. You think he'd actually throw it away?"