"Our engagement was sealed before we were even born. You can't just tear it up!"
He thought I was throwing a tantrum.
He had no idea that reaching this moment had cost me two lifetimes.
I spoke each word like a nail driven into wood. "I will not marry you, Dominic."
His grip on my wrist tightened. "If not me, then who?!"
He was banking on the fact that the Corsettis needed the Valenti family's protection.
And he was certain my heart still belonged to him alone.
I met his furious gaze without flinching. "A peddler. A drifter. A merchant off the street. Anyone would do."
"Anyone but you."
Dominic's breath caught.
He closed his eyes and drew in a long, slow breath.
Then he reached into his coat and pressed something into my hand.
I recognized it at once: the gift I'd given him ten years ago, the day he left for the southern corridor.
Back then, it had taken me half a year to find the white jade, and another half to have it carved into a ring.
When I placed it in his palm, I'd said, "May we be like this jade. Hearts never parting, forever bound."
The ring looked exactly the same as it had then.
But all I wanted now was to sever every thread that tied me to Dominic Valenti.