Page 104 of Own Me

Oh my gosh!

Massimo was stunned when Ysabel suddenly grabbed his hand and swiftly dragged him towards the doors leading to the hotel's largest ballroom. "We have to go, Kayra'sliterallygoing to kill me if I'm late—-"

She stopped speaking when Massimo suddenly whirled her around to face him.

"Are you talking about Kayra...Petinos?"Massimo demanded.

Ysabel looked at him in surprise. "You know her, too?"

"Everyonewho'sfamigliaknows her," he said flatly

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked uncertainly.

Hisfidanzataobviously didn't know this, but Kayra was the kind of woman who made evenLa Stregaappear like a saint. Making a person disappear was child's play to the likes of Kayra, and when he thought about how he had beenthisfucking close to losing Ysabel completely if not for divine intervention—-

Grazie, Dio.

Ysabel was stunned when Massimo suddenly hauled her towards him, but before she could ask him why, he was already kissing her senseless, and oh, oh, oh...

Oh, Mas.

It was the loveliest and hottest kiss ever, and all because this time, both of them knew the truth. Both of them knew they were in love with each other, and both of them knew their love had started five years ago.

Epilogue

JOE:Good morning, Boston! Welcome to Coffee with Joe and Jane, everyone's favorite morning show on the radio.

Jane:And speaking of favorites, we've got an early bird - well, birdwatcher actually - tweeting a photo of one our city's most beloved couples. We've already uploaded the photo to our socials, and if you check it out now, you'll see it's none other than Massimo Marchetti and his fiancée Ysabel Ossini.

Joe:Am I seeing things here? Or are they really on a canoe? At five *bleep* thirty in the morning?

Jane:Canoeing is said to be one of the future Mrs. Massimo Marchetti's favorite hobbies, and take this - it's actually how she's been traveling to work for some years now. Her billionaire fiancé think it's 'cute', and I'm quoting Mr. Marchetti verbatim, since he's gone on record several times to say this.

Joe:Their love story still confuses the hell out of me.

Jane:It's really not confusing at all, or maybe it is to guys. I mean, stories like this would never have happened if it was the other way around. Women's intuition, you know.

Joe:As a happily committed bachelor, I'm afraid I'll have to say no, I don't actually know anything about women's intuition—-

Jane:You're honest about it at least, so that's a start.

Joe:Can you give me a rundown of their relationship timeline? Maybe we've got other listeners who've yet to hear the whole story.

Jane:Well, okay. Anyone who follows me knows I've never been a #MasNez shipper, and I was Team #MasBel from the start, but...for the sake of objectivity, I'll do my best to outline stuff without bias.

Joe:We appreciate that.

Jane:So basically, five years ago, Ysabel was one of those who attended the Marchettis' annual Halloween bash.

Joe:Love those!

Jane:Now, Ysabel and Massimo kinda sorta bumped into each other in the funhouse, but then Ysabel had to do a Cinderella thing and run away when she heard someone call out her sister's name.

Joe:The Diabolical Ynez Ossini.

Jane:Now who's being biased?

Joe:No, seriously. I'm just reading one of the headlines that came up when I googled her name.

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