Page 21 of Mine Again
My hand rises on autopilot and touches the butterfly pendant Luca gave me only minutes before he was torn from me.
“That’s not exactly a mood booster,” Mari says flatly. “There have been no chocolates for the last two years. Why would that suddenly change?”
Mia presses her lips together, like she wants to argue but thinks better of it.
Yeah. That subject still stings.
My hand drifts across the spot where I first found the round box of handmade hazelnut pralines on my eighteenth birthday. They were shaped like butterflies, from my favorite chocolatier.
There was no note. There didn’t need to be. I knew they were from him.
Any lingering doubt vanished when I saw the centerpiece, a larger butterfly with two intertwined chocolate rings resting on its wings.
It had been the signal I’d waited for all year. A promise whispered without words.
That day was supposed to be our wedding day. The day I should have walked toward Luca, not spent it being paraded around like some prized showpiece at my father’s carefully curated Mafia society debut.
I smiled. I played the part he expected, while inside I was dying.
The moment the evening ended, I collapsed behind my bedroom door, crying so hard I could barely breathe.
Then I noticed the box. That one small sign that I wasn’t forgotten. That he loved me. That he was still coming for me.
The next year came with more chocolates. That time, a butterfly cradling a tiny chocolate laptop. He’d seen me dive into crypto trading. It was my attempt at carving out some financial freedom. A way to get out of here and find him.
He’d been watching, like he always had.
And then… nothing.
No more gifts. No more signs. Only silence.
And heartbreak.
Every birthday, all over again.
And today will be no different.
“Luca has to be dead,” Mia suddenly says. “It’s the only reason that makes sense. He’d never abandon you, Isa. He was so in love with you… obsessed, even.”
“Mia!” Mari glares at her, eyes wide. “Really? Why would you say that today of all days?”
The lump in my throat is immediate, my stomach filling with lead.
“Because I hate seeing Isa like this. If there aren’t any chocolates today, maybe it’s time to let him go and finally move on,” Mia shoots back at Mari, as if I weren’t sitting right next to her.
I stare at my sister, my chest crushing in on itself. Her words strike true, sharp as any arrow.
I know she means well. And it’s not like the same thoughts haven’t already run through my mind late at night, when the silence was too loud and the memories too vivid.
Still, hearing them spoken aloud seems like a betrayal, even from someone who loves me.
“And how do you propose I move on?” I manage, my throat closing as if someone has their hand wrapped around it.
“It’s not like I can go out and meet other people.” Not that I want to. Ever.
The idea alone is like asking my heart to beat for someone else when it has only ever known one rhythm.
I may hate Father’s golden cage, but at least it spares me from pretending I could ever love another man. It gives me an excuse to keep living in my memories.
