Page 59 of Broken Princess

Miceli's face turns red with rage and he storms after her. "Amelia," he growls. "You're not going anywhere!"

"No!" she cries, turning on him. The force in her voice actually stops him for a second. Few men can stand toe to toe with Miceli Carillo and look him in the eye while challenging him, but she does so fearlessly, and I love her all the more for it. "You can't stop me."

"Yes, I can," he snarls. "You are my daughter, and you're going to marry Stefan one way or another."

"No!" she insists again, looking back at him. Something like guilt touches her eyes. "I—I'm sorry, Stefan. You're a good man, but you deserve better than this. Better than a woman who will always love someone else, and a baby that isn't yours."

Gasps echo through the room, but no one is more stunned than I am.

Not even Stefan.

"Amelia?" I choke out.

"I'm sorry," Amelia repeats, coming to stand in front of me. She reaches up to touch my cheek, her eyes shining with tears. "I'm sorry, Lorenzo. It's the truth. I was trying to protect you. I wanted you to hate me, because it's better that way, for everyone, but I... I'm not strong enough."

My thoughts are racing at a mile a minute. So much about her words doesn't make sense, and yet, so much does. “The baby…?”

"It’s yours," Amelia says softly, her gaze never leaving mine. She raises her voice so everyone else can hear, too, as she says, "It's your baby, Lorenzo.”

Silence fills the cathedral, oppressive and thick. No one dares to breathe, it seems, until finally, Miceli clears his throat. "The wedding is postponed. Clearly, our family has some things to discuss."

He's being calm on the surface, but I can see the anger and betrayal simmering just below the surface. I'm sure he's going to try to kill me now, but I don't give a shit.

"Daddy," Amelia says, her voice breaking as she steps closer to him. "Please, don't be angry. And if you are, be angry with me, not him. I tried, I really did, but—"

Miceli's rage softens as he looks at his daughter, but his jaw is still set, and when he glances my way, it's clear the anger hasn't been entirely soothed. "You're making a mistake, Amelia. I don't want you to spend the rest of your life paying for it. For making the same mistake your mother did. He's going to leave you one day, no matter what he says now."

His words seem to shock her, but her expression gentles. "Mom loved you, and I know you loved her. Both of us. I see it now. The only mistake either of you made was not fighting to be together, and I know you regret it. Is that what you want for me? To live a lifetime of regret, always longing for something that could have been, but never was? Because of something that might go wrong in the future?"

He doesn't answer her right away, and I can see the internal struggle playing out on his face. His voice is low and rough with emotion when he finally speaks.

"No," he murmurs. "No, I don't want that for you."

"Then let me go," Amelia begs him. "Please. Let me be with the man I love."

Miceli looks from his daughter to me, and while I can still see the absolute spite burning in his eyes, for the first time, I think I understand it a little.

Why he hates me.

I always thought it was just my blood. The fact that my last name is Rossi, and that the Carillos have always despised us. And maybe that's still part of it, but for the first time, I'm starting to realize the even greater sin in his eyes is that when he looks at me, he sees himself. He sees a man who's going to hurt his daughter, and abandon her the way he did.

And considering my track record, I can't really say I blame him for that.

But I also know I'll do anything to prove him wrong.

"Fine," he says gruffly, and I can see the relief flood Amelia's eyes. "But only because I know there's going to be no keeping you two apart, and I won't let you take my daughter and grandchild off to God knows where to be at your mercy. If we call this wedding off, it's on the understanding that you will both stay here, and Amelia stays under my roof until you've proven to me that you're anything more than a liability. Until you've proven you're worthy of her, and that's a big if."

His eyes are locked on mine, and so are Amelia's. She's looking at me expectantly, like she isn't sure I'm going to agree. But there's no way I'm going to let her go. Not now, not ever.

"It's a deal," I say, shrugging away from his men as I walk over to stand in front of Miceli, offering him my hand. Before God and our families. "You have my word."

He stares down at my hand for a moment, and I can tell it's the last thing he wants to do, but he grudgingly shakes it. For his daughter's sake.

"I expect you to keep it. Or there will be consequences," he says firmly.

"This is an outrage," Stefan's father cries, leaping up from his seat. "You think you can just humiliate our family like this and get away with it?"

"Dad, please," Stefan says in a firm voice, walking closer. His eyes meet mine, full of anger, but also something else. Admiration, maybe. "It's okay."

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