The Wait
Isabella's POV
The wedding dress ripped as I yanked it from the closet.
"Bella, what are you doing?" Sophia gasped from behind me.
I didn't answer. I just kept pulling at the white silk until it tore completely in half. The sound felt good. Like breaking chains.
"Are you crazy?" Sophia rushed over and grabbed the pieces from my hands. "This cost your father fifty thousand dollars!"
"I don't care," I said, breathing hard. "I'm never wearing it anyway."
Sophia stared at me like I'd grown a second head. My best friend since childhood had never seen me act this way. Sweet, obedient Isabella Russo didn't destroy expensive things. She didn't raise her voice. She definitely didn't rebel against her father's plans.
But tonight, I wasn't that Isabella anymore.
"Sit down," I told Sophia, pointing to my bed. "We need to talk."
"About what? About how you just destroyed your wedding dress the night before your wedding?" Sophia's voice was getting higher. "Bella, people are going to be here tomorrow morning to help you get ready. What am I supposed to tell them?"
"Tell them the wedding is off."
The words came out quieter than I meant them to. But they felt like the truest thing I'd ever said.
Sophia's face went white. "You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious about anything in my life."
I walked to my dresser and pulled out a small black bag I'd hidden behind my jewelry box. Inside were clothes, money, and a fake passport I'd bought three months ago. Everything I needed to disappear.
"Bella, please," Sophia said, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. "Think about what you're saying. You can't just run away. Your father will find you. And when he does..."
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to. We both knew what happened to people who betrayed Vincent Russo.
"I'm not running away," I said, stuffing the bag under my bed. "I'm taking control of my own life."
"By doing what? Hiding? Living in fear forever?"
I turned to face my best friend. Sophia had been crying about my wedding for weeks. She kept saying how lucky I was to marry into such a powerful family. How secure I'd be with Michael Chen as my husband.
But Sophia didn't know what I knew. She didn't know about the things I'd discovered while preparing for this marriage. The secrets I'd uncovered about both our families.
"Sophia," I said gently, "what if I told you this wedding isn't really about love or even business? What if I told you it's about something much worse?"
"What do you mean?"
I sat down next to her on the bed. "Michael Chen isn't marrying me to unite our families. He's marrying me to destroy them."
Sophia wiped her eyes. "That doesn't make sense."
"It does when you know the truth." I took her hands in mine. "I've been watching. Listening. Learning things my father doesn't think I'm smart enough to understand."
"What kind of things?"
"Michael's father doesn't want peace between the families. He wants war. And Michael is supposed to make sure that happens."
Sophia looked confused. "How?"
"By killing me after we're married. Making it look like the Morettis did it. Then all three families would go to war, and the Chens would be the only ones left standing."
The room got very quiet. I could hear Sophia breathing, fast and scared.
"How do you know all this?" she whispered.
"Because I've been spying on my own wedding planning for months," I said. "Reading documents I wasn't supposed to see. Recording conversations I wasn't supposed to hear."
I pulled out my phone and showed Sophia a recording I'd made two weeks ago. Michael's voice came through the speaker, talking to his father about "the timeline" and "making sure the girl doesn't suspect anything."
Sophia's face went completely white. "Oh my God, Bella. We have to tell your father."
"No." My voice was firm. "My father already knows."
"What?"
"He knows, and he's letting it happen anyway. Because Michael promised him something he wants more than my life."
"What could be worth more than your life?"
I stood up and walked to my window. Outside, I could see the lights of the city where I'd grown up. Where I'd learned to be quiet and obedient and good.
"Information," I said. "About the Moretti family. Michael told my father he'd help him finally destroy them completely. All Papa had to do was give him a daughter he could sacrifice."
Sophia started crying harder. "There has to be another way. Maybe if we talk to someone—"
"I tried," I interrupted. "I went to my uncle last month. He told me I was imagining things. That I was just nervous about getting married."
"What about the police?"
I laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "The police work for whoever pays them the most. And right now, that's Michael's family."
Sophia was quiet for a long time. Then she asked, "So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to save myself," I said. "And maybe save a lot of other people too."
"How?"
I checked my watch. It was almost 11 PM. "By making a deal with the devil."
"What devil?"
"Antonio Moretti."
Sophia jumped up from the bed. "Bella, no! The Morettis are our enemies!"
"Are they?" I asked. "Or is that just what we've been told?"
I'd been thinking about this for weeks. Antonio Moretti was supposed to be dangerous. A killer. The son of the man who murdered innocent people.
But what if that wasn't true? What if the Morettis were just as trapped in this war as we were?
"I've been watching him too," I told Sophia. "Every night for the past month, he sits on the roof across the street and watches this house."
"That's terrifying!"
"No," I said. "It's careful. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done it already. But he just watches. Like he's trying to figure something out."
"Figure out what?"
"The same thing I'm trying to figure out. How to end this war without everyone dying."
Sophia grabbed my hands. "Bella, you're scaring me. What if you're wrong about him? What if he really is dangerous?"
"Then I'll deal with that when it happens," I said. "But I'd rather take my chances with Antonio Moretti than definitely die married to Michael Chen."
I hugged my best friend tight. "I need you to do something for me."
"Anything."
"Tomorrow morning, when people ask where I am, tell them I wasn't feeling well. That I needed more time to get ready. Buy me as many hours as you can."
"And then what?"
"Then pray that my plan works."
Sophia left around 11:30, still crying but promising to help me. As soon as she was gone, I changed into dark clothes and sat by my window.
The city looked different at night. Quieter. More honest somehow.
I checked my watch: 12:15 AM.
Any minute now, Antonio would make his move. I'd been watching him watch me for so long that I knew his patterns. He always waited until after midnight. Always approached from the east side of the house.
12:25 AM.
My heart was beating so fast I thought it might explode. What if I was wrong? What if Antonio didn't come tonight? What if my whole plan fell apart before it even started?
12:30 AM.
A soft tap on my window made me jump.
This was it. This was my chance to change everything.
I stood up and walked to the window, my hands shaking as I reached for the lock.
But when I looked through the glass, my blood turned to ice.
The man climbing through my window wasn't Antonio Moretti.
It was someone else entirely. Someone wearing Antonio's exact same black clothes, but with a face I'd never seen before.
And in his hand was a knife that looked like it was meant to kill.