He Only Remembers That I Am His Enemy

My grandfather panicked. He glanced at the screen, then snatched the whiskey bottle from the table and raised it to smash over my head.

"Don Moretti is offering you an out and you spit in his face, you ungrateful brat! Are you trying to drag this entire family down with you?!"

Blood trickled from my forehead, blurring my vision.

But no matter how he beat or cursed me, the sight of Dante made me swallow any words of surrender.

Dante's face grew darker and darker. Just as my grandfather was about to bring the second bottle down, he suddenly spoke, his voice laced with irritation.

"Enough!"

"Elara, this is the last time. Don't test me again."

He abruptly ended the video call, as if he were running from something.

The cooperation between the two families was saved. My grandfather couldn't be bothered with me anymore and had the housekeeper take me back to my room.

The old housekeeper, Maria, teared up as she tended to my wounds.

"And that Don Moretti… The Morettis have been cutting us in on their deals for years, but you're the one who's paid the price, haven't you? With your own pain. It's one thing for strangers not to know, but how could he, of all people, say something so cruel?"

My phone buzzed. A message from Isabella.

It was a photo of Dante's strong forearm. Over the spot where our matching "Sanctuary" tattoos used to be, the name "Isabella" was now crudely inked.

"Elara, still not giving up? Even after all your scheming, Dante is determined to marry me. He only loves me."

"Do you dare tell him the truth? Neither the Costello nor the Moretti family will let you go. Stop struggling. In his heart, you'll always be the murderer who killed his mother!"

Maria was indignant.

"That liar! What right does she have to be so arrogant?! It's been seven years, how much longer will you wait? Why not just tell Don Moretti the truth…"

I turned off my phone, cutting her off softly.

"Maria, I have to keep the promise I made to him."

Everyone on the outside thought Dante and I were mortal enemies.

But no one knew that we were once each other's everything.

In the ambush seven years ago, Dante was shot in the head. The surgery to save him came with a high risk of amnesia.

When he refused the surgery, terrified of the risks, I kissed the corners of his trembling lips and whispered that it would be okay, that I would be there.

After he lost his memory, the first time I went to visit him, I found him holding his private doctor, Isabella, in his arms.

He threw everything I had brought at me, coldly watching my humiliation.

"Who let you in?"

"You murderer. The sight of you makes me sick. Get out!"

That bullet didn't just erase our love; it twisted his memories until he believed I was the enemy who had tried to kill him.

But Isabella was right; I didn't dare tell the truth.

Not because I was afraid of the two families.

But because I couldn't bear to see Dante have another mental breakdown, pressing a gun to his own temple, unable to accept the facts.

That night, I dreamed again of Dante before he went into surgery, holding my hand and vowing through his sobs.

"Elara, I love you so much, I'll never forget you. We'll grow old together in our sanctuary on the Hudson, lovers forever."

"If I really do forget, you can hit me, you can scold me, but I'm begging you not to leave me. If I fall in love with another woman, you have to break us up, by any means necessary."

We made a pact. If he hurt me a hundred times for another woman, I would give up.

Including tonight, it had already been 98 times...

Perhaps because of that dream, when I woke up, I felt a sudden, strong urge to go back to our "Sanctuary."

It was an estate Dante had once given me, a place that held all our secret joys.

Whenever I felt I couldn't go on, I would go there and just… sit.

But before I could even leave the house, I got a call from the caretaker there.

"Miss Elara, Don Moretti had the estate razed to the ground! He said he's building a new rose garden for Miss Isabella!"

"The child's grave was dug up too!"