CHAPTER 3
1175 Words
LUNA
I sign my name with a steady hand, but my heart throbs.
It’s official. The divorce process has begun. Leonardo’s lawyer explained everything to me calmly, patiently, and professionally. In just a few days, my marriage to Marco Delgado will be nothing more than a bitter past.
The wedding ring, which I still wore out of habit, now rests on the table. Cold, lonely. An empty symbol of everything I once was and everything he destroyed.
But today... something begins to change.
This afternoon, exactly as Leonardo promised, the doorbell rings.
When I open the door, an entire team is waiting for me: an elegant stylist, a smiling makeup artist, a sharp-eyed hairdresser, an image therapist, a personal stylist. All sent by him.
“Luna?” the stylist asks with a warm smile.
“We have an important night ahead.”
Before I can protest, they’re already inside the apartment, spinning hangers, handing me options for dresses, shoes, hairstyles.
The makeup is light, but enhances everything I had forgotten existed in me: my blue eyes, the shape of my lips, the curve of my cheekbones.
When I finish getting dressed, I look at myself in the mirror and barely recognize who I see.
It’s me… but renewed.
For the first time in years, I feel powerful and beautiful.
I hear the door open.
Leonardo has arrived.
He enters without ceremony and looks me up and down.
His gaze runs over my body with a mix of admiration and desire. He’s in a dark suit, his hair slightly tousled, his jaw sharp.
“You look…” he pauses. “…impossible to ignore.”
I look away, nervous.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea. This party… your social circle… your family… Marco.”
“That’s exactly why it’s a great idea.”
I move toward the door, uncertain, but before I can say anything else, he pulls me by the waist and kisses me.
It’s firm, decisive, hot.
“You’re my fiancée now. And no one is going to intimidate you,” he says in my ear, and takes my hand.
“Let’s show the world.”
The Delgado family mansion is beautiful. White facade, classic columns, luxury cars parked out front. It’s their annual birthday celebration, an event that draws the city’s elite.
Marco never let me attend events like this since we got married.
When we enter, hand in hand, all conversations seem to stop for a second. All eyes turn to us.
Men watch us. Women whisper. Most didn’t know Leonardo and I were together. And many still thought I was married to Marco.
“Oh my God, Luna?”
“You look stunning!”
“Leonardo... is this official? Are you two together?”
I smile awkwardly, but Leonardo squeezes my hand, keeping me firm at his side.
“We’re engaged,” he answers without hesitation.
The word echoes like a bomb.
I feel my shoulders tense as he hands me a glass of champagne and I take a big sip, sighing.
Many people look at me as if I’m the traitor in the story, but the truth is I was the victim for years, betrayed by Marco.
If they had seen the video I saw, they would change their minds and wouldn’t think he was so innocent.
“You need to relax a bit, Luna...” Leonardo whispers in my ear, and I try to smile.
“I can’t...”
“Try...”
And then, the inevitable happens.
The doors burst open, and everyone looks.
Marco enters.
He sees us.
Me, next to his brother, wearing a tight red dress, hair loose, makeup flawless, alive.
And his expression changes in a second. From shock to rage.
“ARE YOU f*****g KIDDING ME?” he yells, stepping forward.
I flinch. Instinctively, I take a step back, but Leonardo steps in front of me.
“Stay away from her,” he says firmly, his voice sharp.
Marco laughs sarcastically.
“You’re even more pathetic than I thought, Leonardo. Her? You want her now? After everything?”
“Yes. And you’re going to shut up and back off.”
But Marco doesn’t back down.
He looks at me and spits his words like poison:
“You’re nothing but a needy, fat opportunist. You never satisfied me in bed. I only faked it to avoid destroying your pathetic self-esteem.”
His words hit me like blades. I feel my body freeze. The people around us whisper, horrified. My breath falters. Tears threaten to fall.
“Everyone listen to what I have to say about this woman. My ex-wife now.”
“Leonardo, that’s enough...” I say, but he smiles at me, shaking his head.
“I’m not stopping until everyone knows what you are, Luna. I don’t know what Leonardo sees in you, but you’re not beautiful or attractive, and you’d know that if you looked in a mirror.”
Tears wet my face and I wipe them quickly.
“No man would enjoy going to bed with you. No man will want you. You know why? Because you’re a w***e!”
Before he can say another word, Leonardo acts and punches Marco hard in the face.
Marco stumbles back, crashing into a table, knocking over glasses and bottles. He tries to get up and lunges at Leonardo, but he’s blind with rage and out of control.
Leonardo, with brutal calm, grabs him by the collar and throws him to the ground with ease.
He climbs on top of him and throws another punch.
And another.
“Leonardo!”
“You’ll never talk about my fiancée like that again! You’ll never hurt her again!”
Marco groans on the ground, blood at the corner of his mouth, stunned.
“You already f****d her, didn’t you? Don’t fool yourself, Leonardo. You’ll get tired of her just like I did.” Marco says loudly.
Leonardo throws another punch to his face before standing and looking around at everyone.
I stand frozen, my eyes full of tears.
I step forward, seeing Marco still on the floor, trying to stop the bleeding from his nose.
“You broke me, humiliated me, made me feel like the worst person in the world. But it’s over. If I ever loved you, it was the biggest mistake of my life...” I whisper in anger before walking away, leaving the mansion and heading to the garden.
Leonardo calls my name, but I don’t turn around.
I wipe the tears with fury, feeling like a fool for not realizing my husband was my worst enemy.
But it’s over. This is over.
“Luna!”
Leonardo turns me around and I see that his hands are bruised.
“You’ll never cry over him again. Never again, Luna. Not for him, not for anyone. I’m going to shape you to be strong and never let anyone hurt you again.”
He touches my face, wiping my tears.
“He broke you. It’s time for you to break him now.”
- Writer
