The Godfather's Love Has Expired Chapter 8

Julian found me in a glass-walled café on Fifth Avenue.

I was having coffee with my fiancé, Liam Vance.

Liam was the heir to the Vance family of Chicago.

In the business world, they called him the "Mad Wolf."

But for the last three years, he had been nothing but patient with me.

"Three years and four months," Liam said.

He pulled a blue velvet box from his jacket.

"I decided to stop counting the days."

He opened the box.

A massive, 12-carat pink diamond sat in the center, surrounded by white diamonds.

"I had it retrieved from the Swiss vault last month," he said, holding my wrist gently.

"It suits you."

His hand, which had signed billion-dollar merger deals, was trembling slightly.

"If you don't want to wear it on your finger yet, you can wear it as a necklace."

I smiled and shook my head.

I was about to tell him to put it on my finger.

CRASH!

The glass wall of the café shattered.

Julian charged in like a wounded beast, stepping over the broken glass.

"Ava Sterling!"

His eyes were wild. He stared at Liam's hand holding mine.

"You are my wife! What are you doing? This is bigamy! In our world, that's a death sentence!"

Liam knew everything about my past.

He stood up immediately, blocking Julian from me.

"Your alliance with Ava ended years ago. She is a free woman."

"Shut up!"

Julian slammed his hand on our table, knocking over the coffee.

"She is my wife!"

He glared at Liam with pure hatred.

"Who the hell are you? Do you think you're worthy of touching her?"

"It doesn't matter if we divorced! Ava promised to renew the pact! I'm here to take her home!"

I gently pulled Liam's sleeve and shook my head.

I looked at Julian.

I felt like I was looking at a stranger.

"Julian, we dissolved the alliance for the seventh time three years ago."

He looked shocked, as if he couldn't process the timeline.

"You're just saying that to make me mad..."

"You love me, Ava. Right?"

"It was all Serafina's fault! She seduced me! I punished her!"

He pulled out his phone and played a video.

It showed Serafina in a mental asylum. Her face was swollen from medication, and she was staring blankly out a window.

"I made her work the streets. Then I put her in there," Julian said eagerly.

"You hate her, so I made her pay..."

"Do you think I left because of Serafina?"

I laughed softly.

"I don't care about her. Just like I don't care about you."

Liam took my hand and interlaced our fingers.

Julian stared at our hands, flinching as if he had been burned.

"We're getting married next month," I said calmly.

"I hope you'll send a gift."

Liam beamed with joy.

But Julian began to tremble.

He suddenly fell to his knees, grabbing my leg in front of everyone.

"No... Ava, no! You can't marry him! You promised to love me forever!"

"Please don't leave me! Please don't marry someone else!"

I looked down at him.

"Seven years ago, when you divorced me for the first time, I knelt on the floor and begged you just like this."

"I cut my wrists. There was blood everywhere. But you walked out the door to see Serafina without looking back."

"I was in the hospital for a month. You didn't visit once."

Liam put his arm around my shoulders to steady me.

"It's okay, Ava," he whispered. "Let's go."

Julian tightened his grip on my leg, crying like a child.

"I can't live without you..."

"I've been looking for you for three years..."

I looked at the scar on his forehead.

"Remember that scar? You got it when I threw a vase at you during our third divorce."

"I never blamed you..." he sobbed.

"You deserved it," I said.

"Because that day, I walked in and found Serafina wearing my wedding dress in our bedroom."

I broke free from his grip.

"Love isn't apologizing after you hurt someone. It isn't treating someone like a tool you can throw away."

"Julian, you never knew what love was."

"Once you experience real love, you realize what you had was garbage."

I took Liam's hand and walked out of the café.

I could still hear Julian howling behind me.

I watched his figure shrink in the rearview mirror.

I leaned my head on Liam's shoulder.

The sunlight hit my pink diamond ring, creating a rainbow.

This was what love was supposed to be.