I didn’t look back.
The second my bare feet hit the cobblestone outside, I ran.
I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t care. My only thought was away—away from Elio, away from my parents, away from the life that had been built like a gilded cage around me.
Tears streamed down my face, hot and endless. The heavy wedding dress wrapped around my legs, tangling and tripping me. I fell once, scraping my hands on the rough pavement, but I forced myself up. I didn’t have time to hurt. I didn’t have time to cry.
People stared as I staggered past—a wreck of lace and silk, barefoot and wild-haired. Some whispered. Some laughed. I didn’t care.
Let them stare.
Let them see me falling apart.
All I could think about was freedom. I wanted to be free. I wanted to be an ordinary girl who married someone who actually loved her. Not someone like Elio, who used me like a pawn to lift his family name.
Elio, the liar. Elio, the cheater. Elio, the heartless bastard who couldn’t even pretend to love me.
The pain in my chest was sharper than the ache in my ankles. It was worse than the bruises already forming on my knees.
I kept running.
My foot twisted on a loose stone. I screamed as I crashed to the ground, pain shooting up my leg. My ankle throbbed violently, and the beautiful, stupid gown ripped wide open at the seams.
I couldn’t stop.
I couldn’t.
Gritting my teeth, I crawled toward the shadows of a narrow alleyway, dragging myself behind a dumpster where no one could see me.
Finally hidden, I collapsed against the rough brick wall, panting, broken.
My ankle was swelling. My hands were bleeding. My dress was ruined, a filthy mockery of what it was supposed to represent.
I hugged my knees to my chest and sobbed.
The scrape of boots against concrete cut through the darkness.
My whole body tensed. I froze, chest heaving, too scared to move.
Slowly, I lifted my head.
A tall figure stood at the mouth of the alley, shadowed and sharp-edged, his posture relaxed but dangerous, like a predator sizing up easy prey. He didn’t say anything. No friendly greeting. No offer to help. Just a hard, cold stare that made my stomach twist with fear.
I tried to push myself up straighter, to not look so broken — but my body gave out. The dress was ruined, my hair was a mess, blood dripped from my knees. I was a disaster laid bare under the judging gaze of a stranger.
Tears spilled down my cheeks again, hotter now, full of shame and anger. I scrubbed at my face uselessly, wanting to disappear, but the sobs just kept ripping out of me.
He watched me silently. Unmoving. Also not giving me any reaction that I had been hoping for from a stranger who might have had empathy.
Every instinct inside me screamed danger. He could have been anyone. He could have been worse than Elio.
But somehow... somehow, even here, even like this — this filthy alley felt safer than the cathedral. Safer than the vows I was supposed to take. Safer than Elio’s lies and my mother’s disappointment.
"You lost or just stupid?" he asked, voice rough and unimpressed.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Just a broken, desperate sob.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Every instinct screamed at me to get up, to run, to fight—but I couldn’t. I was trapped by the pain in my ankle, the ruin of my dress, the sheer weight of everything I had just lost.
Without thinking, without weighing the danger, I whispered, "Take me away."
His brows furrowed, like he wasn’t sure he heard me right.
"Please," I said, louder this time, desperation cracking my voice. "I can't go back. I won't. Just... take me away."
He hesitated, his eyes narrowing slightly, like he was trying to figure out what kind of mess I had dragged myself into.
For a long moment, we just stared at each other—two strangers whose worlds should never have touched.
But somehow, in this shattered, twisted moment, it felt inevitable.
"Please," I begged. "I can't go back. I'll—I'll pay you. I'll give you anything. Money, jewelry—anything. Just take me somewhere safe."
He stepped closer, and I looked at him cautiously.
Before I could say another word, he yanked me up.