In His Shadow, in His Bed

"For eight years, I was the ghost in Lorenzo Valenti's empire. By day, I was his executive assistant, the engine of his criminal enterprise. By night, I was the most submissive bird in his gilded cage, and the nameless body in his bed.I loved him with a devotion that bordered on madness, a foolish flame I'd nurtured since I was a scholarship student pulled into his orbit. I believed my quiet love could one day melt the ice around his heart. I was wrong.The day his unforgettable first love, Isabella, returned, the man I knew vanished. The rare smiles once reserved for me were now all for her. My presence by his side was erased, replaced by hers. Even when she framed me, he believed her without hesitation.He chose her, again and again.I submitted my resignation. He signed it without looking.He thought I'd crawl back, broken and begging.He was wrong.While he was busy playing house with his "cuore mio", I was quietly packing away my life, preparing to vanish from his world forever."