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I’m Already in Paris, Don. Don’t Chase Me
Novelix
Completed
"At their engagement party, Mafia Don Dominic Valenti humiliates Serena in front of everyone with a two-dollar plastic ring. The real shock? The three-million-dollar diamond from his family vault is on another woman’s finger. Dominic expects Serena to get over it. After seven years, he is certain she will never leave him. He is wrong. That same night, Serena cancels the wedding, calls her lawyer, and accepts the Paris job she once sacrificed for him. By the time Dominic finally understands what he has lost, his bride is gone. And for the first time, the Don has to chase someone who no longer wants to be caught."
Chapters (3)
第1章
At my engagement party, my fiancé, Dominic Valenti, swapped my ring for a two-dollar plastic one.
Meanwhile, the most expensive ring in the family vault—a three-million-dollar pink diamond—was sitting on the finger of his childhood friend, Elena.
Laughter broke across the room.
I froze and looked instinctively at Dominic.
He only smiled, perfectly at ease. “Just reminding you ladies that a wedding ring isn't a trophy.”
Dominic Valenti was the Don of New York's most powerful crime family. Only a few days earlier, he had taken me into the family vault himself and told me to choose any ring I wanted.
I had passed on the three-million-dollar pink diamond and picked a simple platinum band worth five hundred dollars.
Now that band had been replaced with plastic, while the diamond I had never even touched was on another woman’s hand.
Elena covered her mouth with a soft laugh. “Congratulations, Serena.”
Dominic noticed me looking at her hand and frowned.
“She closed the Bellini deal for Valenti Holdings. The ring was her bonus.”
“You’re not seriously going to make an issue out of that, are you?”
His mother, Gianna, smiled as though she were smoothing over some harmless misunderstanding.
“If you really want to marry into this family, you can’t care so much about money and jewelry.”
I looked down at the plastic ring for a few seconds.
Then I smiled.
“Dominic. Do you really think I have no choice but you?”
And suddenly, I remembered the job offer in Paris I had turned down six months ago.
Maybe I didn’t have to marry him after all.
...
The room went quiet for a beat.
Dominic looked almost surprised. One eyebrow lifted.
“Serena, this is our engagement party. Don’t say things you don’t mean just because you’re upset.”
He reached for my hand, his tone almost patient.
“What difference does it make to you whether the ring costs two dollars or five hundred?”
“You’re the one who said you didn’t care about the price. It was a joke.”
I looked at his outstretched hand and didn’t move.
Once someone is sure you'll never leave, cruelty becomes a punchline.
Gianna stepped closer and reached for my arm.
“Serena, Dominic can be blunt. You know that.”
“You’re going to build a life together. Is a ring really worth making a scene over in front of everyone?”
I gently pulled my arm away.
“It’s a little late to worry about appearances.”
Her smile stiffened.
Across the head table, Elena seemed to realize at last that she should look embarrassed. She hurried to take off the diamond ring.
“Serena, if you really want it, you can have it back.”
She started to hold it out.
Dominic stopped her first.
“I gave it to you. It’s yours.”
He said it as if that settled everything. Only then did he look back at me.
“You’ve never been the kind of woman who fights over things like this.”
I almost laughed.
No, I wasn’t.
For years, all Dominic had to say was, “You’re the reasonable one,” and somehow that meant I was supposed to be the one who gave in.
Elena said our wedding photographer wasn’t prestigious enough, so he replaced the entire team.
She had a nut allergy, so he had every dessert containing nuts removed from the engagement menu.
I had never thought any of it was worth arguing over.
Until today, I hadn’t realized that if you refuse to keep score long enough, people start assuming you don’t have limits.
I slipped off the plastic ring and set it back in the box.
“Then let’s leave it at that.”
Dominic frowned.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I didn’t explain. I picked up my purse and walked out.
Behind me, someone quietly told him he should go after me.
Dominic’s answer was calm.
“No. She’ll come back when she cools off.”
I didn’t slow down.
The night air hit me when I stepped out of the private club in Manhattan.
My first call was to the wedding planner.
“Linda, cancel everything for October eighteenth.”
She went silent for two seconds.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
“What about Mr. Valenti—”
“You don’t need to ask him.”
I looked at the engagement sign outside the club, our names written together in elegant gold lettering, and felt strangely light.
“It’s my wedding. I’m not having it.”
My second call was to my attorney.
“Tomorrow, I want the ownership split on the Tribeca condo, the closing costs, and the deed for the parking space in my name.”
My third call was to the director of the studio in Paris.
Six months earlier, they had offered me a one-year design residency in Paris.
I had turned it down because the wedding was approaching.
When she picked up, I asked only one question.
“Is the position still open?”
She laughed.
“For you? Always.”
I didn’t hesitate.
“Then I’m coming.”
第2章
Dominic didn’t get home until midnight.
When the entryway lights came on, I was in the study sorting through documents.
He tossed his jacket onto the sofa and glanced at the empty dining table.
“You didn’t leave me dinner?”
I didn’t look up.
“No.”
He seemed surprised.
No matter how badly we had fought in the past, I always left a light on and a plate waiting for him.
He stood there for a moment before walking over and tapping his knuckles against the desk.
“Still mad?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He actually seemed relieved as he sat across from me.
“My mother was harsh tonight, but she was thinking about our future.”
“And Elena closed the Bellini deal for Valenti Holdings. The diamond was part of her compensation for closing Bellini. It wasn’t personal.”
I looked at him.
“Okay.”
Dominic paused.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want me to say?”
For once, he had no answer.
After a moment, his brows drew together.
“Serena, you don’t have to freeze me out like this.”
I almost laughed.
I hadn’t yelled. I hadn’t cried. I hadn’t even brought up the ring again.
But the moment I stopped being the one who smoothed everything over, he decided I was punishing him.
My phone lit up on the desk.
The contract from Paris had arrived.
I turned the screen off.
Dominic didn’t notice.
He pulled a small box from his pocket and slid it toward me.
“All right. Enough.”
I opened it.
Inside was the five-hundred-dollar platinum band I had chosen from the vault.
“I had someone track it down.”
He leaned back, visibly more relaxed.
“This is the one you wanted, right? Tomorrow I’ll put it on you myself and we’ll redo the engagement photos.”
I looked at it for a few seconds, then pushed the box back.
“No need.”
His expression tightened instantly.
“Now what?”
“I don’t like it anymore.”
He stared at me as if searching my face for proof that I was bluffing.
In the end, he decided I was still angry.
“Suit yourself.”
Before he got up, he seemed to remember something.
“One more thing. Clear out the south-facing workroom in the Tribeca place.”
I looked up.
“Why?”
“Elena’s preparing the launch for the Valenti jewelry line. Her showroom is being renovated, so she needs somewhere to store samples for a month.”
He said it as if the answer were obvious.
“You mostly sketch in there. You can work anywhere.”
I was quiet for two seconds.
“Fine.”
This time, he was the one who looked surprised.
“You’re okay with it?”
“Yes.”
I even took the spare key to the Tribeca condo off my key ring and set it on the desk.
“Have her pick it up tomorrow.”
Dominic looked satisfied.
He reached out and ruffled my hair.
“That’s more like you.”
I turned my head away.
He didn’t notice. He was already answering a message from Elena.
The next morning, I had my assistant remove every sketch, sample, and personal item of mine from the Tribeca condo and take them to my SoHo studio.
At noon, Dominic texted me.
Mom wants us over for dinner tonight.
I replied with two words.
Not coming.
My phone rang immediately.
“Still angry?”
“I’m working.”
“Since when is work more important than dinner?”
I looked down at the Paris contract in my hand.
“Since today.”
There was a brief silence on the other end.
Dominic wasn’t used to me sounding like that. Finally, he gave a short laugh.
“Fine. Work. We’ll talk when this mood passes.”
I didn’t correct him.
Once you’ve decided to leave, there’s no point teaching the other person how to read your silence.
第3章
For the next three days, I barely stopped moving.
I signed the Paris contract. The studio expedited my work visa.
I redistributed a year’s worth of projects at my New York studio and transferred my longtime clients to my partner, Claire.
Every time I finished something, I crossed another line off my list.
Paris wasn’t an escape route I had invented overnight.
Three years earlier, when one of my collections was selected for an international jewelry exhibition, the Paris studio had invited me to stay.
At the time, Dominic had only recently secured his position as Don, and the Valenti family’s legitimate businesses were expanding aggressively.
I had turned a six-month residency into a three-week stay and flown home to help him through the worst of it.
He always used to say it didn’t matter which one of us went farther.
Only now did I understand that if you keep slowing down for someone else, eventually you forget how far you were capable of going.
So I wasn’t going to Paris to run from Dominic.
I was going back for the life I had willingly set aside.
The strange part was how cleanly seven years began to unravel once I finally decided to let them end.
On the fourth evening, Dominic showed up at my studio.
He set my favorite chestnut cake on the table.
“Enough already. I had Elena return the key to the Tribeca condo.”
I looked up.
“Why?”
“Because you were upset.” His brows pinched together, as if he couldn’t understand why I was asking. “It’s one room. She doesn’t have to use it.”
Even now, he still thought this was about a room and a ring.
I didn’t explain.
Dominic took the platinum band from the inside pocket of his suit.
This time he didn’t bother with the box. He reached for my hand directly.
“Serena. I admit I took the joke too far at the engagement party. I’ll put the ring on you myself. Happy?”
I pulled my hand away.
The movement was small, but final.
“Dominic, I told you. I don’t want it anymore.”
His hand stayed suspended in the air.
For the first time, real irritation crossed his face.
“What exactly do you want from me?”
“You want me to fall out with Elena over a ring?”
“Or should I take back a company reward in front of the entire family and tell everyone my fiancée got jealous?”
I looked at him in silence.
He took that silence as an answer, and his voice grew colder.
“You were never like this before, Serena.”
“You used to know the difference between business and personal feelings. You didn’t obsess over Elena.”
“You’re right,” I said.
Dominic blinked.
“What?”
“I wasn’t like this before.”
Before, I had been so afraid of looking petty that I kept forcing myself to understand everyone else.
But understanding someone is not an obligation.
I lowered my eyes to the sketch in front of me.
“I have a meeting.”
His face darkened.
Then his phone rang.
Elena’s name lit up the screen.
Whatever she said made the tension leave his face immediately.
“You forgot your access card again? Stay there. I’m coming.”
After he hung up, he looked at me.
“Come home for dinner. I want to talk to you.”
I gave a noncommittal hum.
At the door, he looked back.
“I’m leaving the ring here. Put it on when you come to your senses.”
The door closed behind him.
I stared at the platinum band on my desk, then picked it up and put it into an envelope with the two-dollar plastic ring.
What was mine, I would not give away.
What wasn’t mine, I no longer wanted.
That evening, I went to my attorney’s office.
The condo, the parking space, the engagement expenses—we settled everything line by line.
I had never imagined wanting to calculate things this precisely.
Now numbers felt more honest than feelings.
My attorney pushed the final document toward me.
“Are you sure?”
I signed my name.
“I already wasted seven years. I’m not wasting an eighth.”
