My heart beat loudly in my chest, my hands were sweaty while I straightened the frill skirt of my white wedding dress. The reflection of my hollow pale blue eyes stared at me through the mirror. Today was supposed to be the most beautiful day of my life. The day I would give my heart to another man. Someone who I loved with every fiber of my heart.

Instead after 24 years, they sold me for the prestige of the family. As if I was cattle and not their living breathing daughter. As if I was a trophy that someone could carry on their arm and not a human being who deserved someone who loved her.

Anger shot through my body and a fire lit up in my pale blue eyes that had put me in many dangerous situations in my youth. A fire that was the reason why I now stepped back from the mirror and grabbed the hem of my frill skirt.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't marry Vicomte Clément Arthur Fournier. He wasn't the one and he would never be the one. I wasn't like my parents. I wasn't like my mother who tried to fit in. Who lived in this strange arrangement with my father, connected by money, beauty and now me. An arrangement where you never touched your partner, never laughed together. Just being there. Standing next to him with a smile on your face while you died inside.

My heart beat faster as I rushed to the window of the luxury hotel. A sudden knock on my door startled me. Hastily I opened the window and breathed in a breeze of saltwater blowing in from the coast of the island.

"Darling? Are you ready?" my mother's elegant voice came through the closed door.

"Just a minute, Mom!", I called out. "I just want to be on my best behavior for the viscount. Don't come in until I tell you to," I added in my sweetest voice that always worked with my mother before glancing outside.

The distance wasn't far. I could easily climb out of the hotel room. Hastily, I unclipped my high heels and climbed over the window ledge.

"Darling?" my mother's voice was now coming through to me more and more impatiently. She was not a patient woman.

"Just a moment more!", I shouted before pushing myself off the window ledge and free-falling the next moment. No sooner had I landed on my bare feet than I heard the door open.

"Scarlett!" my mother's voice shouted, followed by the click of her heels hurriedly walking towards the hotel window.

"Scarlett Penelope Walsh! Come back upstairs now!" my mother screamed a touch more hysterically now, before instantly shouting for my father. "Richard!"

I turned my head over my shoulder for a brief moment and saw my father storm into the room. An angry expression on his face.

Shit!

I started to run, my feet carrying me through the small streets of Positano, my heart beating wildly in my chest. Adrenaline shot through my body, followed by excitement rushing through my veins.

I was free.

Endless possibilities ran through my mind as I pushed my legs further. The ruffles of my skirt scratched my legs and the hem prevented me from moving faster.

"Damn it!", I cursed loudly as I turned a corner.

I was so busy running that I didn't see where I was running. In a moment of inattention, my body suddenly collided with something. A violent force knocked me off my feet, my bottom grazed the ground. I flinched for a second.

"Fuck!", I heard a male curse reach my ear. "I'm sorry miss, did you hurt yourself?" the voice asked me worriedly.

I was lost the moment I lifted my head and looked up at his face. It wasn't his boyish, handsome face, his brown eyes or the blond, tousled hair on his head that left me speechless, but rather the energy that buzzed between us and held me hostage. The immediate urge to touch him shot through my body.

"Miss?" he asked me again. Concern was on his face as he reached for my hand. With a slow tug on my hand, he pulled me up, his hand still lingering in mine.

Warmth tingled in my fingers and made the world stop spinning for a second.

"Fermati, peccatore!", Stop you sinner! , a voice suddenly roared in Italian behind us as footsteps approached us. Immediately the boy tugged at my hand and ran off with me.

I was too frightened to do anything but follow his lead. Hastily, I threw my head over my shoulder and caught sight of a black-clad priest running after us. From a distance, I could see that he was angry.

"Why is he following you?", I seemed to gradually find my voice again.

A mischievous grin spread across the boy's face as we ran on through the narrow streets of Positano. The sky above us stretched an endless, brilliant blue.

"I had my hand up his daughter's skirt," he replied cheekily. "Right in front of the Holy Madonna," he added with a laugh, his brown eyes twinkling as he gave me a sideways glance.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh my God, you didn't!", I retorted between laughs.

"Sure I did, babe," he said cheekily before hastily pulling me around a corner and pushing me behind a pillar at the entrance of a small shop. I nearly tripped over the hem of my frilly dress but managed to pull myself upright in time.

It was the first time he seemed to notice what I was wearing. He turned his face to me, one of his eyebrows raised.

"Running away from your wedding, huh?" he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Who's the lucky guy?"

A loud voice interrupted our conversation. "Dove sei, peccatore? Dio vi troverà e vi farà pagare per i vostri peccati! ", Where are you, sinner? God will find you and he will make you pay for your sins! the priest's voice shouted as we watched him run through the narrow alley in front of us.

A soft chuckle sounded next to me, which immediately turned into a loud laugh as the priest turned the corner. I joined in the laughter.

"God will find me." the guy formed the words silently with exaggerated large eyes as he looked at me. I started giggling again.

"I'm Nick, by the way.", he suddenly said with a grin on his face and held out his hand to me.

I grabbed it and smiled at him as well. "I'm Scarlett, but you can call me Letty," I replied.

He smiled gently at me and held my hand a little longer. "So, Letty, what are we going to do about your dress? Do we rip it and you keep walking around in your underwear?" he asked cheekily.

I immediately nudged him with my elbow. He sucked in a breath, followed by a laugh that left his mouth. "I mean it's hot enough outside," he replied with a boyish laugh on his face and shrugged his shoulders.

For the first time, I noticed the boyish features on his face.

"How old are you?", I asked him now.

Playfulness sparkled in his eyes as he now answered me. "Nineteen and you?"

"Twenty-four.", I replied.

"Twenty-four?" he asked me dumbfounded. "Twenty- four and you want to commit yourself to one man for your whole life? Are you crazy woman?" he now exclaimed as he suddenly rummaged in the back pocket of his jeans and a little later pulled out a small bunch of keys.

"Let me do it babe," he said suddenly as he reached for the hem of my dress and flipped open a small pocket knife on his keychain.

The ripping of the dress hem filled my ears like the explosion of a time bomb. I watched as the frilly hem flew to the floor. The last remnants of my ties to my old life.

"Well...", Nick raised his head and grinned up at me. "That looks a lot better, doesn't it?"

Warmth flooded my body as I bit my lip and now nodded.

Nick's smile deepened as he slowly rose from his position on the floor and grabbed my hand.

"Well, Letty. What are we going to do now that you are a free woman? Do you have a particular church insight where you want me to corrupt you?" he asked with a laugh in his voice.

The only answer I could give him was a deep belly laugh that resounded through the small, beautiful streets of Positano and made me feel more alive than I had in a very long time.