

Every April Fools' Day, my boyfriend joined his childhood friend in the same cruel prank, pretending to propose to me. Last year, I slipped the ring onto my finger, my heart full of hope. Suddenly, the mechanism snapped tight. Pain shot through my hand, and I cried out. He apologized afterward and promised that, this year, the proposal would be real. As such, I arrived carefully dressed, believing him. Instead, I was met with a face full of cake. He reached out gently, wiping the cream from my face as if it were nothing more than a harmless joke. However, this time, I took a step back. After six disappointments, I chose to walk away. So why was it that, in the end, he was the one consumed by regret?

This is the ninth year Dante and I have honored the Month of No Masters. The Corinni family's heir apparent believes this will make our relationship last longer. For one month after our dating anniversary each year, he is free, and we stay out of each other's lives. If either of us finds someone more suitable, we are to wish them well. If not, we go back to the way things were after a month. Around me, the men of the family are spraying champagne with abandon. "To another year of freedom! Congratulations to our Underboss on reclaiming his bachelor status!" "The family betting pool is open! Place your bets on the left if you think they'll still get married, and on the right if you think it's over for good!" Through the hazy cigar smoke, I sat on the corner of a leather sofa, a cold observer, as if this whole farce had nothing to do with me. Dante's hand was curled around Scarlett's waist as he brushed past me, whispering, "Don't get any ideas. You'll always be my only Donna." "I'm a kite. No matter how far I fly, the string is always in your hand." I pressed my cold fingers against the gentle swell of my belly, my expression a blank mask. Dante, this time at the family's betting table, I'm putting my money on "the end." I'm going to vanish from your world completely. That kite string you're so proud of? Tonight, I'm cutting it myself.

Cassidy loved Zane for three years. Only when Zane told her to go buy condoms for him and his new girlfriend did she realize she had always been nothing more than a “bed companion” in his eyes. On her 25th birthday, she caught Zane and his new lover Lily in a tight embrace, and her heart died completely. She decided to leave. A car accident cost her her child and finally made Zane realize his true feelings. Only when she started her new life at Vertex Group did Zane finally understand that he had loved her all along — but now it was too late to win her back.

ER doctor Kate Reed believes she has a loving marriage—until one phone call shatters the illusion. While she's in surgery, her husband Mason Fadley claims his flight is canceled, but he's secretly with his sister-in-law, Sandy Young. When Mason collapses from expired drugs, Kate uncovers the affair—and learns her miscarriage was their doing. On Sandy's wedding day, Kate doesn't arrive to celebrate. She comes to expose their sins.