The Chosen Bride
When Isabella Romano's flawless younger sister calls off her engagement just days before the wedding, the Romano family is thrown into chaos. But there's a twist: the groom, the powerful and enigmatic Aristide Moretti, isn’t heartbroken—in fact, he's relieved.
To save their families’ reputation and the alliance between them, Isabella steps in as the new bride. Shy, bookish, and always in the shadow of her sister’s beauty, Isabella has secretly loved Aristide for years. She never imagined she'd be the one walking down the aisle to him.
What she doesn’t know is that Aristide has always preferred Isabella. He sees her kindness, her strength, and her quiet fire—and he’s more than ready to claim her as his own.
But can Isabella believe she’s truly wanted? Or will insecurities, secrets, and her sister changing her mind, threaten their chance at happiness?
A heartwarming, slow-burn romance about love in unexpected places, second choices that turn out to be first picks, and the courage it takes to believe you’re worthy of being loved.
Baca
Chapter: EpilogueBellaThe dining room had grown louder over the years.Not with arguments or strategy, but with children—barefoot footsteps on stone floors, laughter that echoed too freely to ever be mistaken for danger, the soft chaos of a life that no longer revolved around survival.I stood just inside the doorway for a moment, watching it all.Vivianna—now four and endlessly dramatic—was perched on Marco’s lap, explaining something with the seriousness of a tiny general issuing orders. Her younger brother, Matteo, toddled determinedly toward the table, clutching a wooden spoon like a weapon. Across the room, Elena and Enzo’s daughter chased their son in circles around the chairs, both of them shrieking with laughter until Mabel clapped her hands sharply and threatened exile from dessert.It was loud.It was messy.It was perfect.Aristide came up behind me, his hand warm and familiar at my lower back. There were faint silver threads at his temples now, earned rather than feared, and a softness to
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-01-22
Chapter: Elena & Enzo Chapter 10Elena - A few months after the fall of CipherPeace arrived without ceremony.No announcement. No sudden exhale from the world. Just the slow realization that I could wake up without reaching for contingency plans first. That my phone stayed quiet. That the guards rotated with routine instead of urgency. That the house—this massive, echoing Moretti estate—felt lived in again rather than braced for impact.It unsettled me more than war ever had.I’d been raised on vigilance. On preparation. On the understanding that safety was temporary and love was a liability unless fortified by power. Even after Cipher was gone—truly gone, his network dismantled piece by piece—I still expected the knock, the call, the whispered warning that something had been missed.But it never came.Instead, life kept going.Bella filled the house with softness. With routines centered around Vivianna’s naps and feedings. Aristide laughed more easily now—still sharp, still commanding, but no longer carrying the co
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-01-21
Chapter: Elena & Enzo Chapter 9EnzoI learned a long time ago that fear doesn’t announce itself the way people expect.It doesn’t come screaming.It doesn’t shake your hands or steal your breath.Fear settles in quietly, like a weight you don’t realize you’re carrying until you try to stand.I felt it the moment Aristide said we were moving.Final confrontation.Those words had lived in the background of our lives for months—circling, waiting. Now they were here, solid and unavoidable. Cipher was cornered. Desperate. Dangerous in the way wounded animals always were.And I was going back into the line of fire with my body still remembering what it felt like to be torn open.But that wasn’t what scared me.What scared me was Elena.She stood a few feet away from the others, arms crossed, posture composed, eyes sharp and calculating. Anyone else would’ve seen only the strategist, the Moretti steel.I saw the woman who had knelt in blood-soaked silk and held me together with her bare hands.I saw the one person I had n
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-01-21
Chapter: Elena & Enzo Chapter 8Elena MorettiThe night had already been wrong before it broke open.I felt it in the way the air pressed too close to my skin as we stepped out toward the valet, in the way the city lights felt sharpened instead of distant. Too bright. Too exposed. Sofia’s “gesture of goodwill” still sat uneasily in my chest, like a piece that didn’t belong in the puzzle.Danger never announced itself cleanly. It whispered first.When the man in the gray suit stepped out of the hedge, my hand moved instinctively—toward the inside of my jacket, toward the familiar weight there. Aristide stiffened beside me. Enzo was already closer, his presence a solid line at my side, quiet and alert.I watched everything.The man’s eyes were anxious, darting. His hands came up fast in surrender.“It’s not a threat,” he said. “It’s about Bianchi.”I listened, catalogued, assessed. Logistics. Longshoremen. Containers rerouted after midnight. No manifests.Truth had a cadence. Fear did too.When he handed Aristide the
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-01-21
Chapter: Elena & Enzo Chapter 7Enzo - Year ThreeBy the third year, I’ve learned how to stand in a room with Elena Moretti and not touch anything that matters.It’s a skill. One I never wanted, but perfected anyway.The city changes with the seasons, but Elena doesn’t—not really. She still moves through rooms like she owns them, still speaks with that quiet authority that makes people listen even when she says very little. The difference now is that she looks… settled.That’s the lie I tell myself.When Bella enters the picture, it feels harmless at first. A favor, a responsibility. Someone my family is watching over. Someone Elena takes to immediately.I tell myself it makes sense. Elena has always collected people—not as possessions, but as orbit. Bella just slides into that space like she belongs there.And somehow, so do I.At first, Aristide drags me along under the guise of normalcy. Don’t make it obvious, he says once, clapping my shoulder like I’m not already hyper-aware of every step I take around Elena. Y
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-01-15
Chapter: Elena & Enzo Chapter 6Elena Moretti - Year ThreeThe third year is the one that fools me.The first year was sharp—raw edges, distance that felt intentional. The second year was endurance, a kind of practiced restraint that let me pretend I was moving forward.The third year feels… easy.That’s how it gets me.Bella arrives in New York in late summer, when the city still smells like heat and promise, when everything feels possible even if you know better. My father asks me to show her around, nothing formal. Make sure she settles, he says. She’ll be here a while.I expect obligation.What I get is companionship.She’s funny in a quiet way, observant without being sharp. She notices things people usually overlook—the rhythm of conversations, the pauses between words. She laughs easily, but not carelessly. There’s a gentleness to her that doesn’t read as weakness. It reads as discipline.We fall into a routine without trying.Coffee before her morning classes. Long walks that turn into shared meals. Study se
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-01-14
Chapter: Chapter 103Five Years LaterIvy“Again!” I shouted as I paced around the group training in hand-to-hand combat. I couldn’t even help the smile that crossed my face as I took in the groups, made of both men and women, as they threw punches, and kicks, and fought to take their partners down.“They look good,” my dad said, stopping me from continuing my pacing. “I think you’re possibly the best Capo we’ve ever had.”I shook my head. There was no way that was possible. He had been amazing and everyone knew that. I work hard to be half as great as he was. “I had a great teacher,” I tell him, bumping his shoulder with mine. “Aren't you supposed to be leaving for Italy?”“Heading to the airport,” he nodded, “wanted to say goodbye and remind you to…”“Call you if I need anything,” I finished for him. He always said the same thing. Even five years after I became Capo, I was still his little girl. “The only thing I need is for you and Mom to enjoy your trip and tell Aunt Lidia that I said hi and send her
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2023-12-18
Chapter: Chapter 102IvyI watched Max walk out of my office door and then looked at Cristo. Did he really believe that Max was going to go kill people like my Uncle Dom? That his loyalty would ever waver? I had truly thought Orland was a complete moron giving out his whole plan and what not to Max and Nico, but his cousin here, was proving to be equally or maybe even more stupid.“You won’t get away with this,” I said then rolled my eyes and my cliche words. Max better hurry up and get me out of here away from this guy, his stupidity might be rubbing off on me.Cristo chuckles with a shake of his head as he stocks toward me. “You think I haven’t thought this all the way through?” No, I don’t, but I don’t say that I just stare at him. “Wow! You don’t think that I know that deep down that husband of yours won’t do whatever he has to in order to save you? Or is it that you don’t believe he loves you?” I continue to stare at him as he rubs a finger over his chin. I know it’s important to just keep him distra
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2023-12-04
Chapter: Chapter 101Max“That’s it for me today,” I told Giuseppe, the guy I was helping today. I had spent the last two months helping the men that Dominico said needed more training.“It’s only eleven,” Giuseppe looked at his watch.I nod as I pack up my rifle, “My wife finally has time for a small vacation. We are heading out in a few hours. I’ll be gone until Monday. Dominico will be around if you need anything, but I told him everyone should just get an extra day off this week.” I picked up my gun case and headed for the door.“Have fun,” he hollered after me. I raised my hand and waved but didn’t slow down. I’m on my way to take my wife on a fucking honeymoon. I thought the day would never come.As soon as I pulled up to our house though, I know something is wrong. Ivy said she would be outside with our bags so we could go straight to the plane and be gone. Our bags are where they’re supposed to be. Ivy isn’t.Getting out of the car and walking to the door, I take in what I see. The front door is o
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2023-11-30
Chapter: Chapter 100IvyI woke up with Max’s heavy arm over me. I wasn’t uncomfortable though. If anything, it was the most comfortable I had ever been. I moved a little, slowly, trying not to wake him up, but get closer to him at the same time. I knew that I should get up. I had work to do, but I didn’t want the moment to end.Married. We were married and I was busy. He had been hurt and I had focused on him. But since he had felt better, I had been focused on only work. I was a horrible wife. I smiled and thought about all the things I’d let him do to me the night before. Okay, maybe I wasn’t that horrible.“You’re thinking pretty hard over there,” Max’s voice made me jump a little. He chuckled and I swatted at his arm that lay across me. He moved, sitting up against the headboard. He brought me with him and my head went to his bare chest. All of him was bare. All of me was bare. “What’s wrong?” He kissed the top of my head.I shook me head and peered up at him through my lashes. “Nothing.”“Don’t lie
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2023-11-17
Chapter: Chapter 99MaxFor the second time today, Ivy has made me hard with her leadership. I never would have guessed that something like a woman… My woman… being in charge would make me so fucking horny. I hadn’t felt that way since I was a teenager. Ivy was the one to help me out then too.The problem right now though is that she is on a mission. She has been on the phone calling everyone she can think of to set up meetings and get things in order for when these women are ready to start training. She thinks the idea is a great one. Honestly, I do too. I love that she is able to defend herself even though I plan on her never having to actually do that.“Sorry, Max,” she said as she hung up her phone. She had taken over her father’s office and I couldn’t even say that I hated the way she looked behind the desk. “Are you feeling okay? Do you need to lay down? I lost my head earlier letting you lift me and…”I hold my hand up and lean as far forward as I can in the chair I’ve been sitting in since we cam
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2023-11-06
Chapter: Chapter 98IvyMax slammed my back into our bedroom door. My legs wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck made it so that he couldn’t see a damn thing. That and our tongues battling each other for dominance.“Door,” he pulled away from me just long enough to groan the word. I reached behind me searching for the handle. “Hurry up. Your dad will probably try to kill me if he catches us like this.”“Don’t want that,” I said before biting his lip. He chuckled as he readjusted me in his arms. I finally found the handle as his hands found my ass and squeezed tight making me squeal.“Shh, Wife.” Max growled as he walked into the room and kicked the door shut. I raised an eyebrow when it slammed making much more noise than I had. “Yeah. Yeah,” he threw me on the bed.I bounced, laughed and smiling wide up at him. I looked over all of him. His perfect chiseled jaw, his perfect tanned skin, his perfect blue eyes. Okay, he was perfect. He was also going to give me the best looking kids ever. H
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2023-10-26
Masuk
