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第5章

Autor: Liora Z
The ballroom glittered with gold, filled with the heavy scent of expensive perfume and the shadows of the elite.

Cillian spent the entire night with his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, guiding me through tight circles of Mafia bosses, politicians, and ruthless businessmen.

"Mr. Donovan truly adores his wife."

"Everyone in Chicago knows the Don worships the ground she walks on."

Fake compliments rained down on us. I just maintained my perfect, polite smile. I didn't deny it, and I didn't agree.

"Tired?" Cillian solicitously handed me a small, elegant cake plate. "Have some dessert."

I looked down. "Tiramisu." I didn't take it. I just looked him dead in the eye. "Cillian, I don't eat cocoa powder. Did you forget? That's Zelda's favorite. Not mine."

His face went rigid. His hand hovered awkwardly in the air.

Panic flashed in his dark eyes, and he opened his mouth to explain, but a loud commotion broke out at the entrance.

Zelda had arrived.

She wore a loud, plunging white sequin dress, aggressively clinging to the arm of a handsome young man. He was the newly risen head of a South Side crew, a notorious playboy.

From the second she walked in, Cillian completely lost his mind.

He stood next to me, but his eyes kept darting across the lavish room to her. He watched the man whisper in Zelda's ear, watched her giggle and lean into his side.

His jaw ticked violently. The dark, possessive rage in his eyes was spilling over.

"Go ahead," I said, taking a step back and graciously putting a wall of distance between us.

Cillian snapped his head back to me, shocked that I was actively pushing him away. "Alessia, I—"

Before he could finish his pathetic excuse, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zelda get on her tiptoes and intentionally kiss the other man's cheek.

That was it. His last shred of sanity snapped in two.

A sharp crack echoed.

Pure, jealous rage caused him to crush the champagne flute he was holding. Shards dug deep into his palm. Blood mixed with champagne and dripped onto the plush carpet, but he didn't even flinch.

He didn't speak a single word to me. He just shoved his way through the dense crowd, storming straight toward Zelda.

I stood there, watching coldly as he grabbed her wrist, roughly dragged her away from the playboy, and pulled her down the hall into a secluded VIP lounge.

The door didn't shut all the way.

Holding my own champagne, I took my time strolling over. I stood outside the cracked door, watching everything unfold perfectly through the reflection of the glass in the hall.

"Are you insane?!" Cillian slammed Zelda against the heavy oak door, furious. "You have no shame, doing that in public!"

Zelda didn't back down. "Shame? I'm single, I'll kiss whoever I want!" she sneered. "Who are you to control me? What's your title? Someone else's husband?!"

Those words pushed him right over the edge. His eyes went blood-red. He yanked her head back and kissed her brutally.

It was a punishing, aggressively possessive kiss, fueled by undeniable hunger.

A triumphant smile flashed across Zelda's eyes. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, kissing him back with fiery passion.

Soon, they were tangled together on the lounge bed, their expensive clothes rapidly coming undone.

I stood in the shadows, watching every miserable second of it.

Before, I would have stormed right in. I would have broken down crying hysterically.

But now, all I felt was a numb, hollow sense of absurdity. They looked like two desperate animals in heat. It was pathetic.

I didn't even have the urge to interrupt their little show.

I stepped forward, grabbed the sleek handle, and thoughtfully, silently, pulled the door completely shut.

After all, it was my birthday party. If everyone found out my husband was screwing another woman at my own gala, I'd be the biggest joke in all of Chicago.
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  • I Became the Wife He Wanted   Chapter 21

    Years later.Tuscany, Italy.A private estate.Sun, green lawns, a brilliant blue sky, an ancient castle.My wedding.Small, intimate, with only our closest family and friends.I wore a simple, elegant white dress, holding a bouquet of lilies of the valley, my smile bright and genuine.My eyes were filled with a true, cloudless happiness.The groom, Julian, stood beside me in a white suit, his deep eyes watching me with a love so strong it was almost tangible.The priest read the vows.“Do you, Alessia, take Julian Croft to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?”I turned to the man beside me, a soft smile on my lips.“I do.”My voice was clear, firm, full of hope.We exchanged rings. We kissed.The applause was thunderous.At the reception on the lawn overlooking the sea, I tossed the bouquet—directly to my maid of honor, my best friend, Chloe

  • I Became the Wife He Wanted   Chapter 20

    Years later, at the International Court of Justice, a landmark case came to a close.As the lead attorney, I had won.Under the spotlights, I stood in a tailored pearl-white suit, my hair in an elegant chignon, facing a sea of flashing cameras, speaking with calm and confidence.Elegant, professional, the undisputed center of attention.After the hearing, a handsome young academic in a dark gray suit came up to the stage with a bouquet of white lilies of the valley.He was Julian Croft, a rising star in the European legal world.We had worked together on several international cases, developing an incredible partnership that had naturally blossomed into love.The press called us the “Twin Stars of the Legal World.”I met his eyes and smiled.In the farthest, most obscure corner of the gallery, a man in a black baseball cap and mask, thin and gaunt, slowly stood up after the crowd had dispersed.I saw him. I knew it was Cillian.He had survived that attack years ago, but barely.His body

  • I Became the Wife He Wanted   Chapter 19

    (Alessia’s POV)In the ambulance, the paramedics worked frantically on his wounds.Cillian, unconscious, kept muttering.“Alessia… I’m sorry…”“The baby… I’m sorry…”“Don’t go… Don’t leave me…”His voice was broken, filled with a desperate, dying plea.I sat beside him, my hands and jacket covered in his blood. It was sticky and warm, and it smelled like rust.I turned my head and stared out the window at the city lights blurring past. My face was a hard mask in the flashing lights.At the hospital, Cillian was rushed into surgery.The light above the door turned on.I sat on a bench in the hallway, staring at the closed doors.I don’t know how long I sat there before the doors opened and a doctor came out, his face grim.“He’s badly injured. Lost a lot of blood. It’s not looking good.”“Also,” the doctor paused, looking at me, “he doesn’t seem to have much will to live. At this rate, it’s very dangerous.”The doctor hesitated. “Are you his…?”“Ex-wife,” I said calmly.The doctor was t

  • I Became the Wife He Wanted   Chapter 18

    A year later.An important international law forum was held in Washington, D.C.Alessia was invited back to the States as a special delegate.Cillian was in a meeting when he got the news.Jack leaned in and whispered in his ear. Cillian’s hand, holding a pen, froze, leaving a long black gash across the document.On the day of the conference, he used his connections to get in, wearing a hat and a mask, hiding in the darkest corner of the auditorium.He didn’t dare get close. Didn’t dare disturb her.He could only watch, from a distance.The conference began. Alessia was on stage as one of the debate panelists.She wore a smart, dark blue suit, her hair in a neat bun. She argued fluently in multiple languages, citing precedents, her arguments sharp and compelling.Confident. Poised. Radiant.Cillian drank her in, his eyes never leaving her, as if trying to burn her image into his soul.A sharp, familiar pain stabbed at his heart.The conference ended after dark.Cillian followed from a

  • I Became the Wife He Wanted   Chapter 17

    After dealing with the Ricci family, Cillian’s body gave out.Old wounds, combined with chronic stress, led to a severe stomach hemorrhage. Jack had to force him into the hospital.The doctor’s face was grim. “He needs to be admitted. Complete bed rest.”Cillian lay in the hospital bed, staring at the white ceiling, his eyes empty.He refused intensive treatment, agreeing only to basic medication and an IV drip. He was essentially waiting to die.Jack couldn’t stand it. He brought Cillian his old phone.“Boss, this was your old phone… It has… a voicemail from the Madam… from Miss Alessia. Maybe… you should listen.”Cillian opened his eyes and stared at the phone for a long time before slowly reaching for it.He turned it on and went to his voicemail.There was only one message, one Alessia had left a long time ago. He’d been in a meeting, hadn’t listened, and then forgot.He pressed play.Alessia’s voice, soft and a little shy, came through the speaker.“Cillian, I won a big case today

  • I Became the Wife He Wanted   Chapter 16

    The Ricci Godfather trembled, his mouth open, but no words came out. He collapsed onto the ground in defeat.Cillian turned and walked away without a backward glance.A few days later, Zelda was forcibly sent to a high-security mental institution in the countryside.Before they could take her, she somehow escaped and made a mad dash for the Donovan manor. Security stopped her at the gate.Her hair was a mess, her face contorted with madness. She screamed at the house, “Cillian! Come out! Come out and see me! How could you do this to me! You said you’d always protect me!”Cillian watched the small, crazed figure from his window, his face a blank mask.Finally, he went downstairs.Zelda’s eyes lit up when she saw him. She tried to run to him, but the guards held her back.“Cillian! Cillian, save me! I don’t want to go to that place! I was wrong, I know I was wrong, please forgive me just this once!” She was a mess of tears and smeared makeup, a far cry from the spoiled princess she once

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