All Chapters of Too Late to Reclaim His Queen: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The door to the private room slammed shut behind me.Miles's words echoed in my ears: Don't make a scene just because you're jealous.Jealous? A scene?I took a deep breath and walked out into the main hall, my heels clicking on the floor.Everyone was raising a glass. Celebrating the half-billion-dollar auction. My victory.“Look at her face. Like the family owes her something.”The sharp whispers came from behind a marble pillar.I stopped, watching a few women in expensive gowns trade scornful looks.“Rebecca was always meant to be head curator. What right does she have to fight for it?”“Exactly! The Don and Rebecca grew up together. A perfect match. Then this little painter shows up out of nowhere and steals the fiancée spot. Rebecca hasn’t said a word, and she’s the one throwing a fit?”Little painter.My fingers tightened around my glass.“Besides, Rebecca was the one working the collectors day and night for this auction. She was gone half of last month. Who knows what she was u

Chapter 2

I was wiping away an angry tear when the terrace door opened.The sound of heels on marble. I didn’t have to look.“Valerie,” Rebecca’s soft voice said behind me. “I’m so sorry. I know you’re upset.”I turned to face her. She glided toward me, wearing that fake, pitying smile I knew so well.“I’ll give you some credit,” she said, her voice dripping with false pity. “You helped.”I laughed coldly. “Fine. Go tell Miles what you did to my assistant.”The smile on Rebecca’s face froze.“Tell him how you’ve been stealing my credit for years, sabotaging my work,” I said, stepping toward her. “Go on, Rebecca. Tell him what your ‘special talents’ really are.”She was silent for a beat. Then, her syrupy-sweet act evaporated.Rebecca scoffed. “I was just being polite. You didn’t actually believe that, did you?”Her eyes flashed with triumph. “Everything I have, I earned. It has nothing to do with you.”“Earned?” I was floored by her nerve. “Stealing my intel is earning it? Sabotaging my deals? B

Chapter 3

Miles had rushed over to see Rebecca, crying and holding her face.“Miles!” she sobbed, collapsing into his arms. “I was just trying to comfort her… but I tripped on my dress and… and I broke her watch…”“And she hit me!” Rebecca cried, the red handprint on her cheek making her look utterly pathetic.Miles’s rage turned on me. His cold eyes were like daggers. “Valerie! Is your jealousy so out of control you’d attack someone at your own party?”“She did it on purpose!” I pointed at the crushed pieces of metal on the floor, my voice shaking with fury. “That was the only thing I had left of my father!”Miles didn’t even glance at the wreckage. He just shook his head in disgust. “Was a broken watch worth acting like a damn maniac?”His voice grew colder. “I thought you knew how to handle yourself. I guess they were right. You’re not cut out for this life.”“You’re not fit to be the Donna of this family.”I looked at the deep disappointment in his eyes, at the way he sheltered and protected

Chapter 4

Miles's POVI had the family doc put some ice on Rebecca's face."Miles, it hurts so bad..." she sobbed into my chest. "Why'd she hit me? I was just trying to help..."I gave her shoulder a rough pat. "Stop crying. It's a goddamn handprint."But the image was burned into my mind.Valerie, crashing through the champagne tower. Drenched in booze, her hand dripping blood.The look in her red-rimmed eyes as she struggled to her feet... it was a punch to the gut.Still, she hit Rebecca first. She needed to learn her place."Miles, what are you thinking about?" Rebecca snapped, her voice pulling me back."Nothing," I lied. "Get some rest. I'm going to deal with Valerie."Her face crumpled. "You're going to her? After what she did to me?!""I'm going to make sure this never happens again." I stood. "She's my fiancée. Making a scene at my party was a mistake. She knows it."Valerie was always trying to prove herself. She never had to.I valued her skills, not her ambition.I sighed, reaching h

Chapter 5

Miles's POVA week. Valerie was a ghost.I had every man on the street tearing the city apart.Hotels, airports, train stations, her friends' places—all came up empty.Her credit cards were cold.A cold dread, something I hadn't felt since I was a kid, settled in my bones.This was different.She was really gone."Don, we still need to handle the auction follow-up..." my butler said, tiptoeing around me."Let Rebecca handle it!" I snapped. "I'm not in the mood!"I had to find Valerie.I got to Rebecca's apartment, my hand raised to knock, when her laugh cut through the door."See? The little bitch finally learned her place and ran off with her tail between her legs."My knuckles went white against the doorframe."She thought her little painting tricks could help her compete with me for Miles? What a joke!" Rebecca's voice was pure venom. "One little push and she's a mess. And that disgusting old watch... only she would treat it like a treasure.""You're amazing, Rebecca! The look on he

Chapter 6

Valerie's POVThe day after the phone call, I walked into Dante Romano's fortress of a gallery in Lincoln Park.As Chicago's other Outfit boss and Miles's top rival, Dante was younger than I expected. Early thirties, tall, with eyes like a hawk.His gaze swept over me, then settled on my lower back, which I'd left intentionally exposed.The black phoenix, reborn in fire, was on full display."Looks like you're ready to fly," he said, a dangerous glimmer in his eye."I'm not here for small talk." I slid a binder across the table. "Every weakness in the Falcone family's upcoming auction."Dante opened it. His eyebrows climbed with every page he turned."A five-hundred-million-dollar auction..." he looked at me, a new respect in his eyes. "And you want to do what with it?""Turn it into a five-hundred-million-dollar bonfire," I said, my voice flat. "And burn the Falcone name to the ground. I want Miles humiliated on a global stage."Dante closed the binder slowly. "Your price?""Fifty per

Chapter 7

Miles's POVI stormed into Rebecca's room and threw the ten-million-dollar transfer records in her face."Explain!" I growled. "What did you do to Valerie's assistant?"Rebecca's face went chalk white.She tried to lie, but the proof was right there."Miles, I..." Her voice trembled."Talk!" I grabbed her by the shoulders, my eyes bloodshot. "You stole family funds? Paid off her assistant? For five years, how much of her work did you steal?"She broke, collapsing to the floor in a heap of tears."I admit it! I paid him off! And the credit... some of it was hers...""Some?" My voice grew colder."Most of it..." she sobbed. "But I only did it because I love you! I couldn't let her take you from me!"She clung to my leg, snot and tears smearing her face."Miles, we grew up together! Have you forgotten everything we have?"I looked down at her ruined face. The face I once thought was an angel's.All I felt was disgust."Get off me," I said, kicking her hand away."Miles!" she shrieked, try

Chapter 8

Valerie's POVAuction night. A global live stream.I was in a top-floor suite Dante had arranged, directly across from Sotheby's.Outside, New York glittered. Inside, a massive screen showed the live feed.I was the puppet master, calmly watching the show I had directed.Miles was on stage in a dark blue suit, looking every bit the powerful Don.Rebecca, in Chanel couture, stood elegantly by his side.But I could see the deadness in Miles's eyes.He was putting on a performance."Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Falcone Estate Auction!" the auctioneer boomed.The first few lots went smoothly. Jewelry, sculptures, paintings. All sold for high prices.Rebecca's smile grew wider, as if she could already feel the crown on her head.Finally, it was time for the main event."And now, for the crown jewel of tonight's collection—" the auctioneer's voice dripped with excitement, "—the lost masterpiece by Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew!"The massive canvas was wheeled onto the stag

Chapter 9

Valerie's POVThe auction ended as the scandal of the century. The five-hundred-million-dollar money laundering scheme was dead, and the headlines screamed "The Greatest Fraud in Art History."I closed my livestream, watching the chaos at Sotheby's with a quiet satisfaction.Dante walked over, a glass of champagne in hand. "A beautiful performance. The Falcone family is finished.""This is just the beginning," I said, taking the glass.At eleven o'clock, the door to the suite was smashed open.Miles crashed through it, stinking of booze.This was a top-security suite. The only way he could have found me this fast was if someone let him.I shot Dante a look. "Security?""I had them leak your location," Dante said, swirling his wine, a cold, cruel smile on his face. "A good show needs its leading man to see exactly what he's lost."Miles stumbled toward me and fell to his knees."Valerie, I was wrong!" he choked out, grabbing the hem of my dress. "I know I was wrong!"I looked down at hi

Chapter 10

Valerie's POVI refused him completely.He knelt before me for three hours that night.Begging turned to anger, threats turned to despair. In the end, there was only silence and tears.But my heart was already dead.A few days later, the news was all over Chicago.The Falcone family imploded.The FBI investigation triggered a brutal civil war within the Outfit.Factions turned on each other, cutting deals to save their own skin.To protect what was left of his family's bloodline, Miles took the fall for everything.Money laundering, fraud, art smuggling—enough to put him away for life.I watched on TV the day he was sentenced.He was in an orange jumpsuit, hands cuffed. As they led him past the cameras, he stopped.He looked right into the lens and mouthed three words.I knew what they were.I love you, Valerie.It was too late.As for Rebecca, her end was faster, and messier.They found her body at the bottom of Lake Michigan. The official report said drowning.The streets said it was

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