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《Seven Years as His Hidden Wife》全部章節：第 1 章 - 第 9 章

9 章節

Chapter 1

The call from Zurich came while I was sealing the divorce agreement.Adrian sounded relieved. “Elena, you’ve decided?”“Yes.”“And Niccolò knows?”“He doesn’t need to.”After a brief silence, Adrian said, “The clearance papers will be sent within the hour. Private departure is set for the day after tomorrow. Once you arrive, the trust office will handle the rest.”“Thank you.”“Elena,” he added, softer now, “this is a real position, not a refuge.”I looked at the leather sleeve in my hand.“I know.”After the call ended, the documents arrived one by one: flight clearance, entry papers, the Zurich trust contract. I checked each file, then locked the agreement in my drawer.For seven years, I had lived as Niccolò’s wife only behind closed doors. I had accepted it once, believing secrecy was temporary.Then Lia came back, and every promise became another excuse with her name attached.The glass door opened behind me. Niccolò came in from the terrace with tobacco on his coat and reached fo

Chapter 2

I did not answer. I only smiled.Niccolò watched me for a moment, impatience settling into his face.“So now you won’t even speak properly?”I lowered my eyes to the documents.“Elena, I’ve explained this. Lia is temporary. The Vitales are watching her, and if I don’t step in, they will take her.”“Have I treated you so badly these seven years? How long do you plan to keep this up?”Before he could finish, his phone lit up again.Lia.Niccolò glanced at the screen, answered, listened for less than half a minute, then picked up his coat.At the door, he looked back at me.“Think whatever you want. If you’re so determined, have your lawyer send the separation papers.”The door closed behind him.I looked at the document sleeve on the table and almost laughed.Not again.I would not send him another set of separation papers, and I would not leave him another chance to undo them. The real divorce agreement was already in escrow with my Zurich lawyer.Not long after, San Carlo Club called.

Chapter 3

By the time I returned to the Romano house, champagne had dried stiff against my skirt and dawn was already breaking.Niccolò came in not long after, still in the tuxedo from the Bellini Foundation gala, his bow tie loosened and the scent of smoke and expensive perfume on his coat. He stopped when he saw me sitting in the front room.“You’re still awake?”I looked at him and said nothing.One of his men placed a small velvet case on the side table before leaving. Niccolò pushed it toward me.“For your birthday,” he said. “Old-cut sapphires. You used to like them.”I opened the case. Inside was a pair of sapphire earrings, beautiful and cold, with the Bellini Foundation auction tag still tucked beside them.I closed it again.“You bought them at the same gala where you announced Lia as your fiancée.”His face hardened. “They’re for you. Don’t make it uglier than it is.”“I saw the statement.”That finally made him pause.I placed my phone on the table. The Romano family’s words were sti

Chapter 4

By the time the Bellini Foundation hall was sealed, I was already on my way to the private terminal.Adrian’s phone vibrated first. He glanced at the screen, then looked at me.“It’s begun.”I did not ask what he meant. I already knew.Back at the foundation, the briefing had not ended the way Niccolò expected. He had barely finished addressing the council when the Bellini Foundation’s external auditor rose from the second row and placed a sealed court order on the table.At first, no one understood what they were seeing. Then the doors were closed from the outside, and two prosecutors entered with officers from the Guardia di Finanza, followed by a court-appointed receiver who announced that several Bellini Foundation accounts were being frozen pending investigation.The room fell silent.Niccolò stepped forward at once.“This matter has already been addressed internally.”The receiver looked at him and said, “Yes. That internal review is part of the investigation.”Behind him, the sc

Chapter 5

Niccolò searched every place I might have gone.The estate, the river apartment, the clinic after Palermo, every quiet hotel I had ever used.Nothing.Then Vittorio found the departure clearance.Zurich.Adrian’s name was attached to it.Niccolò’s face went cold.Adrian again.He had always known what Adrian wanted from me. Years ago, he had married me quietly and told himself that was enough. Hidden or not, I was still his wife.He had not expected Adrian to be waiting when I finally left.“Book the plane,” he said.Before Vittorio could answer, another call came in.Lia had collapsed in custody. She wanted to see him.Niccolò kept walking.“Send a lawyer.”Vittorio hesitated.“She says she knows something about Elena.”Niccolò stopped.The holding room was bare and gray.Lia sat behind the glass in a pale uniform. The moment she saw him, her eyes turned red.“Nick.”He sat down.“What do you know about Elena?”Lia froze, then burst into tears.“That’s the first thing you ask me? I al

Chapter 6

Lia stared at him through the glass, and something in her finally broke.“What else did I do?” she repeated, laughing through her tears. “You really want to know now?”Niccolò did not speak.“I sent the wrong route. I locked her in that warehouse. I paid the clerk to ruin her ledger notes. I told the wives she was only beside you because she knew how to crawl into powerful men’s beds.”Her voice shook harder.“And she never told you, did she? She was too proud. Too perfect. Too afraid that if she made you choose, you would choose wrong.”“She was right.”His hand tightened around the receiver.“Stop.”“No,” Lia snapped. “You wanted the truth. Here it is.”She wiped her tears with the back of her hand, but more kept falling.“I hated her because she had everything I wanted. She had your name, even hidden. She had your trust. She had that quiet way of standing beside you like she belonged there.”Her mouth twisted.“So I made sure she never felt safe standing there.”The room seemed to n

Chapter 7

Three months after I arrived in Zurich, the art trust project was complete.The case involved a disputed private collection, forged provenance records, and paintings that had been hidden behind respectable names for decades. Adrian and I spent nearly every day in archives, comparing manifests, restoration notes, and old family correspondence until the chain of ownership finally became clear.When the final report was ready, Adrian placed the authorship page in front of me.My name was beside his.I stared at it for a moment, then pushed it back.“Take my name off.”Adrian looked at me. “Why?”“You know why. The harbor ledger scandal is still attached to me. Even with Lia under investigation, people will question the report before they read it.”“Then let them question it,” he said. “The evidence will answer.”“Adrian.”“Elena, this work exists because of you. I won’t erase your name just because Niccolò Romano once found it convenient to do so.”He signed the approval form before I cou

Chapter 8

For a moment, I almost did not recognize him.Niccolò had always known how to look untouchable. Even after Palermo, even in the middle of family wars, he could stand in a room with blood on his cuffs and still make other men lower their eyes. But now his face was thinner, his jaw rough with stubble, and the black coat on his shoulders looked as though he had crossed half of Europe without sleeping.For three months, I had buried myself in the Zurich project and asked nothing about him. I did not know what had happened to the Romano family after I left, whether Lia had been sentenced, whether the council had turned on him, or whether he had finally understood anything at all.Looking at him now, I only knew that none of it belonged to me anymore.“Elena,” he said hoarsely. “I tried to find you.”“I can see that.”His eyes flickered at my tone, but he forced himself on. “Adrian blocked everything. My calls never reached you. My letters came back unopened. The men I sent to Zurich were st

Chapter 9

Niccolò’s eyes reddened.For a moment, he stood very still, as if the last part of him that believed I might turn back had finally given way.Then his knees hit the floor.The sound drew several heads from the corridor.“Elena,” he said hoarsely. “I was wrong.”Security moved forward at once, but I did not stop them.I only stood beside Adrian and watched the man who had once made entire rooms fall silent struggle to hold himself together in front of strangers.Niccolò looked up at me.“I don’t deserve another chance. I know that. But I don’t know how to live with the fact that I ruined us with my own hands.”Adrian’s arm came around my shoulders, steady and protective.“Did he hurt you?” he asked, his voice low.I shook my head.“No.”Then I looked up at him.“These three months,” I said, “you kept him away from me?”Adrian paused.A rare unease crossed his face.“Yes.”Before he could explain, I already understood.His voice lowered. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I only wanted

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