All Chapters of I Gave His Name to the Woman He Chose: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

When the marriage contract was placed in front of me, I only took a moment to read the terms, but Lucien Moretti urged me three times to sign.He was in a hurry, after all. His precious savior, Isabella, was waiting for him to take her to her favorite opera.So I picked up the pen, but I did not sign my name. I copied Isabella’s handwriting and wrote hers instead.In my last life, I had signed that contract with a heart full of hope. I thought becoming Lucien’s wife meant I would finally stand beside him as the Donna of the Moretti family. Instead, he kept me hidden after the wedding. At every public event, Isabella was the woman on his arm. Every matter that should have required the Donna’s approval went through her first.I told myself I was not strong enough yet. I swallowed every insult and was forced to give up everything that should have been mine.Until the night gunmen broke into the Moretti estate, and Lucien chose her again. He carried Isabella out in his arms while I bled ou

Chapter 2

I returned to the Moretti estate to collect what still belonged to me.Verona House sat above the Hudson like a fortress dressed up as a mansion. Black gates, armed guards, marble steps, cameras hidden behind ivy. In my last life, I had mistaken all that steel and money for safety.Now I knew better.I stepped inside and found Lucien in the foyer with Isabella in his arms. She was tucked against his chest, one hand gripping his lapel, her voice soft and trembling."I ruined your signing, didn't I? Grace must hate me. I should leave. I don't want to cause trouble."Lucien stroked her hair. "Stop that. You are not trouble. Your safety comes first. Grace will understand."I cleared my throat.Lucien released her a little too fast. Isabella lowered her eyes, but not before I saw the small, satisfied curve of her mouth."Grace," Lucien said. "I was just checking on her. She had a rough morning."My gaze moved to Isabella's throat. The Moretti ruby rested there, dark red against her skin. It

Chapter 3

In the bottom drawer of my desk, under a stack of old Vance family letters, I kept the only thing that mattered now: clearance papers for the Raven Wharf auction.Raven Wharf was where old families sold secrets without admitting they were broke. Land deeds, offshore accounts, black ledgers, stolen art, favors written in blood. One vault there held documents my father had hidden before the Vance family fell. If I could get them, I could rebuild without Lucien Moretti's name.The auction opened in seven days.Seven days, and I would be out.Someone knocked."Grace," Lucien said through the door. "We need to talk."I slid the papers beneath a scarf. "Come in."He entered without waiting, his eyes moving over the half-open suitcase. "Going somewhere?""Sorting things.""You were strange today.""Was I?""You gave Isabella the ruby. You gave her your dress. You are either furious or trying very hard to look like you aren't."I folded a blouse and placed it in the suitcase. "Isn't this what

Chapter 4

The Ravencrest gala was built for people who smiled with knives behind their backs.Every major family in New York was there: Moretti, DeLuca, Santoro, Hale. Women glittered in diamonds. Men traded threats over champagne. By midnight, three alliances had been hinted at, two insults had been swallowed, and at least one man had probably ordered another man's death in the bathroom.I stood near the windows in a navy silk dress and watched Lucien move through the room with Isabella on his arm.She wore silver. He kept a hand at her waist. Every few minutes, she leaned in to whisper something, and he bent his head as if the rest of the world could wait."Poor Grace Vance," a woman behind me murmured. "Not even married yet, and already replaced.""Moretti men like useful wives and fragile mistresses," another said. "She should learn the difference."I sipped my champagne and said nothing.A man from one of the smaller families drifted toward me with a smile too sharp to be friendly. "Miss Va

Chapter 5

I woke three days later in my own bed, with stitches in my side and a fever burning under my skin.Mira, my maid, nearly dropped the glass in her hand. "Miss Grace. Thank God. I'll get Mr. Moretti.""Don't." My voice came out rough. "Where is he?"Mira's face gave me the answer before she spoke. "With Miss Isabella. She wasn't injured, but she has been... distressed. The doctor said she needs quiet and familiar company."I closed my eyes. Of course.The door opened that evening. Lucien stepped in, still in the same black shirt, his face drawn in a way I might have pitied once."Grace," he said. "I should have protected you."I looked at him from the bed. "How is Isabella?"He flinched. "She is shaken. She keeps waking up screaming. I came as soon as I could.""Then go back.""Don't do that.""Do what?""Act like you don't care."I almost smiled. He could ignore my pain, but not my indifference. That was the part he could not stand."I'm tired, Lucien."He took a step closer. "I will ma

Chapter 6

Lucien looked at the empty hallway, and for the first time since I had known him, he sounded afraid. "Then turn the city upside down. Find my wife."His lawyer arrived at the study in a wrinkled suit and read the contract twice before his face lost color. “Mr. Moretti, the amendment was filed under your seal. Miss Vance signed as witness, not bride. The bride listed here is Isabella Vale.”“Then void it.”“I can try, but your side was already executed. The amendment was made before final filing, and your chapel lawyer accepted it. On paper, Miss Vance did nothing illegal.”Lucien looked at the clean black letters at the bottom of the page. Isabella Vale. For years, Grace had begged for scraps of his attention with lowered eyes and soft excuses. This was not begging. This was a blade laid flat on his desk.“What else did she take?”The lawyer swallowed. “Nothing that belonged to you. That is the problem. The Vance release you signed yesterday went live at dawn. Their docks, accounts, de

Chapter 7

Dante DeLuca was not the kind of man who offered shelter out of kindness. If Grace had gone to him, she had brought him something sharp enough to make the risk worth it.Lucien ordered every file on the Vance family brought to him. Ledgers, old letters, shipping permits, archived warnings, anything Grace had ever sent across his desk. Most of it had never been opened.One envelope stopped him cold. Grace had written it eight months earlier in her neat hand, warning him that a Moretti convoy route had been leaked through a charity account tied to Isabella’s foundation. At the bottom, Lucien had scrawled, Stop chasing shadows.The convoy had been hit two weeks later.He opened another. Grace had warned him about a judge who was taking money from both sides. Another had flagged a warehouse manager with DeLuca ties. One letter, folded so many times the crease had nearly split, asked him not to let Isabella handle Donna approvals because “she mistakes attention for authority, and men with g

Chapter 8

Raven Wharf smelled like salt, diesel, and expensive sin.I arrived before midnight with stitches pulling at my side and a fever I refused to acknowledge. The auction house sat behind an old fish market on the water, hidden behind rusted doors and men with better guns than manners. No one asked if I was well enough to stand. In rooms like that, weakness was not checked by doctors. It was priced.Dante DeLuca met me in the hall outside the vaults. He was tall, polished, and dangerous in the way men became when they never had to raise their voices.“You look like hell, Miss Vance.”“You should see the other bride.”He laughed once. “Moretti is tearing up the city for you.”“Good. It will keep him busy.”Dante offered protection, but not for free, which was why I trusted him more than any man who called himself my savior. He wanted the Vance ledger because it could crack open half the family alliances in New York. I wanted my docks back, my father’s evidence, and a path that did not end a

Chapter 9

Lucien walked into Raven Wharf like a man used to owning every room. The Wharf didn’t bend for him. Men watched from balconies. Women paused mid-conversation. No one moved aside until Dante gave a lazy nod, and even then, the space they made was narrow.Lucien stopped in front of me. His gaze dropped to the bandage hidden badly beneath my dress, then rose to my face.“You should be in bed.”“I was. It bored me.”His jaw tightened. “Come home, Grace.”I set my auction card on the table. “Your bride is at Verona House. Her name is on the contract.”Pain crossed his face, quick but real. “I know what you did.”“No, Lucien. You know what I signed. You still don’t know what you did.”He looked past me at Dante, then back again. “I removed Isabella from the family table. Ravencrest was tied to her foundation. She lied to me, and I should have believed you long before now.”An apology from Lucien Moretti was rare enough to make the room pretend not to listen. I had wanted those words once. I

Chapter 10

Lucien survived. By the time he woke, Isabella was finished.The broker talked. The bank records matched. Mira’s copies tied Isabella’s foundation to the convoy leak, the Ravencrest scare, and the hired gun at Raven Wharf. She had not been a helpless woman caught in the storm. She had been feeding it, one trembling lie at a time, because fear kept Lucien close and guilt kept him blind.The Moretti hearing took place three days later. I did not attend, but Dante sent me the recording. Lucien stood before his underbosses with his arm in a sling and his face stripped of every excuse.He did not shout. He did not call Isabella names. He laid out the evidence, account by account, route by route, dead man by dead man. Then he removed Moretti protection from her, froze every account she had touched, and handed her to the family court that dealt with traitors quietly and permanently.When she begged, he did not look away. That was the only mercy he gave her.A week later, he came to the East P

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