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Home / Mafia / BLOOD AND VOWS: THE MAFIA WRONG BRIDE / Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

All Chapters of BLOOD AND VOWS: THE MAFIA WRONG BRIDE : Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

153 Chapters

121

CHAPTER 121THE ARRIVAL CHIARA Three days.It had been three days since Lucien left the mansion. I hadn’t expected his absence to change anything. If anything, I thought life would become easier. Quieter and Less confusing. Instead, the house felt… empty.Every morning, breakfast arrived outside my room at the same time, neatly prepared by the staff. That was the new development when Lucien left. I would eat alone before wandering through the estate with nothing in particular to do. Sometimes I spent hours in the library, pretending to read while my thoughts drifted elsewhere. Other times I walked through the gardens until sunset painted the flowers in shades of gold.I found myself glancing toward his office whenever I walked past it, expecting to hear the faint rustle of turning pages or the quiet murmur of Marco giving another report. The room remained closed.One afternoon, I caught myself wondering where he was. Was he still in Italy? Had he already traveled somewhere else? Had

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CHAPTER 122SHADOW DEALSLUCIENThe council ended without a resolution, but that didn’t surprise me. I had walked into that room knowing half the men seated around the table had already begun questioning where their loyalties belonged. Alessandro De Luca hadn’t won them over yet, but he had planted something far more dangerous than loyalty. Doubt.The moment Marco and I stepped out of the villa, my security detail fell into formation around us. Engines started one after another as the convoy prepared to leave the Roman estate. No one lingered. After a meeting like that, every Don preferred the safety of his own territory.Marco was already on his phone before we reached the SUV. “Prepare the jet,” he said into the receiver. “We’ll be departing immediately.” He ended the call just as I settled into the back seat. “The pilots have been notified.” I nodded.The convoy rolled away from the villa, leaving behind a gathering that had accomplished nothing except confirming what I already sus

123

CHAPTER 123SHADOW RETURNS CHIARAThe morning after Valentina’s arrival felt totally different and it wasn’t because anything had happened. Everything had. You see how confusing that is. It’s how everything changed. I woke before sunrise, long before the household came alive. For a few moments, I simply stared at the ceiling, listening to the silence. It had only been one day since Valentina arrived, yet the mansion already felt different. Or perhaps I’m the one who did.For the first time in weeks, I no longer felt responsible for filling empty spaces with conversations that never came naturally to me. I no longer reminded myself to smile. To greet the staff. To ask the cooks about breakfast. To compliment the gardeners. Those had never been my habits. They had been Valentina’s. And now, Valentina was here.Without realizing it, I had slipped back into the person I’d always been. Invisible.Breakfast was already waiting downstairs. As I entered the dining room, two maids greeted me

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CHAPTER 124GATHERING STORMLUCIENI stared at the man, wondering what goes on in this man’s head. I’m not going to judge a man who just wants to do business. I do the same too.He reached into the leather briefcase resting beside his chair and withdrew a thick black folder. He slid it across the polished table until it stopped in front of me. Marco took the folder, opened it, before passing it to me. He spoke again.“There are times,” he said evenly, “when information is worth considerably more than money.” What the fuck is he saying.I opened the folder. The first few pages contained financial reports, international transfers, investments, newly registered companies that had appeared over the last six months before vanishing behind layers of shell corporations.None of it looked suspicious on its own. But put them all together, it painted a very different picture.Marco leaned closer beside me. “He isn’t hiding it anymore,” he muttered.“He doesn’t need to. Not when he feels like

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CHAPTER 125HOMECOMINGCHIARA The room had become my entire world. No one had asked me to stay indoors. I just didn’t have any reason to act like I belonged to this place. The real person has returned. Ever since Valentina arrived, the mansion had quietly rearranged itself around her. The corridors that had once echoed with my hesitant greetings now carried her laughter instead. The maids naturally gathered around her whenever she appeared downstairs. The cooks asked her what she wanted for dinner. The gardeners smiled whenever she stopped to admire the flowers. I wasn’t pushed aside or ignored on purpose. I won’t blame them if they even forgot that I was home. But somehow, it had simply… happened. And I had let it. I couldn’t really blame anyone.Mornings now looked exactly the same. Breakfast was brought to the room, and after eating, I would wander aimlessly between the bedroom, the balcony, and the small sitting area before eventually settling into one of the armchairs with a boo

126

CHAPTER 126HOMECOMING LUCIEN The journey back to Milan was quieter than the one that had taken us to Switzerland. There was nothing left to negotiate. The agreements had been signed, shipments secured, and preparations quietly set into motion. If De Luca wanted a war, he would discover very quickly that I had no intention of fighting it unprepared.The cabin remained almost silent. Marco sat opposite me, a tablet balanced on his lap as he worked through the reports that had accumulated during our absence. Every few minutes he scrolled to another page, occasionally making a note before moving on.Most of it was routine. Updates from the ports, financial reports, security briefings, nothing unexpected. Then Marco stopped scrolling.“There’s also a report from the estate.” I looked up.“What about it?”He glanced at the screen. “Miss Chiara arrived two days after we left.” I already knew what that meant. The real Valentina had finally decided to come to the Moretti estate. Marco contin

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CHAPTER 127THE CHOSEN ONECHIARA Everything seemed to stop. I couldn’t hear the fountain anymore. Or the birds. Or even my own breathing. All I could see was Lucien walking toward us. One step, then another, then another. It was like he was some kind of god coming to deliver punishments to the sinners. His expression remained unreadable, his dark eyes moving between the two of us.Valentina stood perfectly still beside me, her posture elegant, her chin lifted with quiet confidence. If she felt nervous, she hid it well. I wished I knew how. For one terrifying second, I wondered if he would hesitate. If he would have to look twice. If he would accidentally expose everything. So many ifs and it felt like my heart would stop.Then he smiled. It wasn’t a large smile. Just enough to soften the sharpness of his face. He walked straight past Valentina. Straight to me. “Valentina.” My heart stopped.Before I could say a word, he slipped one arm around my waist and drew me gently toward him a

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CHAPTER 128SHADOW OF THE SAME FACECHIARA For the rest of the afternoon, I did everything I could to avoid Valentina. It wasn’t difficult. The Moretti estate was large enough that two people could spend an entire day without crossing paths if they wanted to. Or so I thought.I left the library the moment I heard her voice in the corridor. I changed directions twice while walking through the gardens. I even lingered in the music room for nearly half an hour despite having no interest in the dusty piano sitting in the corner. Every decision I made was guided by one simple thought. Don’t let her find you. Because whenever she did, she always managed to leave me feeling smaller than before.I had almost convinced myself I’d succeeded. The west corridor was quiet, the evening sunlight spilling through the tall windows and stretching across the polished marble floor. I rounded the corner and stopped. Valentina stood there, waiting, like she knew I was going that way.Her arms were folded

129

CHAPTER 129THE FIRST MOVELUCIEN The moment the doors of the estate closed behind us, the atmosphere changed. Outside, I had been Don Moretti. Inside, I became exactly what everyone expected me to be. A man already thinking ten moves ahead.Marco walked beside me in silence as we made our way through the corridor leading toward my office. The staff returned to their duties almost immediately after our arrival, though I had no doubt conversations had already begun the moment we disappeared from sight. Neither of us spoke until the office door closed behind us.Marco placed the reports he had carried from Switzerland onto my desk before loosening his tie slightly. “You enjoyed that.”I looked up. “Enjoyed what?”He gave me a flat look. “You know exactly what.” I removed my jacket and draped it over the back of the chair before sitting down. He continued, trying to refresh my memory like I had no recollection of what I did. “The courtyard, The greeting, The way you walked straight past

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CHAPTER 130THE DISTANCE BETWEEN USCHIARA The mansion felt quieter after Lucien disappeared into his office. Not physically though. People still moved through the hallways. The kitchen remained busy preparing dinner. Gardeners continued tending the estate as though nothing had changed. Yet somehow, everything felt different.Maybe because he was home again. Or maybe because, for the first time since Valentina arrived, I no longer felt completely alone. The thought unsettled me. After that scary talk with Valentina, I wandered aimlessly through the corridor outside our room before stopping myself. What was I doing? I had nowhere to go, or no reason to wander.Slowly, I returned to the bedroom Lucien and I had shared for the past several weeks. The room looked exactly as I had left it that morning. His jacket rested neatly over the chair. Several files sat on the desk. The faint scent of his cologne still lingered in the air.It seemed like he had come in when I left and I know that I

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