All Chapters of My Rival Bragged About Her Don Husband, But He Was My Secret Husband: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

My father shipped me overseas in high school to toughen me up. I ran into a pack of bullies. After graduation, I went completely dark.Then someone dragged me into a class reunion group chat, and the unread count hit 99+. Half the messages were tagging me."Ava, Selena's been this warm and you're just ignoring her?""How rude can one person be."I scrolled back through the thread to figure out what I'd missed. Selena Hartwell had gotten married today. Word was her husband was a Don on the East Coast. Same territory as me, which was apparently why she'd "invited" me."Typical Ava. She was like this in high school too, shut everyone out.""Not much to look at, but acts like she's better than everyone."I frowned.Some things never change.Back in high school, I enrolled quietly, but years of my father's conditioning had made me too good at every sport the school offered. The administration kept pushing me to take the captain spot on the cheer squad. Selena only got the position after I t

Chapter 2

On the drive to the city, I scrolled back through the group chat.The wedding preparations had apparently started a month ago, roughly when Julian and I had last seen each other.The thread was wall-to-wall flattery and showing off."Selena, is that gown really from a Milan designer? It's stunning!""The groom has such a presence. He really does look like a Don."I almost laughed. Julian had a decent face, but his presence was nothing special. He was a second son who'd climbed up on my family's coattails.Three years ago, our family needed to open up a freight corridor. Sandro had looked at a dozen small crews and landed on the Moretti. The eldest son was already married, so they sent their second boy, Julian, as the offering.The first time I met him, he'd shaved clean, wore a faint hint of cedarwood cologne, and had a face that was, genuinely, very good.He'd arranged 999 fresh tulips flown in from Holland, plus a sapphire necklace, the very symbol of a Donna. Not even the eldest bro

Chapter 3

The address Selena had posted was already dressed up when I arrived: red carpet rolled out from the door, a pink-and-white balloon arch framing the entrance, flower arrangements lining both sides.I looked up and saw the banner: "Welcome, Don Moretti~"Selena's sidekick Casey was working the door. She spotted me, held my gaze for two seconds, then gave a small contemptuous smile. "Ava? You actually showed."I nodded. "Here I am."She turned to call over the old cheer squad crowd. "Look who it is!"But they were too busy fawning over Selena to hear her."Selena, how powerful is your husband, really? Is it true all the casinos in the state belong to him?""Look at those vintage cars — you don't just get your hands on things like that."Casey jumped in loud: "He's a Moretti Don. A single move and you're talking nine figures. None of us are supposed to know the details."Selena smiled like a flower and played modest. "You're all my closest friends — of course you can ask me anything."It s

Chapter 4

Dylan caught the direction of Selena's gaze and elbowed Sara."Whose car is that?"Sara squinted. A black matte-finish sedan sat in the shade.Casey went over, peered at the hood ornament, and made a dismissive sound. "What off-brand piece of junk is this? Pulling up to Selena's wedding in that?"Annie laughed. "The paint's so faded — did someone pick it up secondhand?"That was my father's Lancia Thema, his signature car. It looked its age, but the armor underneath was the latest and the best. It was what the Costanzo name meant: strength that didn't need to announce itself. Any mafia member would take one look at that car and think twice about who was sitting inside.Selena stared at it a long time.Then she pushed through the people in front of her and walked toward me on her heels.She stopped directly in front of me, raised her hand, and slapped me across the face.The sound cut through the room.My head jerked to one side and my cheek burned. Has this woman lost her mind?She wen

Chapter 5

Selena moved toward the car. "Since you've touched this car, it's contaminated as far as I'm concerned. I'll deal with every piece of garbage Julian keeps around him."She grabbed a crystal vase from a side table and swung it hard at the windshield.The vase shattered. The car didn't have a scratch. Top-grade armored glass.Selena stood frozen, staring at the pieces on the ground.Dylan spotted an iron pipe somewhere, swung it with everything he had at the body panel.The recoil sent him stumbling, but the car was still flawless. He stood there panting, wiping his forehead."What the hell? This thing is built like a tank."The car hadn't suffered much, but nobody had ever dared to smash it like these before.I kept my voice cold. "Stop. This car is not something you get to touch."Selena almost laughed out of sheer irritation."God, I can't stand how superior you act. Think you can threaten me? Julian loves me. Even if I wrecked his car, he wouldn't say a word."Casey tried the door ha

Chapter 6

Sandro had arrived with a column of men behind him. He crossed to me quickly, took in my condition, and let something like distress show on his face as he put a steadying hand on my arm."I'm sorry, Miss Ava. I should have been here sooner.""It's handled now."Well. Now everyone would find out exactly who the mistress was.Sandro scanned the wrecked car and his face went still."Who did this?"Nobody in the room made a sound.Except Selena.She was still holding her head high."Just a little lesson for whoever thought she could go after Julian. She had it coming."She had probably never experienced, in her entire life, what a real lesson felt like.Sandro's jaw tightened.“Julian?”"Miss Ava is the Costanzo heir. They registered three years ago. The marriage was never made public."Selena stood still for two full seconds. Then her lips started to shake. She turned to the room."I don't know this man! How would anyone know if he's telling the truth? Julian and I have been together almo

Chapter 7

The next morning, Sandro came into my study."The car's been sent for repairs. The people who damaged it — how do you want to handle them?""Get the lawyers involved. Standard damages, standard detention. But the apology has to be filmed and posted publicly. I don't want to see any of them in person."Sandro's brow creased."Just that?"How could it be just that? Selena wasn't going to agree to those terms. We weren't done, not by a long way.But my father always taught me: first, be reasonable with your enemies. Give them the choice.As for the others, they were just dogs following the one who fed them. What they'd gotten was enough.Julian had been messaging since last night. Dozens of them by now."Ava. I was wrong.""It's not what you think. Please let me explain.""I'm begging you."Like flies buzzing around my head.I read them, blocked him, and dropped my phone in a drawer.Selena stayed quiet for two days.Sandro told me the legal negotiations were stalling. They weren't accept

Chapter 8

I'd only met Margaret once.That was the day we signed the marriage paperwork, three years ago. She'd come over trying to play the mother-in-law card, launching into some speech about how I'd need to conduct myself now that I was married—The Moretti family people had pulled her away before she got far.A true, unredeemable fool. That was my assessment, and so in three years I'd never gone to see her once.Selena spotted me the moment I walked in and her smile got wider. She steered Margaret straight toward me."Ava, you know who this is, right?""Julian's mother. And she's agreed to let us get married.""Oh? Does Julian know?"I looked at her with honest curiosity.Margaret's face went stiff."Your marriage to Julian was rushed into by the older generation. And in three years, you've barely set foot in his home. You've never appeared at a single event beside him. You're a deeply inadequate wife."She paused."Julian hasn't said so directly, but I've seen it. Why do you think he ended

Chapter 9

After the dinner debacle, Julian stopped trying to reach me through messages. He came directly to the Costanzo estate.I didn't let him in.He stood in the rain, practically on his knees by the end. I didn't come downstairs once.There was no room for mistakes in mafia world.A man that foolish had no business being my husband.But someone even more foolish was still making moves.A post appeared online: "The Moretti heir's marriage — who's really the outsider here?" It was loaded with photos of Selena and Julian together, shot after shot of what looked like a couple.There was an anonymous "source close to the family" claiming I'd held the Moretti family hostage with a contract and that Selena was Julian's real love.Footage from that day had been posted too, carefully clipped to just the part where I was on my knees holding the broken pendant. A caption underneath read: "The Costanzo daughter has some kind of episode at someone else's wedding."The comments were almost unanimous. "Ca

Chapter 10

The Costanzo family's internal succession was officially settled and announced: Ava Costanzo, sole legitimate heir, assuming full authority over all family operations.The papers covered it. So did the television stations.Jason told me: "Everyone in the chat saw it. Nobody said a word all day."Now they were scared.That evening, Dylan posted one line: "So, those people at the wedding. They were real?" No one answered.The people who'd laid hands on me at the wedding left the group chat one by one, like it had never happened.Selena went silent.I took my position as heir but still said nothing publicly about my marriage to Julian. That forced him to go to extreme lengths trying to win back my forgiveness.In the days that followed, Casey and the others all found themselves mysteriously let go from their jobs, and even their parents couldn't hold onto theirs.Mr. Gray was terminated without notice and no school in the area would take him.Dylan apparently got drunk, got into a fight,

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