All Chapters of The Wife They Tried To Replace: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Valentina’s POVI couldn’t move.The woman standing in the doorway looked like Emilia.Not similar.Not close.Exactly like her.Same dark hair.Same eyes.Same small line beside her mouth.Even the way she stood with one hand resting against the doorframe reminded me of Emilia.Dante stared at her.His face had gone completely blank.The woman smiled.“You remember me.”Dante’s voice was barely audible.“Who are you?”She looked at him for several seconds.Then she said,“Your mother.”Emilia made a broken sound behind us.“No.”The woman turned toward her.“Still pretending?”Emilia shook her head.“You died.”The woman smiled.“That’s what you told him.”Dante looked between them.“Mom?”Emilia couldn’t answer.The woman stepped into the room.“My name is Elena.”Dante stared at her.“Elena.”She nodded.“You were three years old when you stopped calling me that.”My skin prickled.Dante took a step backward.“I don’t remember you.”“I know.”“Why?”“Because they made sure you woul

Valentina’s POV“Serena.”Her name barely left my mouth.She stood at the top of the stairs, one hand gripping the railing, her breathing uneven. She looked different from the last time I had seen her.Older somehow.Not in years.In everything else.Her hair was pulled back, her face pale, and there was a cut across her cheek. Her eyes moved past me and landed on the baby in my arms.Lucia.The moment Serena saw her, something broke across her face.Relief.Fear.Grief.I couldn’t tell which one.Then she whispered,“My baby.”The room seemed to tilt.“No.”Serena took one step down.“Valentina, please.”“No.”I backed away.“You don’t get to call her that.”Her eyes filled with tears.“I know what you’re thinking.”“You’re saying she’s yours.”“She is.”My fingers tightened around the blanket.“She is not yours.”Serena looked at me.“She was taken from me.”I laughed once, but there was nothing funny about it.“Taken from you?”“Yes.”“You expect me to believe that after everything

Valentina’s POV“Hello, granddaughter.”For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.Helena stood at the end of the corridor as if she had been waiting for us.Alive.Calm.Almost amused.My eyes moved from her to Isabella.My little girl was pressed against the woman holding the gun.“Mommy,” Isabella whispered.My heart broke.“It’s okay, sweetheart.”I forced my voice to stay steady.“Mommy is here.”Helena smiled.“She always was.”I stared at her.“You kidnapped my daughter.”“No.”Her answer was calm.“I protected her.”“You’ve been lying to me my entire life.”“Not your entire life.”She took one step forward.“Only when the truth would have destroyed you.”I almost laughed.“You think this is protection?”I pointed at the gun.“You’re holding a gun to a child’s head.”The woman holding Isabella looked uncomfortable.For the first time, I noticed something in her expression.Fear.She wasn’t like Helena.She didn’t want to be here.“Who are you?” I asked her.The woman didn’t answer.Hele

Dante’s POV“Hello, son.”I couldn’t move.I knew that face.I’d seen it in old photographs.I’d seen it in my nightmares.And I’d spent seventeen years believing the man behind that face was dead.My father.Adrian Ferraro.But that wasn’t possible.He had been upstairs.We had left him behind.The man standing in front of us was supposed to be someone else.Yet there was no mistaking him now.The woman had pulled away the mask, revealing Adrian’s face beneath it.Valentina stared at him in disbelief.“That’s not a woman.”“No,” Anthony said.Adrian smiled.“It never was.”I raised my gun.“Don’t move.”Adrian looked at the weapon.Then at me.“You still point a gun at your own father.”“You’ve earned it.”His smile faded.“I suppose I have.”Valentina stepped closer to me.“You were pretending to be someone else?”“For years.”“Why?”Adrian looked at her.“Because Helena was looking for me.”Anthony laughed bitterly.“You expect us to believe that?”Adrian’s eyes hardened.“You shou

Dante’s POVFour.The word stayed in my head.Four children.I looked at Valentina.She was staring at Helena as if the woman in front of her had just torn open every memory she had ever trusted.“You’re lying,” Valentina said.Helena didn’t react.“I wish I were.”She held the newborn against her chest.The baby was tiny.Wrapped in a white blanket.A silver bracelet around one wrist.My eyes went straight to it.There was no name.Only a number.04.My stomach dropped.Valentina stepped forward.“Give me my baby.”Helena smiled.“You don’t even know which one is yours.”“I know all my children.”“No.”Helena shook her head.“You know the children we allowed you to remember.”Valentina’s face hardened.“You drugged me.”“Yes.”“You altered my records.”“Yes.”“You took my babies.”Helena’s expression changed.“I saved them.”Dante stepped in front of Valentina.“You keep using that word.”Helena looked at me.“Because you still don’t understand.”“I understand enough.”“No, Dante.”S