Home / My Husband and I Are Losers, but Our Four Siblings Are Powerful / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of My Husband and I Are Losers, but Our Four Siblings Are Powerful: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

1

"What, you can't win, so you're calling for backup?"Vito? Listen to you, sounding all sweet. I bet he's the guy you're seeing behind your husband's back!"Isabella snatched my phone and hurled it at the marble floor.The screen shattered.That still wasn't enough for her. She lifted one diamond-studded, red-soled heel and ground it into the phone a few times."A disabled husband isn't enough for you? How many men are you sleeping with on the side? You even use that sugary voice on street thugs?"I stared at the pieces scattered across the floor and took a deep breath.That was a custom satellite phone. Leon had Silicon Valley engineers build it just for me."Ms. Harrington, I'm going to say this one last time."You've got the wrong person."Call off your bodyguards now, and I'll treat everything that happened tonight as a misunderstanding."Isabella stared at me for two seconds before doubling over with laughter.She turned to the Manhattan elite, who sipped champagne as they watched

2

The bodyguards dumped Arthur and me at the foot of the crystal auction stage.Isabella lifted the hem of her gown, swept onto the stage, and snatched the microphone from the emcee.A shrill squeal of feedback tore through the ballroom.The guests fell silent, every eye in the room turning toward us.Isabella snapped her fingers.The giant screen behind her lit up.It showed a grainy photo taken at night.The woman in it wore a white vintage dress covered in pearls. She was ducking into a black Rolls-Royce.Isabella jabbed a finger at the screen, her voice sharp."This is the shameless whore who seduced my fiancé!"She's married, and she's still selling herself. She even brought her idiot husband along as cover!"Everyone, take a good look. That dress, that hair. Isn't it her?"I was, in fact, wearing a white vintage dress that night.But anyone who looked closely could see they weren't the same dress at all.Mine was made from Icelandic siren silk, which hadn't been produced in years,

3

Bang!The whole mahogany door shook.Guests throughout the ballroom turned toward the entrance, startled and confused.I jerked my head up.It had to be Vito's men in New York. They had found us!I rammed my elbow into the bodyguard behind me and screamed toward the doors."I'm in here!"Hurry and help Arthur! They destroyed his medicine!"For a split second, Isabella looked rattled. Then the contempt was back."Your boyfriend out there really has a death wish, bringing his men here like this?"She pulled out an encrypted radio and keyed the priority channel."All security to the main entrance, now!"Initiate a full lockdown and lower every security shutter!"No one gets in from outside. No one!"Machinery rumbled to life.Heavy titanium shutters came down from the ceiling and sealed off every exit.The pounding outside went silent.The cold metal snuffed out the hope that had just flared inside me."No! Open the doors!"I couldn't break free, so I pounded my fists against the floor."

4

Charles pushed his glasses up, his gaze moving between me and the screen.He could tell my dress was nothing like the one in the photo.He also knew better than anyone who the woman in the photo really was.She was the college student he'd been keeping as his mistress in Brooklyn.All he had to do was say, "You've got the wrong person," and the torture would stop immediately.But he said nothing.A moment later, the calculation in his eyes gave way to feigned anguish."Olivia."He let out a long sigh."I told you a long time ago. I'm about to run for the Senate. This crazy thing between us has to end."Why won't you leave me alone?"You even dragged your disabled husband to my fiancée's gala to make a scene?"My head reeled."What are you talking about?"I stared at him in disbelief."Until today, I'd never even heard your name!"Charles ignored me. He just turned and wrapped his arms around Isabella."Isabella, I'm so sorry."She kept threatening to kill herself. I felt sorry for her,

5

The scream of tearing metal ripped through the ballroom.Bricks flew. Dust billowed.Several armored SUVs rolled in through the gap and crushed the crystal auction stage flat.Their doors popped open all at once.Dozens of armed men in black fanned out, and red laser dots settled between the eyes of every bodyguard.Nobody dared to move.Vito wore a long black coat, his hair slicked back without a strand out of place. A faint knife scar marked the corner of his right eye, and a dark gold double-headed eagle pin gleamed on his lapel. Everything about him announced exactly who he was.The head of the Corsetti family.My brother."Vito..."The moment I saw him, the defenses I'd fought so hard to maintain finally crumbled.Vito's eyes took in my swollen face and my bleeding lip, then stopped on Arthur, whose head was still being held in the fountain.Vito's expression went ice-cold."Do it."Several muffled shots cracked through the ballroom at once.The bodyguards holding Arthur down were

6

Isabella answered. Before she could speak, her father's hysterical roar came through the phone."You idiot! Who the hell did you piss off?"Citibank just pulled every line of credit we have, and five major investment groups cut ties with us at the same time!"Our stock price has collapsed under the sell-off, and all our accounts have been frozen!"Prosecutors and FBI agents just stormed the office, and they have all our money-laundering ledgers!"There was a dull thud on the line, and then chaos.The phone slipped from Isabella's hand.She stared at Leon in disbelief."Who the hell are you people?""Who they are doesn't matter."A woman's cold, clipped voice came from the doorway."What matters is where you're going to spend the rest of your life."Sophia, Arthur's oldest sister, stepped over the rubble and into the ballroom.She wore a sharply tailored charcoal suit and carried a briefcase.As the top federal prosecutor, she had never lost a major case.Sophia walked up to Isabella an

7

Before dawn, all of New York had heard that the Harrington family had fallen.The banks called in their loans. Partners tore up their contracts. Trading in their companies' stock was halted.The FBI took Isabella's father into custody and seized every asset in the Harrington name.But Isabella and Charles weren't handed over to the police right away.The Corsetti family owned an abandoned slaughterhouse in the Bronx.Now it was where I settled my scores.Isabella was tied to a rusty iron chair. Her blond curls were matted with blood and grime, and her couture gown was in rags.When she saw me walk in, she struggled desperately."Olivia, I'm sorry!"Charles lied to me! I'm a victim too!"Please let me go. I'll give you anything you want!"I dragged a folding chair over and sat down in front of her."Anything I want?"I looked at her."When Arthur was lying on the floor and couldn't breathe, I begged you."All I asked was for you to give him back his medicine."But you smashed it. Then y

8

The Corsetti estate had its own climate-controlled ICU.The room was quiet except for the soft hum of the machines.I pushed open the soundproof door and slipped quietly inside.Arthur lay in a snow-white hospital bed with wires running from his chest. A new external pacing unit kept his heartbeat steady.At the sound, his eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes.The instant he recognized me, his eyes brightened."Olivia..."His voice was barely a whisper.I hurried to the bedside, took the hand that wasn't hooked up to an IV, and pressed it to my cheek."I'm here."Arthur, I'm right here."I couldn't stop the tears. They dripped onto the back of his hand."I'm sorry."If I hadn't dragged you to that gala, you never would've gotten hurt this badly."With effort, Arthur moved his fingers to wipe away my tears."Don't cry."He spoke slowly, but he meant every word."My wife... shouldn't cry."I told you I'd stand in front of you."It doesn't hurt."My chest tightened.He had a

9

One year later.Manhattan, in the tower that housed the Corsetti family's venture capital firm.I was stretched out on the leather couch in the CEO's office, flipping through a fashion magazine, bored out of my mind.Leon walked in with a black coffee, took one look at me, and rubbed his temple."Olivia, don't you have anything better to do?"Your fashion brand's profits went up again this quarter, and your board is waiting on you for a meeting. And what do you do? You dump everything on your management team and sleep all afternoon in my office."Your husband is now the mergers and acquisitions expert everyone on Wall Street dreads. He handles billions of dollars every day."Can't at least one of you keep busy like a normal person?"I tossed the magazine aside and spread my hands, not the least bit sorry."I've signed everything I needed to sign and made every call I needed to make. If my team can handle the rest, why should I wear myself out?"Arthur works. I enjoy life."I can't even

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