All Chapters of The Don’s Wedding Betrayal: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

After the wedding, a maid found my veil beneath one of the long tables.The lace was stained with shoe prints, one edge torn. She carried it over to me and opened her mouth, but all she said was, “Mrs. Moretti, the car is ready.”I took off my wedding ring and set it beside the untouched wedding cake.“Please don’t call me that anymore.”Half an hour earlier, Julian had left the estate with Sienna.She hadn’t brought her own car, but she got into the Bentley reserved for the bride. Julian lifted the hem of her white dress for her, handling it as gently as though he were afraid of bruising a petal.I stood on the steps and watched them leave.The guests filed past me. No one dared stop to offer comfort.An older man who had worked with my father for twenty years squeezed my hand, only for his son to pull him away.His business still depended on the freight company the Morettis controlled.Not until the last car had passed through the iron gates did William send someone to ask me to come

My mother had never liked the Carter family’s business.Before she married my father, she had been a pianist.She kept performing after the wedding and put most of her earnings into a foundation that provided music education for children who had lost their parents.My father never let the family’s affairs touch it.He said it was the one place where she could feel at peace.For the fifth anniversary of her death, the foundation had arranged a memorial dinner.It wasn’t being held on Moretti territory, but at an independently owned private art gallery.The guests included my mother’s students, old friends, and families who had supported the foundation for years.Originally, all I had planned to do was play a short piece she had composed and give a speech thanking everyone.Now I wanted something else from the evening.I wanted the people who had known her to remember that I was still a Carter.The next morning, I gave my dress and sheet music to the driver, ready to head to the gallery

The first time I was truly afraid of Julian wasn’t when he humiliated me at our wedding.It was that moment.He stood there holding my mother’s necklace, using the men my father had left behind to force me to submit.Dozens of employees who had worked for my father for years were still at the docks.Some had taken a knife for him. Some were putting their children through school on those wages.They hadn’t stayed for Julian.They had stayed because they had promised my father they would look after the docks for me.But now the Morettis controlled their paychecks and contracts.I looked at Julian.“What will you do to them?”He didn’t answer. He simply closed his hand around the necklace.His silence was enough.I unclenched my fists.“Put the necklace back in its box.”“Go out there first.”“I want to see you put it away.”He stared at me for a few seconds, then took Sienna’s clutch and placed the necklace in the jewelry box inside.“Happy now?”I turned and opened the door.No one in t

I took only two suitcases to the airport.One held clothes and sheet music. The other held my mother’s manuscripts and the documents my father had left.I had returned every piece of jewelry, every dress, and every set of car keys the Morettis had given me.My attorney stayed in New York to handle the marriage and the management agreement.I didn’t need to keep living on that estate, waiting for Julian to find the time to grant me permission.Before I entered the security line, a photograph arrived on my phone.Sienna had sent it.She reclined on a sofa in an airport lounge, a glass of champagne in front of her.Julian sat beside her, looking down at his phone.Beneath the picture was a message.Thanks for giving me your honeymoon.I didn’t reply.I blocked her number, then Julian’s.On the other side of a glass partition, in another lounge, Julian listened to a recorded message saying my phone was unavailable.Frowning slightly, he lowered the phone and checked the screen.Sienna offe

Three months later, Julian returned to New York.Several contracts at the docks now had different people in charge. The white car that had always stood outside the estate was gone.He didn’t notice right away.Sienna’s birthday was approaching. He booked a ballroom at an exclusive Manhattan hotel and invited members of several families with close ties to the Morettis.She chose a white gown.At the fitting, she asked, “Won’t it remind people of the wedding?”Julian glanced at it.“If you like it, wear it.”On the night of the party, Sienna descended the stairs on his arm as camera flashes went off one after another.The society reporters invited to photograph the event knew better than to mention Claire.But the pictures quickly made their way into the families’ private group chats.Julian looked through a few, then set his phone on the table.Half an hour later, he picked it up again.No new messages.He opened the conversation pinned to the top of his screen.The last message was sti